Lower Merion Historical Society

06/14/2026

Happy Flag Day from the Lower Merion Historical Society! 🇺🇸

(Pictured: The old Bryn Mawr Hardware Store)

06/14/2026

Who remembers the Jack in the Box on Montgomery Ave. in Narberth? It was one of the few on the East Coast. 🍔

For some of us, these were the first tacos we ever ate.

06/12/2026

❄️ On a hot day like today, cool off with wintry vintage images of Lower Merion and Narberth. ❄️

06/11/2026

The Penn Wynne Library is part of the six-branch Lower Merion Library System. 📕📖📚

It dates its beginnings to a 1929 donation from the Penn Wynne Women’s Club. An enterprising group of women founded the library with seven dollars and just 35 books. It now has about 51,000 volumes.

Penn Wynne Library

06/10/2026

Samuel Yellin (1884–1940) was an American master blacksmith and metal designer.

His distinctive work is featured in the Washington National Cathedral and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and many colleges, universities, and commercial properties.

His detailed ironwork lives on at the Samuel Yellin Metalworkers in Bryn Mawr.

Our colleague Greg Prichard, Lower Merion Township’s staff historic preservation planner, wrote a fascinating story on Yellin’s unusual Wynnewood home, which was located on Lancaster Ave…and what happened to it. (Hint: It’s no longer there, and cake fills the current space).

Samuel Yellin is one of the most revered American iron workers of the 20th century. The creative tradesman, well-known for his whimsical eye for design, shook up the Main Line in the 1920s with a home renovation fit for a king. Greg Prichard has the backstory of Yellin's long-gone fortification

06/09/2026

Lower Merion: Our history is written in stone!

Visitors to our area are often astonished by the distinctive glimmery gray, silver, or brown stone that makes up many homes, bridges, walls, and other structures in Lower Merion and nearby areas. You can find it in every creek, stream, and river, on hills and in rocky valleys.

It’s called Wissahickon schist, and it’s made of sparkly mica that rubs off on your hands and makes shiny dust on the ground. In fact, the word “mica” comes from the Latin micare, meaning "shimmer"! Some schist contains tiny garnets.

It was named by Florence Bascom, who was America’s first woman geologist.

Schist was formed so long ago that humans did not witness its formation, nor do geologists agree on exactly when it was formed. Geologists do know that schist started as mud millions of years ago. It compressed into shale, and then finally schist as it rose to the surface.

Some of us here at the Society remember having fun with the schist as kids—one of us took little slabs to make windows for little forts that he built for little Army men. Another one of us would rub the schist onto paper, and then cut the paper to make sparkly rings and bracelets. 

Is your home made of Wissahickon schist? Do you see schist structures on your daily travels?

When you drive or walk in our area, look around and enjoy this beautiful gleaming stone that is everywhere. It’s the schist!

https://lowermerionhistory.org/

06/08/2026

Even in early days in US history, Philadelphia was a major city, with many roads radiating out to surrounding towns.

Benjamin Franklin, the Colonial Postmaster, insisted on having milestones erected, because they expedited mail delivery by keeping the postal riders on schedule. These milestones also became popular as a way of identifying the location of a property.

Milestones 5 through 9 were erected on the north side of Lancaster Ave in 1795 by Narberth’s Joseph Price, who was awarded the contract by the State of Pennsylvania.

These mile markers marked the distance to the Market Street Bridge (30th Street) at the Schuylkill. They are quite accurate! Would B. Franklin expect anything less?

On the front side, which faces the roadway, appears the appropriate mileage numeral followed by “M to P” or “Miles to Philadelphia.”

The mile marker shown is in front of the parking lot next to the Lower Merion Township administration building in Ardmore.

Benjamin Franklin

06/06/2026

Yesterday and today in Lower Merion. Levering Mill and Montgomery Avenue looking toward Old Lancaster.

06/05/2026

Built of multi-colored fieldstones with Georgian period proportions, Ashbridge House was erected in 1769.

The Ashbridge family left the house and grounds to Lower Merion Township in 1940.

Over the past several years, Lower Merion has spent millions of dollars renovating the historic house. Now it has reopened as the New Horizons Senior Center.

06/05/2026

Samuel F. Stadelman’s Pharmacy was built c. 1868 and was the first drugstore on the Main Line. It was located on the southwest corner of Lancaster Pike and Cricket Avenue in Ardmore. It advertised its proximity to the heavily used train station.

The first telephone switchboard in the area was installed there in 1885.