Bryn Mawr 100: Lower Merion Baptist Church

Founded more than 200 years ago, not only is Lower Merion Baptist Church said to be the first church in the Bryn Mawr area, it's also where Woodrow Wilson and his family lived while he was a professor at in the 1880s.

Today, the tiny, 75-member congregation is still going strong. And despite its small size, Lower Merion Baptist is fairly active in the community. An Alcoholics Anonymous group, "The Spirit of Sobriety," meets at the church Friday nights from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., a community garden is planned for spring 2012, and the church is in the process of starting up a food pantry, said Pastor Tim Dalton, who has been at the church since 2009.

Since its founding in 1808, Lower Merion Baptist has played an integral role in the history of Bryn Mawr. The church began with 19 worshipers, who regularly met at the , an abolitionist and the first and only Secretary of the Continental Congress.

In 1809, Thomson, who had retired to Bryn Mawr after the Continental Congress dissolved, donated a parcel of land for the creation of a "Baptist Meeting House"—soon to become . Thomson became a regular worshiper there, and a stained glass window of Thomson, later donated by a parishoner, can still be found at the church.

Three years after its founding, the church established a cemetery—a place that today gives us a glimpse into the past of Lower Merion. In the church cemetery are buried 19 soldiers of the Continental Army, 16 descendants of William Penn, 28 veterans of the Civil War, and 16 veterans of the War of 1812.

A Revolutionary War Memorial was erected in 1931 to honor those who fought in the war, "in grateful recognition of their patriotism, valor and fidelity,” the memorial's inscription reads.  The Daughters of the American Revolution built the set of 13 steps, representing the original 13 colonies, on land where 82 unknown Revolutionary War soldiers are believed to be buried.

The cemeteries at Lower Merion Baptist, St. Paul's Lutheran in Ardmore and Merion Friends Meeting in Merion are the three oldest church graveyards in Lower Merion, said Ted Goldsborough of the Lower Merion Historical Society.

Additionally, Lower Merion Baptist can boast that a former president  lived on its grounds. Woodrow Wilson and his family moved into the parsonage in 1887, while he was a professor at Bryn Mawr College. The family maintained ties to the church, later donating a vestibule which was added to the church in 1933.

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Lower Merion Baptist reached out to the surrounding community through local missions, chapels and Sunday schools in other parts of Lower Merion Township. Several churches in Newtown Square, Ardmore and Bryn Mawr were established thanks in part to the pioneering work of Lower Merion Baptist, including , another Bryn Mawr 100 institution.

Some of Lower Merion Baptist's members have attended the church their whole lives, Dalton said, and the church's place in the history of Lower Merion has contributed to the congregation's sense of purpose.

"We're proud of the past and of our history," Dalton said, "… but we believe God is [making] all things new, … and we're looking forward to the future, where we can be relevant and meet the needs of the community."

Many thanks to Bobbie McElroy of the Lower Merion Historical Society, who compiled historical information that this article draws on.

Editor's Note: This is the twelfth in a . Check back with Bryn Mawr-Gladwyne Patch for more profiles leading up to the Sept. 10 celebration.