Editing Media, Pennsylvania (section)

===17th century===
Land in the area was sold and settled soon after [[William Penn]] was named proprietor of the colonial-era [[Province of Pennsylvania]] in 1681 by [[King Charles II of England]]. Peter and William Taylor bought the land where Media is now located, directly from Penn.<ref name="walking">''Media: A Walking Tour'', published by the Borough of Media, 1990</ref> At the time, the land was located in [[Chester County, Pennsylvania|Chester County]]. Providence Township was organized in 1684, and later divided into [[Upper Providence Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania|Upper Providence]] and [[Nether Providence Township, Pennsylvania|Nether Providence]] townships by 1690, even though they only had 40 taxable properties at the time.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.delcohistory.org/ashmead/ashmead_pg652.htm |title=''History of Delaware County'' |access-date=2007-04-04 |archive-date=2007-04-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070405092232/http://www.delcohistory.org/ashmead/ashmead_pg652.htm |url-status=usurped }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.delcohistory.org/nphs/ |title=''Nether Providence Through the Years'' (Delaware County Historical Society) |access-date=2007-04-02 |archive-date=2007-04-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070402110636/http://www.delcohistory.org/nphs/ |url-status=usurped }}</ref> The current borough, formed in 1850, sits between the two townships.

In 1683, the Court of Chester County approved the construction of "Providence Great Road", now [[Pennsylvania Route 252]]. The road, which runs north from [[Chester, Pennsylvania|Chester]] to within a few blocks of today's downtown, is shown on a 1687 map along with the names of local landowners.<ref>[http://www.lowermerionhistory.org/atlas/1687.html ''The City of Philadelphia Two Miles in Length and One in Breadth'' (Lower Merion Historical Society)]</ref> It forms the eastern border of the borough.

Thomas Minshall, a [[Quakers|Quaker]], was an early Media resident, settling just outside the small village then known as "Providence", along Providence Great Road. The village then included a tailor shop, blacksmith shop, wheelwright shop, barn and other buildings.<ref name="mhsh">{{cite web|title=History|url=http://mediahistoricalsociety.org/about-us/#history|website=Media Historical Society|access-date=20 March 2016}}</ref>

Minshall bought {{convert|625|acre|ha}} from William Penn and arrived in 1682. The [[Providence Friends Meetinghouse]] was established at his house in February 1688.