Elkins Park is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States, a close-in suburb of Philadelphia. It is split between Cheltenham and Abington Townships in the suburbs of the city, which it borders along Cheltenham Avenue roughly 6 miles (9.7Â km) from downtown. An affluent community, it is the home of Lynnewood Hall, a 110-room, derelict Gilded Age mansion.
Points of interest
- Beth Sholom Synagogue, the only synagogue designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
- Elkins Estate, former family summer home of Pennsylvania Railroad Company magnate William L. Elkins.
- High School Park, an 11-acre park with four distinct ecosystems, was the original grounds of Cheltenham High School and became a township park in 1996 after the building burned down
- Lynnewood Hall, a 110-room, derelict Gilded Age mansion
- St. Paul's Episcopal Church, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982
- Richard Wall House, a house listed on State and National Registers of Historic Places, had the distinction of being the oldest Pennsylvania house in continuous residence until rehabilitation work began
Government
Elkins Park is split between Cheltenham and Abington Townships in the suburbs of Philadelphia. It is represented by Brendan F. Boyle in Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district.
Schools
- Elkins Park Middle School
- McKinley Elementary School
- Myers Elementary School
- Lynnwood Elementary School (now closed and converted into an administrative building); served as an elementary school from February 1951 through 1977
- Pennsylvania College of Optometry
- Perelman Jewish Day School
- Robert Saligman Middle School (closed in 2012)
- Settlement Music School
- St. James Catholic School (shut down)
- Gratz College
- Salus University
- The former campus of the Tyler School of Art, the art school of Temple University
Transportation
Public transportation
Elkins Park is served by SEPTA Regional Rail trains on the Warminster Line, West Trenton Line and Lansdale/Doylestown Line at the Elkins Park station. The Jenkintown and Melrose Park stations are also found near the neighborhood of Elkins Park, and are served by the same regional rail lines. SEPTA bus routes 28, 55, 70 and 77 also provide service to Elkins Park.
Road
Toward the western end of Elkins Park is Pennsylvania Route 611 (Old York Road). In Elkins Park, Pennsylvania Route 73 runs along Township Line Road, mostly marking the border between Cheltenham and Abington townships.
Locale
Prominent current or former residents
- Bill Cosby, actor and comedian
- Douglas Feith, former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
- Marvin Harrison, NFL wide-receiver for the Indianapolis Colts
- Devin McNulty, artist
- Lil Dicky, rapper and comedian
- Mark Levin, radio talk show host
- Edgar Lee Masters, poet; spent his final years in Elkins Park
- Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel
- Yonatan Netanyahu, Israeli war hero
- Ralph J. Roberts, co-founder of Comcast; father of current Comcast chief executive officer, Brian L. Roberts
- Jeffrey Solow, classical cellist and academic
- Peter A. B. Widener, head of a wealthy and historically prominent family
- Harry Elkins Widener, grandson of Peter A. B. Widener and namesake of Widener Library at Harvard University; born in Elkins Park and died on the RMS Titanic
- Eleanor Elkins Widener, founder of Widener Library to honor her son
- William Lukens Elkins, oil and transport magnate
- William McIntire Elkins, rare book collector
- Mary Ellen Mark, photojournalist
- Michael S. Brown, Nobel prize winner in medicine or physiology
In popular culture
In the AMC period drama television series Mad Men, the character Betty Draper was raised in the "tiny Philadelphia suburb of Elkins Park, Pennsylvania". During the show's second season, Betty's father has a series of strokes, and is taken to "Elkins Park Hospital" in the script. This would have actually been the former Rolling Hill Hospital, which opened in 1953, and is now known as Mossrehab and Einstein at Elkins Park, part of the Einstein Healthcare Network.
See also
References
- George, John (November 10, 2003). "Einstein Rehabs Hospital". Philadelphia Business Journal. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
External links
- Abington Township Website
- Cheltenham Township Website
- School District of Abington Township Website
- School District of Cheltenham Township Website
- Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority Official Website