The center of the Wayne business district is the intersection of Lancaster Avenue and Wayne Avenue, its main street. The historic Wayne station is located one block north of this intersection. The Wayne business district also includes a post office, a cinema, a hotel, a library, the new Radnor Middle School, and several banks, stores, restaurants, cafes, bars and other commercial establishments. Other institutions and attractions in Wayne include the Wayne Hotel, Chanticleer Garden, and the Valley Forge Military Academy and College.
"Louella" home of J. Henry Askin, founder of Wayne
Wayne's development began when a railroad stop called Cleaver's Landing was established. It was renamed Wayne Station after General Anthony Wayne. Parcels in the area totaling 293 acres (1.19 km2) were bought by banker J.H. Askin, where he built a mansion named "Louella" after his daughters Louisa and Ella. "Louella" was described as an 80-room stone building with a large porch overlooking manicured lawn.[3] His and surrounding land were bought in 1880 by banker A.J. Drexel and newspaper editor G.W. Childs, to form a larger development they called Wayne Estate.[4] More homes and a hotel were then built. In a brochure from 1887 about their development they noted they had provided Wayne with "water, light and drainage — the three great conveniences of a large city — by the most approved modern methods." They described Wayne Estate as follows:
The suburban village known as Wayne, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, fourteen miles from Philadelphia, differs so much from the ordinary town allowed to grow up hap-hazard and to develop conveniences as population increases, that it is necessary, in describing it as it appears, to keep in mind some facts about its history.
Wayne is not an accidental aggregation of cottages; it is a town built by design, and provided at the start with all the conveniences to which residents of cities are accustomed and which they are so apt to miss and long for when they go into the country or even into the suburbs of a great city. The scheme of the town was well thought out and planned before any of the new cottages were built, and, as it was undertaken by liberal gentlemen of abundant means, no expense was spared in the preliminary municipal work.
Since, prior to 2020 Wayne is neither an incorporated area nor a census-designated place, all the data was for the ZIP code 19087. As of the census of 2020, there were 33,501 people and 12,987 households residing in the community. The median age was 39.6. The racial makeup of the community was 85.5% White, 7.9% Asian and 5.3% African American, while 3.7% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. The median income for a household in the community was $161,554, and 3.3% of the population was below the poverty line.[5]
The St. Katharine of Siena School is a Catholic K-8 grade school located in downtown Wayne operated by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Catholic students who live in Radnor Township as well as other towns in the Delaware Valley may choose to attend Archbishop John Carroll High School, located in the nearby community of Radnor.
The Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer opened its own private school called YSC Academy on September 3, 2013. The originally Wayne-based academy is designed for student-athletes the club aims to groom for professional soccer. The initial 32 pupils already had experience playing for one of the Union's academy and junior teams. The school moved in 2023 to their new campus at the Union Power Plant on the Subaru Park campus.[6]
This list is incomplete. ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent township or townships. Armenian Sisters Academy has a "Radnor, PA" postal address but is in Upper Merion Township
