Davis Grove Road today is a short road of 1.2 miles from Horsham Road on the western end to Babylon Road on its eastern end. It parallels Horsham Road for about three-quarters of its length.
Davis Grove Road was originally built in 1735 as a private road by the Kenderdines known as “Kenderdine’s Lane” to offer access to their mill from Babylon Road. Babylon Road existed at that time but was not dedicated until much later.
“The Davis Grove Road from Davis Grove to the intersection of Horsham Road, was laid out in 1745. The original petition and draught were presented to the December 1744 session, and the purposes were stated to be to open a way to Kenderdine’s Mill and also to ‘ye Presbyterian Meeting House at Neshamanie ther Erected for Worship of God’ (Packet 25 M 89) This first draught proposed a route from Davis Grove directly across the fields to a point near the house where James MacAleer now lives, nut Jabez White the owner of the ground, made an energetic protest, and the road was altered to its present course in April 1745. From the intersection of the Babylon Road, the route followed a private road known as Kenderdine’s Land.”
Charles Harper Smith, The Settlement of Horsham Township99
The road was the first to have macadam in the area.39 The bridge over Park Creek was built in 1911 and rehabbed in 1980.50 The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on May 12, 1907, that bids had been accepted to modernize Davis Grove Road from the Doylestown Pike to Park Creek near Prospectville, a distance of 11,800 feet.
The bids called for macadamizing, grading, and all culverts being modeled after the requirements of state roads. Bids were in the range of $13,000 to $20,000. Residents of Horsham had been trying for several years to get state aid for highway improvements but were not successful so the township’s supervisors decided to go ahead without state aid. Davis Grove Road was apparently chosen due to its proximity to the homes of the supervisors.
The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 12, 1907
The bridge over Park Creek was built in 1911 and rehabbed in 1980.50
