Lower Merion Historical Society

The Lower Merion Historical Society

« Lower Merion History

Videos

Public Programs

Lower Merion TV: Eye On

  • Jerry points to a historical map on the wallLower Merion Historical Society

    Jerry Francis, Historical Society president, introduces this special library of local maps, photographs,
    documents and objects housed in a restored 1812 school building. (2014)

  • giving a speech on the station porch, group standing behind a ribbonCynwyd Train Station

    Jerry Francis, Historical Society president, guides us through the 1890 train station, its recent restoration
    and the Cynwyd Heritage Trail. (2013)

Living History With Ted Goldsborough

Ted Goldsborough, past president of The Lower Merion Historical Society, interviews participants about Lower Merion
or Narberth.

  • group of smiling adults and young adultsABC House

    Dr. Patricia Krisch: enabling inner city kids to attend Lower Merion High School (2015)

  • attached 3-story brick housesAffordable Housing in Lower Merion

    Maryam Phillips & Nolan Atkinson, former Township commissioners on projects 1970-2015 (2015)

  • smiling family photo, mother, father, son, infant daughter“Chief” Anderson

    Christina Anderson, granddaughter, the life and times in Bryn Mawr of the WW II Tuskegee Airmen instructor.
    (January 2014)

  • large group poses in front of school buildingArdmore Junior High

    Kenneth Trotter & Dennis Dool, retired teachers, recall the special feelings under the maxim “Enter to
    Learn Go Forth to Serve”. (2014)

  • Atkision points to a detail on a photoNolan Atkinson, Jr., Esq.

    Lower Merion’s first African-American Commissioner remembers growing up in Bryn Mawr in the 1950s. (2012)

  • 1950s class photoBala Cynwyd Junior High, 1955

    Lita Indzel Cohen and Marlene Bronstein Dubin’s real-life “Happy Days” (2012)

  • head and shoulders shot of a young man in military uniformLt. General Julius Becton

    One of the highest-ranking African Americans in U.S. history grew up in Bryn Mawr in the 1930s and ’40s.
    (9/11/2013)

  • four men in formal attireMax Buten

    Max’s is among the early Jewish families in Lower Merion, of Buten Paints and Buten Museum of Wedgwood
    renown. (June-July 2012)

  • letter on letterhead from the 'Ardmore Chroncle featuring Russ Byerley's Newsletter'Russell
    Byerley’s WWII letters from LM students

    Son David Byerley, class of 1945, remembers the War at Lower Merion High School. (October 2012)

  • 3-story brick school buildingCynwyd School Centennial, 2014

    Arlene Flicker, retired Cynwyd School teacher (February 2014)

  • train station, tracks in foregroundCynwyd Station

    Jerry Francis, Historical Society President, discusses the history and revitalization of the 1890
    Pennsylvania Railroad station (April 2015)

  • whitewashed 18th or 19th-century two-story house with clothesline in frontRiver Road Before the
    Expressway

    Helene Porter Dixon’s family ran a store on River Road at Mill Creek in the 1950s. (February-March 2011)

  • historic marker reads 'Site of the Ardmore Avenue School, built c. 1875 - demolished 1965'School
    Desegregation in Lower Merion

    Samuel and Dorothy Edgerton were local members of the NAACP in the 1960s. (September 2013)

  • portraits of a woman and man in dark formal 19th-century clothingThe Oldest Store on the Main
    Line

    David Fish is a third-generation jeweler in Bryn Mawr (January-February 2012)

  • Giersch Cabinet Maker Shop; 2 boys sitting on the front porchDr. Herman C. Giersch

    Growing up in Bryn Mawr before WWII, teaching music in Lower Merion schools, liberating a concentration camp.
    Recorded with Ed Minshall. (March 2012)

  • Ted
    Goldsborough

    On growing up in Narberth, 28 years teaching in Lower Merion, and the organizations he’s been involved with.

  • Theobald Harsch, 1900
    Narberth contractor

    Edward Davis Lewis of Gladwyne, Harsch’s grandson. (August 2013)

  • dump truck with 'Rock Hill Quarry' written on side in front of a rock cliffRock Hill Quarry

    Patrick McCabe, Jr.’s family ran the business for decades. (2012-13)

  • fireman driving a vintage firetruckMerion Fire Company

    Tom Hayden, Fire Chief of the first fire brigade in the township, recalls its history, equipment and the
    fires it fought. (December 2014)

  • front view of Merion Tribute House on its lawnMerion Tribute House

    Colette Speakman, manager of the Tribute House, dedicated May 1924 to those who served in The Great War.

  • aerial view of Suburban Square showing neighboring housesLife in Early Penn Wynne and Ardmore

    Edward Minshall’s family were early settlers in 1920s Penn Wynne and worked for Autocar in Ardmore.
    (April/May 2011)

  • old elementary school class photo, white kids in front rows, blacks separated in the back rowMoment
    of Integration

    Wendell Holland and Michael Antonoplos as students experienced the integration of Lower Merion public schools
    in 1963. (2013)

  • Ms. MonierPhotos of
    Early Bala Cynwyd and Merion Park

    97-year-old Gladys Baker Reynolds Monier, born 1914, shares memories and photos. (2011)

  • the 1892 Narberth Public School buildingNarberth Public School

    Robert Jordan and Caryn McTighe Musil attended NPS through eighth grade in the 1950s. (2014)

  • early car in front of a houseNarbrook Park

    Elaine Reed and Louise Slama, residents, discuss the unique Narberth community. (2014)

  • Armore Public Library façadeChildhood on Spring Ave., Ardmore

    Maryam Walker Puller Phillips became head librarian at Ardmore, director of the Township Libraries and a
    Township Commissioner. (2014)

  • a smoke-belching locomotiveWorking on the Railroad

    Frank Weer of Gladwyne worked for the Pennsy, the Reading, and Conrail. (October/November 2011)

Armistice Day Centennial at the Merion Tribute House

WFIL-TV Community Salutes 1965-66

These three episodes were preserved in the home of a local resident until they were given to Lower Merion Township in
2019. The 30-minute videos open on the Lower Merion TV website.