The roots of the Pennsbury Scholarship Foundation go back to King Charles II of England in 1861! In that year the king granted William Penn a large track of land in North America to offset debts he owed William Penn’s father, Admiral Sir William Penn. William Penn subsequentially established three original Pennsylvania counties, one of which was Bucks County, which is in the southeastern corner of Pennsylvania and bordered by the Delaware River on the eastern and southern part of the county. At the great bend in the Delaware River he built a summer home, known as Pennsylvania Manor, (sylvania meaning woods) just below the Falls of the Delaware River. This afforded him a natural highway for his trips to Philadelphia, which he had founded. Pennsbury Manor (bury as in borough) as it is now known, was recreated in the late 1930s, and today this beautiful, historical site is open to visitors year-round. It is from Pennsbury Manor that the Pennsbury School District derived its name and from that the Pennsbury Scholarship Foundation obtained its name.
The original inhabitants of the area were the Lenni Lenape Indians, whose domination was first challenged by the Dutch in the early 17th century. During the later part in the same century, the Dutch were followed by the Swedes, the English Quakers, and the Pennsylvania Dutch, or Swiss German, immigrants who settled in the upper part of Bucks County. William Penn and Lenni Lenape Indians signed the Treaty of Shackamaxon in which both parties agreed to live in peace with each other.
During the first 175 years after the American Revolution, the history of this area can be characterized as mainly an agricultural society with small towns and villages developing where main highways and railroads converged. Many of the villages became little communities with their own trading store, school (typically a one room school), church, and post office. Motor vehicles, better roads and demands for high school education were all part of the changes affecting rural life. By the late 1940's Bucks County became well known as a good place to live and to raise a family. People from larger cities like Philadelphia and New York City were interested in Bucks County because it was close enough to commute to work and then return home to a calmer lifestyle.
Communities like Falls Township, Lower Makefield Township, and Yardley Borough were becoming populated with families who were interested in good schools for their children. In 1947 these three communities used the Joint School Board Act of Pennsylvania to form a reginal school board. In 1963 Tullytown Borough joined also. This was called the Pennsbury Joint School Board because of the close location to Pennsbury Manor. Medill Bair was the first regional superintendent of this joint school board and was important in the early history of the Pennsbury Scholarship Foundation. [Click here for Mrs. Hosclaw's recounting of her experience as an educator during this transition period.]
Parents were especially active in those days since the families who moved into the area were especially interested in good education for their children. PTO's and PTA's and the Pennsbury Education Association were motivated to plan fundraisers and projects to earn money for scholarships. The first graduating class of this new Pennsbury system was in 1948-49, and the PTA gave scholarships of $200 each to two graduating seniors that year who went on to college. During the early 1950's Medill Bair formed his dream of a scholarship foundation to help students who could not afford to attend college without financial help.
The most dramatic change in the rural characteristic of the Lower Bucks County area came in March of 1951 when the United States Steel Corporation broke ground for the construction of the $450 million Fairless Works, at the time the largest and most modern steel producing mill in the world. The site selected is just below the great bend in the Delaware River, less than a mile north of Pennsbury Manor and three miles south of Morrisville in Falls Township. Once operations began in 1952, the steel mill employed more than six thousand workers.
Housing for these workers and their families was a major issue which was partly supplied when US Steel had about 5,000 houses built in the Tullytown area by the Danherst Corporation. At the same time, William Levitt, who had been successful in building Levittown, New York, bought land for his housing development near the steel mill and built just over 17,300 homes. This land, which was once farms growing vegetables and crops, now was going to be homes for families who were connected to the steel mill. Elementary schools, swimming pools, churches, and libraries and a huge shopping center were all part of the plan by Mr. Levitt.
The district had been challenged from its beginning to keep up with the demands for classrooms. Just as the consolidation of schools in the area was getting underway, U.S, Steel started building its FairlessWorks mill. The district scrambled to provide classroom space while new schools were being buit, resorting to churches, firehouses, vanat houses and even an old two room schoolhouse in Fallsington that had a pot bellied stove for heat!
The need for an area hospital was addressed by the efforts of the local community in 1954 when the Lower Bucks Hospital was built. The Bucks County Community College was started in1965, providing local access to advanced education.
It was in 1953-54 when Medill Bair began peppering local educators and civic leaders about his idea that a home-grown organization should offer financial assistance "to see that every boy or girl, having attended The Pennsbury Schools, can advance to higher learning of his or her choice, regardless of race, color or creed, if unable to continue financially, otherwise." For some families the idea of continuing their education after high school graduation would be a first, and some would need financial assistance. To talk about defraying the cost of continuing education for deserving Pennsbury graduates, in the fall of 1955 Mr. Bair invited several businessmen to a dinner at the historic Washington Crossing Inn. On that memorable evening it all came together, and the idea of a scholarship fund turned one man's dream into reality. The Pennsbury Scholarship Foundation was born.
Despite the influx of industry and the loss of farmland to housing developments, the Pennsbury area has retained its desirability as a place to live. The quaint village of Fallsington, where the administrative offices of the Pennsbury School District and the Pennsbury Scholarship office are located, is surrounded by a natural green belt and retains its unique, colonial charm. Yardley and Tullytown have kept their small-town atmosphere and are surrounded by beautiful suburban communities including Fairless Hills and Levittown, two unique communities that virtually sprang up overnight in the 1953–1954 timeframe as a result of the U.S. Steel Fairless Works.
By 2024 there were 10 elementary schools, 3 middle schools and a high school which had two separated campus buildings called East and West,
In 2024 plans were approved for a new High School to be built on the same site but in vacant area. When the school, which has a planned completion date of June 2029, is completed, the current buildings are to be demolished and replaced by parking facilities. Quite a change from that octagon schoolhouse in Lower Makefield Township that is shown above!
----
Compiled from writings about the history of the PSF by Wanda Long which were derived from many sources and augmented by google research sources. Hal Long