Bala Cynwyd ( ) is a community and
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
in
Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania
Lower Merion Township is a Township (Pennsylvania), township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Philadelphia Main Line. The township's name originates with the county of Merionethshire, Merioneth in north Wales ...
, United States. It is located on the
Philadelphia Main Line
The Philadelphia Main Line, known simply as the Main Line, is an informally delineated historical and Social class in the United States, social region of suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lying along the former Pennsylvania Railroad's onc ...
in
Southeastern Pennsylvania and borders the western edge of
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
at
U.S. Route 1 (City Avenue). The present-day community was originally two separate towns, Bala and Cynwyd, but was united as a singular community largely because the
U.S. Post Office
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal serv ...
, the Bala Cynwyd branch, served both towns using
ZIP Code 19004. The combining of the communities gives a total population of 9,285 as of the
2020 census. The community was long known as hyphenated Bala-Cynwyd. Bala and Cynwyd are currently served by separate stations on
SEPTA
SEPTA, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly four million people througho ...
's
Cynwyd Line of
Regional Rail
Regional rail is a public transport, public rail transport service that operates between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops than inter-city rail, and unlike commuter rail, operate beyond the limits of urban areas, connectin ...
.
Bala Cynwyd lies in the
Welsh Tract of
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
and was settled in the 1680s by Welsh
Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...
, who named it after the town of
Bala and the village of
Cynwyd in Wales. A mixed residential community made up predominantly of single-family detached homes, it extends west of the Philadelphia city limits represented by City Avenue from Old Lancaster Road at 54th Street west to Meeting House Lane and then along Manayunk and Conshohocken State Roads north to Mary Watersford Road, then east along Belmont Avenue back to City. This large residential district contains some of Lower Merion's oldest and finest stone mansions, built mainly from 1880 through the 1920s and located in the sycamore-lined district between Montgomery Avenue and Levering Mill Road, as well as split level tract houses built east of Manayunk Road just after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
History
The oldest commercial district and the original center of Bala Cynwyd straddles the bridge over the old Pennsylvania Railroad tracks, originally belonging to the Columbia Railroad and now part of
SEPTA
SEPTA, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly four million people througho ...
's Cynwyd Line, along Montgomery Avenue at Bala Avenue. This district, long on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
, was settled shortly after
William Penn
William Penn ( – ) was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...
's landing in Pennsylvania in 1682 and contains the village's oldest commercial buildings, some dating to the earliest years of the 19th century. Bala Avenue is an extension of this original town center and comprises a specialized commercial district of its own more than a century old; it has long been known for its children's clothing stores, women's dress and consignment shops, the Bala Theater and a number of small restaurants. The remainder of Bala Cynwyd's original commercial district extends south along Montgomery Avenue as part of the Bala Cynwyd-Merion Commercial District and is coextensive with the commercial center of
Merion, with its popular delicatessens and restaurants.
The village is home to
houses of worship of many
religions
Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural, t ...
. The oldest of these is Saint John's
Episcopal Church on Levering Mill Road, founded in 1863. Saint Matthias
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
is also found one block south of Montgomery on Bryn Mawr Avenue. Bala Cynwyd has also drawn a number of
Modern Orthodox and
Conservative Jews who live within walking distance of Lower Merion Synagogue and Congregation Adath Israel on Old Lancaster Road where Bala Cynwyd meets Merion. Churches of other denominations are located in nearby Narberth, Wynnewood, Merion, and Wynnefield/Overbrook.
20th century
The Neighborhood Club of Bala Cynwyd, established in 1906, works to preserve the residential character of the neighborhood and promote civic welfare and community spirit. It sponsors an annual
Independence Day
An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...
celebration on July 4 which begins in front of the Union Fire Association on Montgomery Avenue and ends at the Bala Cynwyd
Playground
A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people wi ...
. The
parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...
features neighborhood children riding decorated
bicycle
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...
s, marchers in
costume
Costume is the distinctive style of dress and/or makeup of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, occupation, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch—in short, culture.
The term also was traditionally used to describe typica ...
s,
clown
A clown is a person who performs physical comedy and arts in an Improvisational theatre#Comedy, open-ended fashion, typically while wearing distinct cosmetics, makeup or costume, costuming and reversing social norm, folkway-norms. The art of ...
s,
floats,
fire trucks,
police
The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...
, and public officials.
The Lower Merion Historical Society recently relocated its headquarters from Ashbridge House in Rosemont to the ancient Cynwyd Academy building, adjacent to Bala Cynwyd Middle School on Bryn Mawr Avenue in Cynwyd.
Among the claimants for
First Boy Scout Troop in the United States is
Troop 1 in Bala Cynwyd.
Bala Cynwyd has long been home to most of the broadcasting outlets in the Philadelphia region. In 1952,
CBS television station
WCAU-TV
WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jersey–licensed Tel ...
built its headquarters at the corner of City Avenue and Monument Road. Now an
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an network af ...
