Torresdale, originally Torrisdale, was named by Charles Macalester for his family's ancestral Scotland home.[1]
Before the Act of Consolidation, 1854, Torresdale had been part of Delaware Township of Philadelphia County, and before 1853, part of Lower Dublin Township of the same county.
In 1894, Torresdale was the site of the regatta of the Rowing Association of American Colleges.[2]
Long before the existence of what is referred to today as the Philadelphia Main Line, Torresdale, along with Holmesburg to its south and Andalusia to its north, had been Philadelphia's posh suburban neighborhood, as evidenced by Glen Foerd on the Delaware, a luxurious riverside estate and Andalusia, the Biddle estate, for which the village of Andalusia is named.
- Gia Carangi (1960-1986), model
- Boake Carter (1903-1944), national news commentator
- Francis Anthony Drexel (1824-1885), banker and philanthropist
- Katharine Drexel (1858-1955), Roman Catholic saint
- Michael Driscoll (born 1960), Philadelphia City Councilmember
- Edwin Henry Fitler (1825-1896), businessman and 75th mayor of Philadelphia
- Robert H. Foerderer (1860-1903), U.S. Congressman and businessman
- Virginia Knauer (1915-2011), politician
- William J. Green, III (born 1938), politician
- William J. Green Jr. (1910-1963), U.S. Congressman
"Torresdale", Historical Northeast Philadelphia: Stories and Memories ~1994, William C. English and Elaine D. Malinowski, Torresdale Historical Society