Students in Philadelphia, especially around Memorial Day and Labor Day, have grown used to hearing discussion after discussion about the Jersey shore in classes, in public and sometimes even on the news. But what they might not know is how closely intertwined the history of the Main Line is with the Jersey shore.
When Florence Baldwin founded The Baldwin School in 1888, the school wasn’t housed in the iconic buildings students today are familiar with. Instead Baldwin taught classes in her mother’s home at the corner of Montgomery Avenue and Morris Avenue, according to The Bryn Mawr Business Association. The property was home to a popular summer resort, the Bryn Mawr Hotel, built by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1871. At this time, the red brick Residence was not even built yet, as it was created later by Frank Furness in 1890 to replace an older structure lost to a devastating fire.
At the time of its construction, the Residence was a state of the art building, with steam heat and electric lighting. It even hosted an annual horse show, drawing in the Philadelphia elite.
So how did this summer vacation spot become an all girls school? The answer to that question lies about two hours east, across state lines, in New Jersey. During around the time when the school was founded, The Bryn Mawr Business Association notes that the people of Philadelphia were shifting away from summers at the hotel and towards summers at the Jersey Shore. Eventually the hotel had to close due to declining business and Baldwin, who had been renting it during the winter months for the school, was able to buy it. The popularity of summers at the shore allowed for the beautiful property of the hotel to become Baldwin as it is known today.
However, that’s not the end of the relationship Baldwin has had with the Jersey shore. Many students love taking trips to the beach over the summer in the same way that people living in Philadelphia did more than a hundred years ago.
Capri Dilks ‘29 spends her summers in Sea Isle and Ventnor. She described her love of being “in a new place with new people” and how beach towns can feel so different from the towns and communities around Baldwin, despite their proximity.
Baldwin’s acapella group, the B-flats, typically goes on their annual retreat at the Jersey shore. Their director, Ms. Lee Hagon said, “It is really nice to live in an area where… within a very short amount of time we can be at the beach, we can be in the mountains, we can be at a lake, we can be in the inter-city… there’s so many different places where we can go and explore. So yeah it does feel like that change of pace and the totally different environment being so conveniently located is great for us.”
Even when students aren’t at the shore, it still has a huge impact on the school. In their freshman year, the Class of 2028 created a sandcastle themed banner.
Sierra Gilbert ‘28 was president of her freshman class and she spoke on the ideas behind the design, “Connecting it to the Jersey shore, so many people had visited there so it was… easy for us to find something that the whole grade was able to connect to.”
It is evident that today many students love going “down the shore” either for vacation and a chance to relax or an opportunity to reconnect with friends and family and meet new people. The beach remains present throughout the school year through projects and other activities. But it’s important to remember that if no one vacationed at the Jersey shore over a hundred years ago, the buildings students today have math class day might still be hotel rooms.
