History of Saint Martin's

Saint Martin’s can trace its beginnings to the post-Civil War years when the Church of the Good Shepherd was established in Radnor Township. Documents and other historic evidence indicate that when the decision was made to relocate the Church of the Good Shepherd to Villanova, some parishioners living in Radnor were unable, or unwilling, to travel the extra distance to the new location. These individuals asked Good Shepherd’s clergy to hold separate weekly services at a place more accessible to Radnor residents. Many of those services were held at Morgan’s Corner Hotel, which was located near the Radnor train station. On February 15, 1877, Good Shepherd purchased the land on which St. Martin’s is situated today, at the corner of King of Prussia and Glenmary Roads in Radnor. Ground was broken in 1879, and the cornerstone for the Church was laid a year later. Construction was not finished until 1888, but clearly, it was worth the wait. The new building, on completion, was debt-free.

The actual parish of St. Martin’s was formally organized as an independent parish church with the granting of its Charter on June 12, 1887. Later that year, the Rev. Percival H. Hickman was called as the first Rector of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church. In 1890, St. Martin’s founded its own mission known as the Ithan Chapel. Attended primarily by tenant farmers residing south of the Church, the Chapel was a small wooden frame building sitting on Conestoga Road in what was then known as Radnorville. Later, the growing Chapel congregation moved to its current location at Christ Church in Ithan, a mile further west of its original location on Conestoga Road. The relationship between these two congregations as parent and mission church existed until 1956 when the Chapel organized as an independent parish church.

Saint Martin’s grew rapidly at the beginning of the twentieth century as the Pennsylvania Railroad made the western suburbs of Philadelphia accessible to the large number of people who moved to the area. The Church building was expanded twice, first by adding our current Choir and Chancel, then through the extension of the Nave to its current size. Space was still limited, however, until a member of the congregation provided the use and eventual gift of the large brown house on the southwest corner of King of Prussia and Glenmary Roads, across the street from the Church. Known in the congregation as the Fox House, this building provided much needed Sunday School space for young people in the congregation. Following the independent establishment of Christ Church in Ithan, the Church realized its need for additional space, and the adjoining property, including Bolingbroke and the Carriage House, was purchased in 1959 for $95,000. The Fox House was subsequently sold and Bolingbroke was extensively renovated to provide the Church with ample educational and meeting space.

During this seventy-year period of growth and physical expansion, Saint Martin’s was served by the three Rectors with the longest tenure the Church has enjoyed. The Rev. George W. Lamb served from 1904 to 1920. The Rev. Richard Gurley served as eighth Rector of Saint Martin’s from 1921 to 1951, and was followed by the Rev. William Jefferys, a former Army Chaplain, who served from 1951 to 1972. In 1972 Mr. Jefferys resigned for reasons of health, and the Rev. Perry Porter was called as Rector. Although his time at St. Martin’s was cut short by his untimely death in 1977, Mr. Porter’s tenure was a time for administrative realignment. This was a time of upheaval in the Church and the nation, as the People of God confronted the great international issues of the day as well as a rapidly changing Church. Saint Martin’s was not immune from those issues, and the Church began to change in size as well as focus.

Late in 1977 the Rev. John A. Smart was called to become the tenth Rector of St. Martin’s. At the time he arrived, the church was in a state of turmoil due to the sudden death of its Rector, from which many had not yet recovered. Saint Martin’s needed a steady and gentle hand to guide it back to being the thriving and busy parish it had once been.  John Smart provided that leadership. At the time of Mr. Smart’s departure in 1983, the congregation realized that it was once again faced with issues of change. The congregation had grown older as the neighborhood surrounding the Church was unable to attract young couples because of skyrocketing property values. Church attendance had dwindled across the nation, the Episcopal Church alone having lost one million members in the previous decade. Many congregants felt that the extensive changes in Episcopal life and worship through the introduction of a new and controversial Book of Common Prayer, a new hymnal, and ecclesiastical changes such as the ordination of women to the priesthood lent an air of instability to Church life. The Wardens, Vestry, and members of Saint Martin’s were anxious to initiate a time of constancy and compassionate care at the Church.

In January 1985, the Rev. Douglas G. Scott began his tenure as the eleventh Rector of St. Martin’s. Shortly after his arrival, the Rector and Vestry began to work with members of the congregation to restructure Christian Education and pastoral programs to meet the needs of the parish and surrounding community. In January of 2005 Douglas Scott retired and the Reverend H. Barry Evans took on the duties of interim Rector to the congregation. Reverend Evans led St. Martin's through the challenge of calling its next Rector—who is the Reverend Linda Livingston Kerr.

Saint Martin’s has been fortunate to have enjoyed the skills of many assisting clergy who have served our Rectors and our people. The Rev. Ledyard Heckscher, the Rev. James Blackburn, the Rev. James Murrey, the Rev. James A. Sox, the Rev. William Duffey, the Rev. Mary Anne Dorner, the Rev. Evans Kisekka, and the Rev. Carol Gallagher have all contributed to the richness of our congregation’s life and work, and we remember their ministry among us with affection and respect.

In recent years, St. Martin’s has met and overcome many challenges, including the devastating fire that destroyed a portion of Bolingbroke in 1990. The mansion was quickly rebuilt with improved fire safeguards and now houses both Church functions and income-producing activities. St. Martin’s has exercised careful stewardship of its resources and has aggressively expanded its outreach ministry. The programs of education, care, and commitment described in this Profile have been the result of hundreds of hours of planning, preparation, and implementation by members of the congregation.

As the community around us has changed, St. Martin’s has changed as well. Once a neighborhood parish, now St. Martin’s is very much a gathered congregation, its members traveling to weekly worship from as far away as thirty miles. Once comprised exclusively of “born and raised” Episcopalians, our membership is now comprised primarily of individuals and families who have come to the Episcopal Church from a variety of denominational backgrounds. Once reflective of the affluent and monochromatic Main Line, St. Martin’s is now a diverse congregation of 302 active communicants representing a variety of cultures, ages, national origins, and economic levels. Once “clergy-heavy,” with as many as four full-time ordained persons, Saint Martin’s now shares much of the work of pastoring and administration among its members.

The future of St. Martin’s is today, as it has always been, vested in the willingness of our people to worship, work, and give for the spread of God’s Kingdom. We welcome you to this work and look forward to sharing that future with you.