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Gladwyne History

Gladwyne, Lower Merion’s first town, evolved at the intersection of the roads now called Youngsford and Righters Mill.  It is still a quiet, walkable country village, until 1890 known as Merion Square.  Mill Creek flows through Gladwyne; most of the many mills have vanished or are in ruins.  By 1880, the village had 35 houses, a few stores, and 207 inhabitants.   

Area residents depended on a stage that operated from Gladwyne to Ardmore, or on the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad which had a station, Rose Glen, near the banks of the Schuylkill River.  The Merion Square Hotel (now the Old Guard House Inn) was built on land that was once part of a 250-acre tract of Welshman Richard Walter.  It was built in three stages, the earliest dates from about 1810-1817, completely surrounded by farm land.  Although there is no evidence that the building was in existence earlier, there is a legend that during the Revolution colonial troops stopped there to quench their thirst.  The hotel’s next proprietor was Thomas Haley, Johnson’s son-in-law, who ran the establishment for some years.
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The Merion Square settlement, in early years, became known as War Office because John Rawlins, a captain of a volunteer rifle company, recruited soldiers there for the War of 1812.  Years before, John Young, a prominent landowner, was appointed by the Pennsylvania War Office to confiscate flour and other supplies in the area during the Revolution.  Later, as the hamlet grew, a new owner, David N. Egbert, changed the village name to the less bellicose Merion Square.  Egbert’s store later became Cornman’s, then a hardware store.  Gladwyne is a contrived name and was probably first used by the Reading Railroad for its stop at Mill Creek to avoid confusion with other Merions in the township.

Source: Lower Merion Historical Society
Gladwyne 's History-- More