Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania | |
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 Bala Cynwyd Library, part of theLower Merion Library System | |
  Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania Location of Bala Cynwyd Show map of Pennsylvania Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania (the United States) Show map of the United States | |
| Coordinates:40°00′27″N75°14′03″W / 40.00750°N 75.23417°W /40.00750; -75.23417 | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Pennsylvania |
| County | Montgomery |
| Township | Lower Merion |
| Settled | 1682 |
| Elevation | 302 ft (92 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 9,285 |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| Zip Code | 19004 |
| Area codes | 484 and 610 |
Bala Cynwyd (/ˌbæləˈkɪnwʊd/BAL-əKIN-wuud)[a] is a community andcensus-designated place inLower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located on thePhiladelphia Main Line in thePhiladelphia metropolitan area, and borders the western edge ofPhiladelphia atU.S. Route 1 (City Avenue). The present-day community was originally two separate towns, Bala and Cynwyd, but was united as a single community largely because theU.S. Post Office, the Bala Cynwyd branch, served both towns, later usingZIP Code 19004. The combining of the communities gives a total population of 9,285 as of the2020 census.[1] The community was long known as hyphenated Bala-Cynwyd. Bala and Cynwyd are currently served by separate stations onSEPTA'sCynwyd Line ofRegional Rail.
Bala Cynwyd lies in theWelsh Tract ofPennsylvania and was settled in the 1680s by WelshQuakers, who named it after the town ofBala and the village ofCynwyd 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 afterWorld War II.
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 9,285 | — |
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 ofSEPTA's Cynwyd Line, along Montgomery Avenue at Bala Avenue. This district, long on theNational Register of Historic Places, was settled shortly afterWilliam Penn's landing in Pennsylvania in 1682 and contains the village's oldest commercial buildings, some dating to the earliest years of the 19th century.[2] 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 ofMerion, with its popular delicatessens and restaurants.[3]
The village is home tohouses of worship of manyreligions. The oldest of these is Saint John'sEpiscopal Church on Levering Mill Road, founded in 1863. Saint MatthiasCatholic Church is also found one block south of Montgomery on Bryn Mawr Avenue. Bala Cynwyd has also drawn a number ofModern Orthodox andConservative 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.
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 annualIndependence Day celebration on July 4 which begins in front of the Union Fire Association on Montgomery Avenue and ends at the Bala CynwydPlayground. Theparade features neighborhood children riding decoratedbicycles, marchers incostumes,clowns,floats,fire trucks,police, and public officials.[citation needed]
The Lower Merion Historical Society recently[when?] 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 forFirst Boy Scout Troop in the United States isTroop 1 in Bala Cynwyd.
Bala Cynwyd has long been home to most of the broadcasting outlets in the Philadelphia region. In 1952,CBS television stationWCAU-TV built its headquarters at the corner of City Avenue and Monument Road. Now anNBCowned-and-operated station, the station was located there until 2018, when the studios moved to theComcast Technology Center inCenter 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&OWPVI-TV, is still based there today. Bala Cynwyd is also home toBeasley Broadcast Group'sWBEN-FM,WMGK,WMMR andWPEN.iHeartMedia'sWDAS-FM,WDAS-AM,WUSL,WRFF,WUMR, andWIOQ radio stations are located on Presidential Boulevard; independently ownedWBEB is located on City Avenue.CBS's WGMP (nowWPHT) left Bala Cynwyd to move to Philadelphia when NBC and CBS swapped stations in 1995, as didWTEL (formerly WIP) andWIP-FM (formerly WYSP). As of 2016, after some moves in and out of Philadelphia, CBS stationsWXTU,WOGL, andWTDY 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, 2017.[1]Archived February 5, 2017, at theWayback Machine
Opened in 1957, Bala Cynwyd On City Avenue[4] (formerly Bala Cynwyd Shopping Center) lies a half mile south of the village center, bordering Philadelphia onCity Avenue. Its major outlets areAcme Markets,Olive Garden andLA Fitness;Saks Fifth Avenue is located a block to the east.
From 1946 to 1960, theNational Football League had its headquarters located in Bala Cynwyd.[5][6]
TheLower Merion Academy-Cynwyd Elementary School-Bala Cynwyd Junior High School Complex andWest Laurel Hill Cemetery are listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.[7]
Bala Cynwyd is served by theLower Merion School District,[8] with its headquarters inArdmore.
As of 2024[update] school zoning is as follows:[9] 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 toBelmont Hills Elementary School on Madison Avenue.[10] 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.[11] In almost all of the CDP, high school students living in Bala Cynwyd may choose betweenLower Merion High School in Ardmore andHarriton High School inRosemont, while small portions to the north are zoned only to Harriton High School.[12]
Another school in Bala Cynwyd isKohelet Yeshiva High School on Old Lancaster Road. Located on Montgomery Avenue at Bryn Mawr Avenue is Kosloff Torah Academy, anOrthodox Jewish, privateall-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 Mercy andWaldron Mercy Academies are only a quarter mile up Montgomery Avenue in Merion. The bilingualFrench International School of Philadelphia, on North Highland Avenue, teaches approximately 320 children from pre-kindergarten (K3) to eighth grade in French and English.[13]
The Bala Cynwyd Public Library, part of the six-branchLower 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.
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