{"id":27,"date":"1949-10-14T00:00:32","date_gmt":"1949-10-14T05:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/collection\/articles\/ytmt\/?p=27"},"modified":"2016-06-26T17:17:54","modified_gmt":"2016-06-26T22:17:54","slug":"27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/?p=27","title":{"rendered":"Wayne Estate era Churches \u2013 Presbyterian, St. Mary\u2019s Memorial Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t<\/span>At a later date the writer of this column wants to devote an entire week\u2019s space to each of the churches in the Township, giving in some detail their history and development. For the moment, however, it is interesting to note just what churches were here at the time when the Wayne Estate houses were built, giving their history up to about 1890. For this information the column is mostly indebted to the two Wayne Estate booklets from which so much of its material for this period has been drawn.<\/p>\n

\t<\/span>One of these booklets states, \u201cProtestant, Episcopal, Baptist and Presbyterian churches in the town and Roman Catholic churches at Villanova and Berwyn, not far off\u201d. Although the oldest church now standing in Wayne is the Presbyterian on Lancaster avenue, the Baptists had had a meeting house at the corner of Wayne avenue and Conestoga road since 1841. The present building as we now see it, although in disuse as a church for some years past, was erected upon the site of the old building in 1889.. The pastor, the Rev. John Miller, was called to the church January 7, 1889, and entered upon the work \u201cthe first Sabbath in March of the same year\u201d.<\/p>\n

\t<\/span>These services must have been held elsewhere for a few months as the church which is described as a \u201cneat and attractive structure\u201d was not opened for service until the 3rd of January, 1890. Most interesting of all is the fact that it was dedicated, free of debt, November 30, 1892, the 50th anniversary of the church under charter.<\/p>\n

\t<\/span>The original Presbyterian Church, of which the cornerstone was laid May 12, 1870, by the Rev. John Chambers of Philadelphia, stands to the right of the present building, and is known as \u201cthe Chapel\u201d. This church building, without encumbrance and with a small endowment was presented to the Presbyterian congregation by J. Henry Askin as a memorial to his father and mother. At this juncture it is interesting to quote from the recent brochure issued by the church in connection with its building fund.<\/p>\n

\t<\/span>\u201cRight from the beginning, those Charter members of the Wayne Presbyterian Church saw clearly the broad scope of their responsibility. In the building of this new community it would not be enough simply to maintain services of public worship. There would be need to be a teaching ministry for the children and youth and a friendly outreach to foster community fellowship.<\/p>\n

\t<\/span>\u201cIt was on June 12, 1870, that the Sunday School was first connected. From that humble beginning, with only five children, the Wayne Presbyterian Sunday School grew rapidly. As early as 1889, its enrollment of 87 (a figure substantially larger than the Church membership of that year) necessitated the building of a chapel to accommodate the steadily increasing Sunday School.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t<\/span>By 1890 \u201cthe parallel growth of the Congregation and Sunday School required the making of — plans for the development of new facilities\u201d. On May 12, 1892, the corner-stone of the new church was laid, \u201ca stately and costly structure of the early English Gothic style of architecture,\u201d to quote again from the Wayne Estate booklet, which also describes the location as \u201cdesirably situated on Lancaster avenue, and its center position makes it easy of access from all parts of the village.\u201d This building is the Presbyterian Church as we now know it except for the Church School building, which was added to it in 1922.<\/p>\n

\t<\/span>The Methodist Episcopal Church, according to the pictures in the real estate brochure, looked in the early nineties just as it does today, even to the H. L. Badger house directly to the South of it, and with the stone pillars of Dr. Elmer\u2019s driveway just showing across the street. The church is described as \u201cbeautifully situated at the corner of Audubon and Runnymede avenues – the dates of the principal events in its history may serve as illustrating the growth of Wayne itself. The first service was held in April, 1890, The corner-stone of the church was laid in September, 1890, and the edifice was dedicated June 28, 1891. On the first anniversary of dedication, June, 1892, the new and beautiful pipe organ was dedicated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t<\/span>Interior and exterior pictures of St. Mary\u2019s Memorial Church built in 1889-90 \u201con a lot of ground at the intersection of Lancaster and Louella avenues, presented by the Wayne Estate\u201d show the church little changed in the sixty years that have passed. \u201cThe total length of the building, exclusive of the porch\u201d, so reads the description, \u201cis 113 feet, and its width across the trancept is 82 feet. In style it is an English Village Church, with a massive tower at the corner of the north trancept, rising to the height of about 80 feet, and containing an exceptionally fine chime of ten bells, varying in weight from 230 to 2100 pounds. The material of the Church is Avondale stone with cut work of Indiana limestone. The nave occupies the entire length of the building, the roof being supported by heavy Gothic braces. The base of the Tower forms a spacious Baptistry, floored with mosaic, and there are clergy and choir vestries on the South of the chancel. The chancel itself has a depth of 33 feet, and is separated from the nave by a richly carved oaken Rood-screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t<\/span>Opened for service on Easter Sunday, April 6, 1890, the building is a memorial to Mr. and Mrs. Harry Conrad of Philadelphia. Its memorial character has been \u201caccentuated by various gifts, such as windows, brass work, paintings, etc., in memory of others. A parish house, connected with the church by a porte-cochere and corridor, is 56 by 54 feet, and contains Sunday and Infant School rooms, class rooms, a library, kitchen, etc.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t<\/span>The entire group of buildings, including the Rector\u2019s house, stood originally on an undivided lot of nearly four acres. The Township Building was the original Rector\u2019s house, the present Rectory having been built at a later date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At a later date the writer of this column wants to devote an entire week\u2019s space to each of the churches in the Township, giving in some detail their history and development. For the moment, however, it is interesting to note just what churches were here at the time when the Wayne Estate houses were…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[28,29,16,6],"class_list":["post-27","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-churches","tag-st-marys-church","tag-wayne-estate","tag-wayne-presbyterian-church"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1070,"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions\/1070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radnorhistory.org\/archive\/articles\/ytmt\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}