10/12/2026
In honor of Indigenous People's Day, Delco Historical Society wanted to share some additional resources we accessioned this past year about Native American history in Pennsylvania. The stone tools are from two different archeological digs that took place in Broomall and Aston, respectively. Stop by our library and archive in Media to learn more about the Lenni Lenape who were the Indigenous People of present-day Delaware County, PA.
Specifically local to present-day Delaware County was the Okehocking Tribe (also known as Ockanickon) who were a small band of Unami language-speaking Lenape people, who lived along the Ridley and Crum Creeks, or what is today known as Ridley Creek State Park. The Okehocking were known as Unami or "people down the river" by other local Lenape communities.
The Lenape were known as the "original people" among the Algonquian speaking community, believing that the Algonquian speaking people descended from the Lenape. The Lenape nation, Lenapehoking, extended as far north as the Hudson River Valley in present-day New York, and as far south as present-day Cape Henlopen in southern Delaware. By the late 17th century, increased European colonization drove the native Lenape people further west, creating tensions between the Lenape and European colonizers. In 1718, William Penn’s sons, John and Thomas Penn, dispossessed an area of present-day Rhode Island from the Lenape during the Walking Purchase of 1737.
Today in the Philadelphia area, many places still retain the names from the Lenni Lenape such as "Pahsayunk" (meaning "In the Valley"), once the site of the largest Lenape village in the area and a trail, still used by millions. "Arronemink" (meaning "place where the fish cease") was the name of the area between Woodlands Cemetery and "Kingsessing" (meaning "a place where the is a meadow") which extended to Cobbs Creek.
The present-day area of Tinicum got its name from the Lenape term, "mahtanikunk", meaning "Where they catch up with each other". Swedish colonist used the term Tinicum as shorthand to refer to the Lenape area. The Muckinipattis Creek derives its name from the Lenape meaning "deep running water".
To learn more about the Lenni Lenape, check out the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania at their website: https://www.lenape-nation.org/
