Ardmore Will Host Local Business Owners as Regional ‘Classic Town’

In just its second annual “Classic Towns Trolley Tour,” scheduled for Wednesday, July 27, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission has chosen to spotlight Ardmore, starting the day with a breakfast hosted by the .

About three dozen local business owners and representatives from other DVRPC-designated “Classic Towns” throughout the region will also tour Ardmore’s downtown business district, and visit the on Summit Road.

One of the homes, built in 1939 with the ambition of being a cornerstone for a new type of community planning, is currently for sale, . The group will be able to take a .

The DVRPC, which works within a nine-county area in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, defines characteristics of a “classic” town to be “vibrant residential neighborhoods, diverse architecture, bustling business and entertainment districts, and remarkable recreational opportunities.”

The program is straight, no-chaser marketing for regional economic development. But most towns would give their left lane of the main drag to a PennDOT crew for a month to be on the list.

The towns “are where you can live the good life,” the Commission’s web site states, and “are timeless communities where everyone can feel at home. Places where everyday necessities are all easily accessible; where neighbors know and look out for each other; and most important where community is a way of life, not simply a place to live.”

Elise Turner, communications manager for the DVRPC, said towns are nominated by their county representative on the commission's board of directors.  

“They go through an application process and must be able to contribute $2,500 per year, and it's a two-year commitment,” Turner said. “There are a number of towns in the region that are eligible and have the characteristics” of being classics, such as transit accessibility, walkability, a diverse housing stock, etc., she added.

In describing Ardmore as “the Main Street of the Main Line,” the DVRPC is borrowing a tag line created by the Ardmore Initiative, said Executive Director Christine Vilardo.

“It was created to convey that Ardmore is not just simply another Main Line town but is actually a real town, where people live and work, and whose easily-accessible businesses serve the everyday needs of its residents,” Vilardo said.

Among the DVRPC's regular listings of Classic Towns events, it includes the monthly First Friday Main Line event (next one: Aug. 5). “Located in one of Pennsylvania’s original first class townships, Ardmore continues to distinguish and define itself. It is the most socio-economically diverse town on the Main Line.”

After an 8:45 a.m. breakfast at the Ardmore Initiative on Lancaster Avenue, the day will start with remarks by the DVRPC’s Barry Seymour and Lower Merion Commissioner Cheryl Gelber.  

Vilardo will then lead a walking tour of the town’s central business district. Visitors will also get a good look at the historic Suburban Square, led by the shopping center’s general manager, ).

Working with Suburban Square allows the Initiative to cross-promote both sides of the tracks and support a vision of “one Ardmore,” Vilardo said.

The tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright property is scheduled for 10:45 a.m.

The second half of the day will be spent in another newly minted DVRPC Classic Town, just over the Schuylkill River from Lower Merion Township: Manayunk.

Other Classic Towns nearby include Overbrook Farms, Germantown, Wayne, Lansdowne, Media, West Chester, Kennett Square and Ambler.