The Borough of Penndel is along Business Route 1 in Lower Bucks County and, with its northern neighbor Langhorne Manor, is surrounded by Middletown Township. This area was part of a land grant for 860 acres along the Neshaminy Creek from William Penn to Thomas Langhorne in the late seventeenth century. Penndel was incorporated in 1899 as the Borough of Eden and was renamed Penndel in 1948. Business Route 1 travels through the Borough, and until the development of the nearby U.S. Route 1 highway (and later the Interstate system), it was a part of the north-south corridor running from Philadelphia to New York City.

From 1967 until 1997, the community was known throughout the area for the "Penndel Airplane," a 1954 Lockheed Super G Constellation airliner parked on top of Flannery's Restaurant on Route 1. The plane's interior was left intact, and served as a cocktail lounge and rented for parties. It eventually closed when it fell into disrepair, and today a gas station stands on the corner where this unusual landmark once rested.