Garrett Hill is a community in Radnor Township, Pennsylvania

Radnor Township, Pennsylvania

Radnor Township is a township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2000 census, the township population was 30,878. Radnor Township lies along the Main Line, a collection of highly affluent Philadelphia suburbs....

 approximately 10 miles northwest of Philadelphia. The geographic area is located in the portion of the Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania

Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania

Bryn Mawr from Welsh for "big hill") is a census-designated place in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue and the border with Delaware County...

 zip code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 that comprises Rosemont

Rosemont, Pennsylvania

Rosemont is a community in Pennsylvania on the Pennsylvania Main Line lying partly in Radnor Township, Pennsylvania and partly in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania.Part of the geographic area is served by the Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, ZIP code...

. The community is (roughly) bounded by Lancaster Avenue

U.S. Route 30 in Pennsylvania

In the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, U.S. Route 30 runs east–west across the southern part of the state, passing through Pittsburgh and Philadelphia on its way from the West Virginia state line east to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge over the Delaware River into New Jersey...

, Conestoga Road, Garrett Avenue and Lowrys Lane. It is located in the Main Line

Pennsylvania Main Line

The Main Line is an unofficial historical and socio-cultural region of suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, comprising a collection of affluent towns built along the old Main Line of the Pennsylvania Railroad which ran northwest from downtown Philadelphia parallel to Lancaster Avenue , a road...

.

The community is served by its own stop on the Norristown High Speed Line

Norristown High Speed Line

The Norristown High Speed Line is an interurban line system operated between Upper Darby and Norristown, Pennsylvania, USA by SEPTA...

, formerly the Philadelphia and Western Railway.

Garrett Hill is mainly a residential community, but also includes a small commercial area (near the intersection of Conestoga Road and Garrett Avenue) consisting of a few bars and other small businesses that serve the community and the student population of nearby Villanova University

Villanova University

Villanova University is a private university located in Radnor Township, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States...

.

One of Garrett Hill's traditions is an annual community Fourth of July

Independence Day (United States)

Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain...

 parade, followed by a free picnic with live music and other entertainment in Clem Macrone Park.

Garrett Hill's housing stock consists largely of 19th century and early 20th century buildings, including Victorian

Victorian architecture

The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...

 single-family homes and twins, and brick rowhouses

Terraced house

In architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...

.

History

Originally called Garretville or Methodist Hill, the community originally consisted of residences of workers at a nearby stone quarry and at a brickyard (now both disappeared). The residents also worked at the estates which were common in the area. Garrett Hill is also the former home of Emlen Tunnell

Emlen Tunnell

Emlen Lewis Tunnell was an American football player. He was the first African American to play for the New York Giants, and was inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame in 1967. He played in the National Football League for the Giants and Green Bay Packers...

, the first African-American inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame