Bryn Athyn Historic District

The Bryn Athyn Historic District, a National Historic Landmark District, includes four historic buildings:

• Cairnwood Estate was built as a family home for the industrialist John Pitcairn^[10] and his wife Gertrude. The building was designed by renowned architectural firm Carrère and Hastings, and the surrounding grounds were designed by Charles Eliot of the landscape design firm Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot. The building was eventually donated to the Academy of the New Church, and now serves as a special events facility.
• Bryn Athyn Cathedral serves as the episcopal seat of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, an international Swedenborgian church. Bryn Athyn Cathedral, built in the early 20th century, is renowned for its stained glass collection and for its unusual architecture, which follows the arts and crafts tradition. Its construction was financed by John Pitcairn, and supervised by his son, Raymond Pitcairn.^[11]
• Glencairn was originally the private residence of millionaire philanthropist Raymond Pitcairn. The castle-like building now serves the Academy of the New Church and Bryn Athyn College as Glencairn Museum, housing a collection of mostly religious artwork and artifacts from around the world and is open to the public.^[12]
• Cairncrest was built as a home for John Pitcairn's son, Harold Pitcairn, an aviation pioneer and developer of the autogyro. The building now serves as the central administrative offices for the General Church of the New Jerusalem.

Academy of the New Church and Bryn Athyn College

Bryn Athyn is also the site of the General Church affiliated Academy of the New Church, which is the parent organization of the Academy of the New Church Secondary Schools, Bryn Athyn College, a divinity school, and the Swedenborg Library (which was named in honor of Emanuel Swedenborg, whose writings constitute the doctrine of the New Church).^[13]

Roads and highways

PA 232 southbound in Bryn Athyn

As of 2006 there were 7.86 miles (12.65 km) of public roads in Bryn Athyn, of which 0.87 miles (1.40 km) were maintained by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and 6.99 miles (11.25 km) were maintained by the borough.^[14]

The only numbered highway serving Bryn Athyn is Pennsylvania Route 232, which follows Huntingdon Pike on a north-south route through the borough. Byberry Road, the only other road of significance, passes along the northern and northeastern edges of the borough.

SEPTA service

Bryn Athyn had commuter train service until January 14, 1983. Service was suspended due to failing train equipment resulting in a lack of ridership. As of 2017, the train station is used as the Bryn Athyn post office.

Though rail service was initially replaced with a Fox Chase-Newtown shuttle bus, patronage remained light. The replacement bus service was far slower and less convenient than the train service it replaced, resulting in the shuttle bus being very unpopular. The travelling public never saw a bus service as a suitable replacement for a rail service.

In the ensuing years, there has been interest in resuming passenger service by Bucks County officials. Neighboring Montgomery County officials are supportive of re-thinking the rail corridor as well, though the belief within SEPTA management is that the section through Lorimer Park and Walnut Hill Station (the only sparsely populated section along the railway) will never generate enough riders to be feasible.

In September 2009, the Southampton-based Pennsylvania Transit Expansion Coalition (PA-TEC) began discussions with township officials along the railway, as well as SEPTA officials, about the realistic possibility of resuming even minimal passenger service to relieve traffic congestion in the region. Plans call for completing the electrification to Newtown, as originally planned in the late 1970s. Both Bucks and Montgomery County officials, as well as state representatives, have been receptive to PA-TEC's efforts, despite SEPTA's overall reservations. However, SEPTA has also confirmed that they are indeed open to revisiting the line if there is strong political support in both counties.^[15]

All plans for resuming the train service were dropped in 2014 when Montgomery County officials decided to extend the Pennypack Trail over the derelict rail bed.^[16]

SEPTA operates the Route 24 bus, a bus that goes from Frankford Transportation Center in Northeast Philadelphia to Southampton. The Route 24 bus goes along Huntingdon Pike while in Bryn Athyn.^[17]

1921 wreck

In Bryn Athyn's railroad history, a devastating accident took place on December 5, 1921. Two Reading Railroad passenger steam trains collided head-on on a blind curve. The impact sent red-hot coals flying forward from each engine, raining down on the wooden passenger cars of the oncoming train. Twenty-seven people were killed and some 70 injured. Most of those killed had burned to death, in part because the wooden cars had burned so quickly and also because of the inability of rescue workers to get access to the trains, which were wedged between the rock walls of a cut through hilly and wooded terrain without road access for fire equipment. The incident led to a ban on the use of wooden rail cars in order to prevent future disasters of a similar nature.^[18]