It was a meeting in June, 1869 when J. Henry Askin offered a lot and a
money commitment if a group of Episcopalians would build a Church and
parsonage near his home in Rosemont. The offer was rejected and instead
the group built a church building on the north side of Lancaster Avenue
immediately east of the Villanova University stadium.
Almost everyone you ask will insist that Bryn Mawr Hospital was the
first hospital on the Main Line, but we are told that this is not so.
Good Shepherd Hospital was set up in the 1870s, 19 years before Bryn
Mawr Hospital was founded. The original purpose of the hospital was to
care for children whose parents could not afford to give them medical
services. An old farm house, belonging to Villanova College, on Ithan
Ave, near the present P & W bridge, was rented for a hospital.
In 1903 the name was changed to the Home and Hospital of the Good
Shepherd, and in 1915 it became necessary to restrict admissions to
only boys between the ages of 7 and 14. The hospital was conducted as a
parochial institution for 47 years, until June 1922 when it merged with
the Church Farm School at Glen Loch.
Church of the Good Shepherd – 1894
1116 E. Lancaster Avenue
In 1892 Henry Banks French proposed to build a large church building
for the Church of the Good Shepherd, in loving memory of his deceased
wife. His offer was accepted, land was purchased on the south side of
Lancaster Ave, at Montrose Ave. in Rosemont and construction began. The
corner stone for the new Church was laid on June 17, 1893 and the first
service was conducted on May 27, 1894.
Church of the Good Shepherd – Today
1116 E. Lancaster Avenue
