Anthony Township is a township in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 904 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Williamsport, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Anthony Township was formed from part of Lycoming Township on 7 September 1844 by the Pennsylvania General Assembly. It is named in honor of Joseph B. Anthony who was a judge in Lycoming County at the time.
When colonial settlers first arrived in what is now Anthony Township they were outside the western boundary of what was then the Province of Pennsylvania. These settlers were not under the jurisdiction or protection of any type from any of the Thirteen Colonies. They became known as the Fair Play Men. These men established their own form of government, known as the "Fair Play System," with three elected commissioners who ruled on land claims and other issues for the group. In a remarkable coincidence, the Fair Play Men made their own Declaration of Independence from Britain on July 4, 1776 beneath the "Tiadaghton Elm" on the banks of Pine Creek.
A German Baptist congregation was incorporated on 8 February 1879, under the title of the "German Baptist Church of Anthony Township." It was one of the first German Baptist churches founded in America along with two other churches in Lycoming County, one on Blooming Grove Road north of Williamsport and the other in Fairfield Township near Montoursville. These churches were more commonly known as the Dunker or Dunkard Churches for their practice of immersing believers three times, once in the name of the Father, once in the name of the Son, and once in the name of the Holy Spirit.
A spur of the plank road along Larrys Creek was built into Anthony Township, but it is not known how far it extended. (Landis claims it may have run nearly as far north as the covered bridge in Cogan House Township).
Anthony Township is bordered by Cogan House Township to the north, Lycoming Township to the east, Woodward Township to the south and Mifflin Township to the west.
