Historical Marker Program

Historical Marker Program

The Historical Advisory Committee (HAC) has completed its review and finalized the text for several important historical markers and would like to propose this to the Board of Supervisors at their upcoming meeting on Tuesday, February 25th. We're pleased to share what is proposed below. Any feedback can be directed to contactus@lowergwynedd.org. We welcome any feedback or input regarding this program and the proposed markers. 

Bethlehem Baptist Church
In 1885, 19 African American settlers from Virginia met as a prayer group in the Spring House home of James and Mary Fillman. From that group the Bethlehem Baptist Church was founded in Penllyn in 1888. Under the dynamic ministry of their first pastor, The Reverend Doctor Caesar A. Edwards, the church and neighborhood prospered, creating one of the most respected African American communities in the area. The church stood at this site from 1908 until 2006 when it relocated to Dager Road and Penllyn Pike.

Gwynedd Corners
This intersection of Sumneytown and DeKalb Pikes, formerly The Great Road and The State Road, was known as Gwynedd Corners in the 18th and 19th centuries. At the northwest corner stands Gwynedd Friends Meeting, established by Welsh Quakers in 1699. Mary Ambler, the hero of the Great Train Wreck of 1856, is buried in the meetinghouse graveyard and Ambler Borough is her namesake. At the southwest corner is the William Penn Inn. Established in 1714, it is the oldest continuously operating inn in Pennsylvania.

Penllyn School
Penllyn Park stands at the site of what was once the racially segregated Penllyn Elementary School, built in 1923. In 1954, the United States Supreme Court deemed racially segregated schools unconstitutional. However, Penllyn Elementary remained segregated, and its children were refused admission to the one other public school in the district. The Thaddeus Smith, Phillip Queenan, Joseph Stewart, and George Robinson families together successfully sued the Lower Gwynedd School Board in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas. The Penllyn Elementary School was closed in 1955, ending segregated schools in Lower Gwynedd Township, an important step in the long fight toward achieving equity in education.

Penllyn Village
Gwynedd pioneer Edward Foulke named his village Penllyn after his Welsh ancestor, Rhirid Flaidd, the 12th century Lord of Penllyn. In 1777, 16-year-old Sally Wister, a Quaker, observed and documented the Continental Army in Penllyn. In 1827, local conservative Quakers split from the Gwynedd Friends Meeting to build the Orthodox Cottage, later a stop on the Underground Railroad. In the 1880s, African Americans migrated to Penllyn from the south to start a new life, and today their descendants still call the village home. In the 1980s, committed citizens overcame great odds to “Save the Penllyn Woods,” preserving over 50 acres of woods and fields.

Spring House Village
Likely named after the house and artesian spring on today’s Old Bethlehem Pike, Spring House Village originated at this intersection of Bethlehem and Sumneytown Pikes in the early 1700s. Both roads were originally trails formed by the Lenni-Lenape natives. The Maxatawney Trail became Sumneytown Pike, laid out in 1735 to allow for travel from Gwynedd to Lower Salford and beyond. Bethlehem Pike was established in the 1740s to connect Philadelphia and Bethlehem. Spring House Village grew around the stores, hotels, smith shops, and the Spring House Tavern that helped travelers on their journeys.

Historic Marker Program Information & Guidelines

Program Guidelines

Historic Marker Application