, the station was located there until 2018, when the studios moved to the
Comcast Technology Center in
Center City Philadelphia, though some operations remain at the former studios. A decade later,
ABC affiliate WFIL-TV moved to a new studio directly across the street from WCAU on City Avenue, just inside the Philadelphia city limits. The station, now ABC O&O
WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Owned and operated by the ABC television network through its ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on City Avenue in t ...
, is still based there today. Bala Cynwyd is also home to
Beasley Broadcast Group
Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc., based in Naples, Florida, is an owner/operator of radio stations in the United States. , the company owns 57 stations under the Beasley Media Group name.
History
The company was founded in 1961 by George G. Bea ...
's
WBEN-FM,
WMGK
WMGK (102.9 FM, "102-9 MGK") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Beasley Broadcast Group and broadcasts a classic rock radio format. The broadcast tower used by the station ...
,
WMMR
WMMR (93.3 FM, "93-3 WMMR") is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group through licensee Beasley Media Group, LLC and broadcasts an active rock radio format. ...
and
WPEN.
iHeartMedia
iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...
's
WDAS-FM,
WDAS-AM,
WUSL,
WRFF,
WUMR, and
WIOQ
WIOQ (102.1 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station broadcasts a contemporary hit radio radio format, format and is owned by iHeartMedia. The radio studio, studios and off ...
radio stations are located on Presidential Boulevard; independently owned
WBEB is located on City Avenue.
CBS's WGMP (now
WPHT
WPHT (1210 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station broadcasts a talk radio radio format, format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. Its studios are in Audacy's corporate headquarters on Market Stree ...
) left Bala Cynwyd to move to Philadelphia when NBC and CBS swapped stations in 1995, as did
WTEL (formerly WIP) and
WIP-FM
WIP-FM (94.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. and broadcasts a sports radio format. The WIP-FM offices and studios are co-located in Audacy's corporate headq ...
(formerly WYSP). As of 2016, after some moves in and out of Philadelphia, CBS stations
WXTU
WXTU (92.5 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Owned by Beasley Broadcast Group, the station broadcasts a country music format. Its studios and offices are located at 1 Bala Plaza on East City Avenu ...
,
WOGL, and
WTDY are located in Bala. Bala Cynwyd is also the corporate home of
Entercom Communications Corporation, which is poised to be the second largest owner of radio stations in the United States, following its announcement of a merger with CBS Radio February 2, 201
Opened in 1957, Bala Cynwyd On City Avenue (formerly Bala Cynwyd Shopping Center) lies a half mile south of the village center, bordering Philadelphia on
City Avenue
U.S. Route 1 (US 1) is a major north–south U.S. Route, extending from Key West, Florida, in the south to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canada–United States border in the north. In the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, US 1 runs for ...
. Its major outlets are
Acme Markets,
Olive Garden
Olive Garden is an American casual dining restaurant chain specializing in Italian-American cuisine. It is a unit of Darden Restaurants, Inc., which is headquartered in Orange County, Florida. As of 2022, Olive Garden restaurants accounted for ...
and
LA Fitness
Fitness International LLC is a North American gym chain with over 700 clubs across the United States and Canada. The company was founded in 1984 and is based in Irvine, California.
History
In 1984, the first LA Fitness was founded by founder C ...
;
Saks Fifth Avenue
Saks Fifth Avenue (Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain founded in 1867 by Andrew Saks. The first store opened in the F Street and 7th Street shopping districts, F Street shopping distric ...
is located a block to the east.
From 1946 to 1960, the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
had its headquarters located in Bala Cynwyd.
The
Lower Merion Academy-Cynwyd Elementary School-Bala Cynwyd Junior High School Complex and
West Laurel Hill Cemetery are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
.
Schools
Bala Cynwyd is served by the
Lower Merion School District, with its headquarters in
Ardmore.
school zoning is as follows: The vast majority of the CDP is zoned to Cynwyd Elementary School on Levering Mill Road, while some sections to the southwest are zoned to Merion Elementary School, and some small sections to the north are zoned to
Belmont Hills Elementary School on Madison Avenue. Almost all of the CDP is zoned to Bala Cynwyd Middle School on North Bryn Mawr Avenue, while small portions to the north are zoned to Welsh Valley Middle School. In almost all of the CDP, high school students living in Bala Cynwyd may choose between
Lower Merion High School
Lower Merion High School is a public high school in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, in the Main Line suburbs of Philadelphia. It is one of two high schools in the Lower Merion School District; the other one is Harriton High School. Lower Merion serves ...
in Ardmore and
Harriton High School in
Rosemont, while small portions to the north are zoned only to Harriton High School.
Another school in Bala Cynwyd is
Kohelet Yeshiva High School on Old Lancaster Road. Located on Montgomery Avenue at Bryn Mawr Avenue is Kosloff Torah Academy, an
Orthodox Jewish
Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tra ...
, private
all-girls high school serving the local and general Philadelphia region. Nearby on Levering Mill Road, Orthodox Jewish boys attend the Mesivta High School of Greater Philadelphia. The private
Catholic Merion Mercyan
Waldron Mercy Academiesare only a quarter mile up Montgomery Avenue in Merion. The bilingual
French International School of Philadelphia, on North Highland Avenue, teaches approximately 320 children from pre-kindergarten (K3) to eighth grade in French and English.
