'Women of Idenlea Estate' Pennsylvania Historical Marker Dedication, Bala Cynwyd PA, September 2024

On September 15, 2024, the Lower Merion Historical Society dedicated Lower Merion's newest Pennsylvania Historical Marker, honoring a family of trailblazing women who built and lived at the Idenlea estate at 18 N Highland Ave in Bala Cynwyd.
The marker reads: “A family of trailblazing women lived here. Abolitionist Dr. Hannah E. Longshore (1819-1901) graduated in the first class of the Female Medical College of Pa. in 1851 and served on its faculty before opening her practice in Philadelphia alongside her sister Dr. Jane V. Myers (1831-1918). Hannah’s daughter, Lucretia Blankenberg (1845-1937), was a prominent suffragist who with her husband, Philadelphia Mayor Rudolph Blankenberg, worked for civic reform.”
An inspiring lineup of speakers helped dedicate the marker:
Erin Betley, Vice President, Lower Merion Historical Society
Senator Amanda Cappelletti, 17th Senatorial District, Montgomery and Delaware Counties
Jennifer Robinson, Preservation Board, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
Louis Rossman, D.M.D, Commissioner, Lower Merion Township
Dr. Steven Peitzman, Medical Historian, Drexel University College of Medicine
Cynthia Little, Ph.D., Historian
Marcia Manzone (Temple University School of Medicine '25) and Ishana Baboo (Bryn Mawr College '25 ) reading a statement by Dr. Elsa-Grace Giardina, Bryn Mawr College '61, recipient of the Jane V. Myers Memorial Medical Scholarship at Bryn Mawr College.
For more information, see this article in Hidden City: hiddencityphil...
Videography by Rob Pugliese