Ever since East Greenville, Pennsburg, and Red Hill separated from Upper Hanover Township and became boroughs in the late 1800's and early 1900's, the idea of merging the three municipalities into one surfaced on several occasions. 

            Questions of "I don't know why the East Greenville, Pennsburg, and Red Hill just don't merge" pop up on social media quite frequently.

            The thought of one borough, one government, one police department, one trash hauler, one borough hall, one streets department; you get the idea.

            But, there is plenty of concerns and undefined expenses that would go along with it, like remapping the municipalities and renaming the streets and house numbers along with other property identifiers.  The cost for residents to change the addresses on everything from bills and utilities to bank papers, property deeds, and much, much more.

            It wouldn't be easy.

            We talk about the three boroughs but, in 1927 there was a interesting movement to not only merge them, but a separate movement was afoot to annex the village of Palm into the borough of East Greenville.

            In 1926, local and county officials advocated merging the school districts of East Greenville, Pennsburg, Red Hill, and Upper Hanover.  While many community leaders supported the idea, school officials resisted.

            In December 1926, the members of the Pennsburg-East Greenville Rotary Club were discussing the advantages of a school merger, and how it could be accomplished.  An argument was raised about how a unification of the three boroughs into a small city would automatically result in the consolidation of the schools.   

            The idea spread to Norristown, where the Montgomery County Commissioners took a keen interest in it.  It seems that the boroughs of Norristown and Conshocken were entertaining the same notion themselves back then.

            One of the major stumbling blocks at the time was a Commonwealth law limiting the rate of taxation to 10 mills for boroughs.  All five of the communities were in need of many public improvements, and the only way for them to escape the limit was to accept third-class city charters with a commission form of government. 

            The Commissioners favored the third-class city status.  Among the reasons they advocated the change were the "inability of the communities to adopt advanced improvements with limited tax means, and the current impossibility of school improvement."

            However, what they did not stress was that if any of the boroughs would have changed to city status, the county would automatically be relieved from all forms of aid for road or bridge construction and maintenance within their boundaries.  It was a good way for Montgomery County to avoid funding future maintenance project to the pesky borough's roads and bridges.

            The merger idea continued to grow in our Valley.  It turned into a competition of sorts with our Norristown and Conshohocken neighbors as to who would become the first city in Montgomery County.

            While East Penn Hill did surface as a possible name for the municipality, the more popular title for the merged boroughs was Perkiomen City.  The term 'jewel of the Perkiomen' was unofficially coined as the slogan for the new city.

            The movement seemed to pick up steam as the months went by.  In addition to the merged school districts, improved mail service and bus service were touted as potential benefits.

            Some hoped that a new, organized municipality would develop an interest in community spirit.  With this new spirit would come and end to local rivalries, jealousies, and unfriendly criticisms.  Fans were shouting the name Perkiomen City at local sporting events to the cheers of the crowds.

            Momentum was gaining.  Quakertown and Norristown newspapers wrote editorials advocating the merger.  Local community organizations were urged to keep discussing the matter.  Always, the quality of education and the merger of the school district was the number one advantage to all of this hoopla.

            As more and more advantages to the proposed merger surfaced, local support grew.  Even many who were opposed to such a move became ardent supporters of Perkiomen City.

            As this idea was growing within the boroughs, some residents of Palm were hatching their own plan for a merger.  It was reported that many of the residents of that Upper Hanover Township village were dissatisfied with the benefits their school received from the township school district.  They had also become unhappy with their representation in township government.  It all came to a head when the Upper Hanover Township Supervisors appealed to the Montgomery County Court seeking an increase in the tax rate.

            This brought the ire of the village residents to a boil.  One resident claimed that he alone paid more in taxes than the township spent repairing roads in the Palm area.  Petitions were circulated and signatures collected.  The Palm residents wanted to become part of East Greenville.  The annexation would need the entire Route 29 corridor from East Greenville to Palm to be included in the plan.  Reportedly, the support among those residents was there for the annexation. 

            With merger support at a fevered pitch, only economics could block the path of the determined residents.  With the law blocking their need to raise taxes if they remain as boroughs, and the threat of discontinued county road and bridge maintenance if they became a city, the Upper Perkiomen municipalities were left to work out a way to convince their school officials that a merger of the school districts was the only way to improve the quality of education in the community.

            That task would take another 20 years to accomplish.