Wayne, Pennsylvania

Wayne is an unincorporated community and a U.S. Post Office located on the Main Line, centered in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. While the center of Wayne is in Radnor Township, Wayne extends into both Tredyffrin Township in Chester County and Upper Merion Township in Montgomery County.

The center of the Wayne business district is the intersection of Lancaster Avenue and Wayne Avenue, its main street. The historic Wayne station is located one block north of this intersection. The Wayne business district also includes a post office, a cinema, a library, the Radnor Middle School, and several banks, stores, restaurants, and other commercial establishments. Other institutions and attractions in Wayne include the Valley Forge Military Academy (with a monument from the Battle of the Bulge located by the parade ground) and the headquarters of the Traffic Pulse traffic information service.

History

Wayne was originally named Louella.

Wayne's development began when a railroad stop called Cleaver's Landing was established. It was renamed Wayne Station after General Anthony Wayne. Parcels in the area totalling 293 acres (1.2 km²) were bought by banker J.H. Askin, where he built Louella House and developed some of the first homes in the area.

His and surrounding land were bought in 1880 by banker A.J. Drexel and newspaper editor G.W. Childs, to form a larger development they called Wayne Estate. In a brochure from 1887 about their development they noted they had provided Wayne with "water, light and drainage — the three great conveniences of a large city — by the most approved modern methods." They described Wayne Estate as follows:

The suburban village known as Wayne, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, fourteen miles from Philadelphia, differs so much from the ordinary town allowed to grow up hap-hazard and to develop conveniences as population increases, that it is necessary, in describing it as it appears, to keep in mind some facts about its history.

Wayne is not an accidental aggregation of cottages; it is a town built by design, and provided at the start with all the conveniences to which residents of cities are accustomed and which they are so apt to miss and long for when they go into the country or even into the suburbs of a great city. The scheme of the town was well thought out and planned before any of the new cottages were built, and, as it was undertaken by liberal gentlemen of abundant means, no expense was spared in the preliminary municipal work.

Geography

While it's easy to put your finger on a map at the intersection of Lancaster & Wayne Avenues (40° 02' 38"N, 75° 23' 16"W) in northern Delaware County, Pennsylvania, USA, and proclaim the center of Wayne; it's harder to figure out where "Wayne" ends. Go a mile or five in any direction on that map and you'll see town names like Strafford, St. Davids, and Chesterbrook on the map, but ask a resident there what their address is and you'll likely hear them say Wayne. This phenomna is due to the US Post Office in Wayne. The Wayne PO's 19087 Zip code spans a large, oddly shaped, area which includes parts of Delаware, Montgomery and Chester Counties. But ask who they pay taxes to, none of them will say Wayne. Then the answers will be Radnor, Upper Merion and Tredyffrin Townships.

Education

Pupils in the Radnor Township portion of Wayne attend schools in Radnor Township School District, while pupils in the Tredyffrin portion attend schools in Tredyffrin/Easttown School District. Those in the northeastern portion of the community in Upper Merion Township attend the Upper Merion Area School District.

Students in Radnor Township attend Radnor High School. Students in Tredyffrin Township attend Conestoga High School. Students in Upper Merion Township attend Upper Merion Area High School.

The Valley Forge Military Academy is also located in Wayne.

The Wayne Art Center was established in 1930 as the first art center on the Main Line.

Points of interest

• Chanticleer Garden
• Anthony Wayne Theatre

External links

• Welcome to Wayne
• The Suburban and Wayne Times
• Wayne Business Association
• Wayne Station, on the "R5 Paoli/Thorndale" line, from the SEPTA Regional Rail website
• Church of the Saviour at 651 North Wayne Avenue
• Wayne Presbyterian Church, established 1870

History

• Wayne History Online
• Pages from a 1997 Bryn Mawr College student research project on Wayne Estates:
  • Map of Wayne in 1900
  • Description of Wayne Estate
• Chesterbrook retells the story of Wayne for the 20th century
• Wayne Hotel history

40°02′38″N 75°23′16″W