Woodward Township is a township in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. The population of Woodward Township has grown to 2,397 as of the 2000 census. This is up from 817 during the 1890 census. It is part of the Williamsport, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Woodward Township is bordered by Anthony Township to the north, Old Lycoming Township and Williamsport to the east, the West Branch Susquehanna River to the south (with Susquehanna Township south of the river), and Piatt Township to the west.
Woodward Township was formed on 23 November 1855 by dividing Anthony Township. It is named for Apollos Woodward who was an associate judge in Williamsport at the time. The township which is bisceted by Quenshukeny Run semi-rural in nature. The northern parts of the township less heavily populated than the southern parts which lie on U.S. Route 220 and serve as a suburb for Williamsport and Jersey Shore.
When Woodward township was first settled by migrants from Europe it was outside the boundaries of the Province of Pennsylvania. These settlers were not under the rule or protection of the colonial government in Philadelphia. Together they formed their own form of government that was administerd by a group of pioneers known as the Fair Play Men. These early settlers banded together to provide law and order to a land that was wild and dangerous.
Brattan Caldwell, a native of County Kildare, Ireland, migrated to the Thirteen Colonies in 1770. He arrived in Philadelphia and from there moved to Lancaster County. He joined with other pioneers and they followed the Susquehanna River and West Branch Susquehann River into the frontier. Brattan Caldwell and the other settlers arrived in what is now Woodward Township in 1772. They cleared land along the river it's tributaries. Caldwell married Elcy Hughes in the winter of 1775 on the south side of the river in Nippenose Township. This part of the West Branch Susquehanna River Valley was under the jurisdiction and protection of the colonial government of Pennsylvania. The Hughes' were married by a Northumberland County Justice of the Peace. It was the first marriage to take place in the settlements west of Lycoming Creek. Caldwell obtain legal rights to the land he has settled in 1784 following the second Treaty of Fort Stanwix.
Linden is the only village in Woodward Township. It sprung up as a shanty town during the construction of the Pennsylvania Canal. The contractors building the canal built the shanties for the laborers who were building the canal.
