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Christ Church of Ridley Park

104 Nevin Street
610-521-1626

The beginnings of Christ Church Ridley Park are closely connected with the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad. Presidents Samuel M. Felton (1851 to 1865) and his successor, Isaac Hinkley, both helped make possible the land and the building on which the parish is situated. Hinkley was a wealthy businessman who had purchased land in Ridley Township and in 1871 he formed the Ridley Park Land Association, making Felton its president (who served in that position until his retirement in 1884). Hinkley also hired Robert M. Copeland (1835-1874), a Boston landscape architect who laid out Ridley Park.

It was Copeland’s protege, Theophilus P. Chandler (1848-1928), who was chosen architect for Christ Church. What a good choice it was! After designing a few homes in Ridley Park, as well as the original train station and Christ Church, Chandler went on to design other churches and buildings on the East Coast. By the time he died in 1928, he was a world famous architect.

Christ Church was formed in 1873 and Bishop Stevens appointed a board of trustees to act in place of a vestry. Two of its original members were H.F. Kenny, General Superintendent of the P.W.& B.RR, and John Smith, the railroad’s resident agent. One might imagine these two men were influential in the church’s first services being held in the railroad station. In winter, however, the services were moved to a vacant store on Hinkley Avenue. (More than likely, it was easier to heat the store rather than the railroad station).


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