Originally known as Mansfield Township's High Banks section, the township of Florence incorporated in 1872. The early farming community was laid out in 1850 by the Florence City Company. It then became a resort area for Philadelphia's elite, who traveled upriver by steamboat or by train on the Camden and Amboy division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The early population was largely Irish, coming to work in the Florence Iron Works, established in 1857. Originally the Jones Foundry, the ironworks produced cast-iron pipe, Mathews fire hydrants, and cylinders for Baldwin locomotives. The foundry is still operating and has been a mainstay of the community for nearly one hundred fifty years.