Wayne, Pennsylvania

Keystone Marker for Wayne

Wayne is an unincorporated community 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 Wayne was designated the Downtown Wayne Historic District in 2012. Considering the large area served by the Wayne post office, the community may extend slightly into Easttown Township, Chester County, as well.

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 hotel, a library, the new Radnor Middle School, and several banks, stores, restaurants, cafes, bars and other commercial establishments. Other institutions and attractions in Wayne include the Wayne Hotel, Chanticleer Garden, the Valley Forge Military Academy (with a monument from the Battle of the Bulge located by the parade ground) and the headquarters of Traffic Pulse (NAVTEQ Traffic), a world wide traffic information provider.

History

"Louella" home of J. Henry Askin, founder of Wayne, PA

Downtown Wayne, with an AT&T tower in the background

Wayne was originally named Louella, after founder J. Henry Askin's daughters Louisa and Ella.

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 totaling 293 acres (1.2 km²) were bought by banker J.H. Askin, where he built a mansion named "Louella" after his daughters Louisa and Ella. "Louella" was described as an 80-room stone building with a large porch overlooking manicured lawn. 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. More homes and a hotel were then built. 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

Wayne is located on the Main Line (the Paoli/Thorndale Line on SEPTA Regional Rail). The central business district of Wayne is located at the intersection of Lancaster and Wayne Avenues in Radnor Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The area served by the Wayne zip code (19087) is large and encompasses areas both in Radnor Township and in the neighboring adjacent municipalities of Upper Merion in Montgomery County and Tredyffrin in Chester County, including the communities of Radnor, Strafford, St. Davids, and Chesterbrook.

Economy

Kenexa and SunGard are based in Wayne.

Education

Conestoga High School

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 and College is also located in Wayne.

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

YSC Academy

The Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer opened its own private school called YSC Academy on September 3, 2013. The Wayne-based academy is designed for student-athletes the club aims to groom for professional soccer. The initial 32 pupils already had experience playing for one of the Union's academy and Juniors teams.

Demographics

House in the North Wayne Historic District

Wayne is neither an incorporated area nor a census-designated place, all the data is for the ZIP code 19087. As of the census of 2000, there were 30,892 people and 12,662 households residing in the community. The population density was 2,079 people per square mile. The racial makeup of the community was 92.1% White, 3.9% Asian, 2.8% African American, 0.30% from other races, and 0.80% from two or more races. 1.6% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

The median income for a household in the community was $85,058, and the median income for a family was $105,680. The per capita income for the community was $47,220. About 1.6% of families and 4.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.9% of those under age 18 and 11.1% of those age 65 or over.

Notable residents, past and present

House in the South Wayne Historic District

• Raul Ibanez
• Catherine Clark
• Larry Fitzgerald
• Mark Herzlich
• Karl Kirchwey
• Ned Martin
• Anna Moffo
• Lisa Raymond
• Jerry Spinelli
• Thomas F. Wilson
• Richard M. Helms
• Rafael Robb
• Josh Wurman tornado and hurricane researcher
• Robert Elmore organist, composer, teacher

Points of interest

• Wayne Hotel
• Chanticleer Garden

  

  Chanticleer Garden

• Radnor Trail System
• Anthony Wayne Theatre - art deco-style theatre

External links

• The Suburban and Wayne Times
• Wayne Station, on the Paoli/Thorndale Line, from the SEPTA Regional Rail website
• Wayne Presbyterian Church, established 1870
• Explore Wayne, PA

History

• Pages from a 1997 Bryn Mawr College student research project on Wayne Estates:
  • Description of Wayne Estate
• Chesterbrook retells the story of Wayne for the 20th century
• Wayne Hotel
• On the History of Radnor Township and Wayne
• Anthony Wayne Theatre