Library
The Bala Cynwyd Public Library, part of the six-branch
Lower Merion Library System, occupies a modern facility on Old Lancaster Road. It is home to more than 221,000 items and features up-to-date computer facilities and a dedicated children's library on the second floor. The system as a whole, with its central library located at Bryn Mawr's Ludington Memorial Library on South Bryn Mawr Avenue, is home to more than 1.4 million items and stands in the 99th percentile nationwide for annual resident visits and volumes per resident capita.
Notable people
*
Jane Amsterdam, magazine and newspaper editor
*
Hobey Baker, namesake of NCAA
men's hockey award
*
Tom Baker
Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and writer. He is best known for having played the Fourth Doctor, fourth and longest-serving incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction television ...
, Professor at
Penn Law
*
Chuck Barris
Charles Hirsch Barris (June 3, 1929 – March 21, 2017) was an American game show creator, producer, and host, author, and songwriter. A key crew member of several hugely successful game shows, he was the creator of ''The Dating Game'' (1965– ...
, American game show creator, producer, and host; songwriter; author
*
James A. Bland, 19th century minstrel and composer (
Oh, Dem Golden Slippers,
Carry Me Back to Old Virginny) is buried here at Merion Memorial Park
*
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he List of NBA players who have spent their entire career with one franchise, spent his entire 20-year career with t ...
, NBA Basketball player, attended Bala Cynwyd Middle School and Lower Merion High School
*
Paul Cava, photographer
*
Arthur Dantchik, billionaire co-founder of
Susquehanna International Group
*
Madeleine Dean,
U.S. representative
The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...
*
Robert Fagles, translator and Lower Merion High School graduate
*
Stan Fine, magazine gag cartoonist
*
Bob Garfield, co-host of ''
On the Media'' on ''
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
''
*
Alexander Haig
Alexander Meigs Haig Jr. (; 2 December 192420 February 2010) was United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House chief of staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Prior to and in between these cabine ...
,
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
general
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry.
In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...
and later
United States Secretary of State
The United States secretary of state (SecState) is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State.
The secretary of state serves as the principal advisor to the ...
*
Antonio Guiteras Holmes, Cuban politician in the 1930s, was born in Bala Cynwyd
*
Skip James
Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James (June 9, 1902October 3, 1969) was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter. AllMusic stated: "Coupling an oddball guitar tuning set against eerie, falsetto vocals, James' early recordings ...
, blues musician, is buried here at Merion Memorial Park
*
Bruce Marks (born 1957), American politician
*
Mirah
Mirah (born Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn) is an American musician and songwriter based in Brooklyn, New York. After getting her start in the music scene of Olympia, Washington, in the late 1990s, she released a number of well-received solo albums on ...
, singer-songwriter
*
Julie Nathanson, voice actress, hails from here
*
Jane Norman, actress best known for her role as Pixanne in the children's television program of the same name
*
Samuel Proof, starred in ''
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!'' on the
Adult Swim
Adult Swim (stylized as dult swimand s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...
network
*
Jack Rose, guitarist
*
Ben Shibe
Benjamin Franklin Shibe (January 23, 1838 – January 14, 1922) was an American sporting goods and baseball executive who was owner and president of the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League from 1901 until his death. He is credited with th ...
, sporting goods and baseball executive
Places of interest
*Merion Memorial Park is a historic cemetery where many prominent Black Philadelphians, among others, are buried. Its eight sections are named for notable figures in 19th-century abolitionism and civil rights:
Banneker,
Catto,
Lincoln,
Montgomery,
Reynolds,
Stevens,
Sumner
Sumner may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Mount Sumner, a mountain in the Rare Range, Antarctica
* Sumner Glacier, southern Graham Land, Antarctica
Australia
* Sumner, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane
New Zealand
* Sumner, New Zealand, a seasi ...
, and
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
.
*The
Cynwyd Heritage Trail is a linear park and rail-to-trail that connects Lower Merion Township to
Manayunk through the
Manayunk Bridge over the Schuylkill River.
*
West Laurel Hill Cemetery listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
In popular culture
*Bala Cynwyd was hometown to the fictional character Vida Boheme, a
drag queen
A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses Drag (entertainment), drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate Femininity, female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have ...
played by
Patrick Swayze
Patrick Wayne Swayze ( ; August 18, 1952 – September 14, 2009) was an American actor, singer, songwriter, and dancer. Known for his romantic, tough, and comedic roles in blockbusters and cult films, Swayze was nominated for three Golden Glob ...
in the 1995 movie ''
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar''. The respective scenes were filmed in
Montclair, New Jersey
Montclair is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a commercial and cultural hub of North Jersey and a diverse ...
.
*Bala Cynwyd was the location of a home invasion in the 2000 movie ''
Unbreakable''.
Notes
References
External links
Bala Cynwyd Business DistrictLower Merion School DistrictLower Merion Library SystemLower Merion Historical Society
{{authority control
Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia Main Line
Unincorporated communities in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Unincorporated communities in Pennsylvania
Welsh-American culture in Pennsylvania