What Is the Main Line? A Guide to Its Towns

The Main Line is the string of suburbs west of Philadelphia that grew up along the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Main Line in the late 1800s. It traditionally runs about 20 miles from Overbrook to Paoli, following Lancaster Avenue (US 30), and it includes some of the region’s best-known towns: Narberth, Ardmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Villanova, Wayne, Devon, and Berwyn. Today “the Main Line” means historic homes, strong school districts, train service into Center City, and some of the highest home values in Pennsylvania.

This guide explains where the name comes from, which towns are included, how the area is organized, and what homes cost.

Where the name comes from

The name is literal. In 1832, the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad built its “Main Line” west from Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania Railroad bought it in 1857. As commuter service grew, the railroad shaped the towns along its tracks, sometimes down to their names. Railroad managers thought some village names were not distinguished enough, so Humphreysville became Bryn Mawr around 1870 and Athensville became Ardmore in 1873.

The railroad also developed the towns themselves. It bought land around Bryn Mawr, opened a hotel next to the station in 1872, and promoted the town as one of the country’s first commuter suburbs. In the 1880s, Anthony J. Drexel and George W. Childs built the planned community of Wayne. By then, wealthy Philadelphia families were building country estates along the line, and the Main Line’s reputation was set.

The towns, in order

The Main Line is easiest to understand as a sequence of train stations. Distances are rail miles from Suburban Station in Center City.

Two communities without their own Main Line station are almost always counted as part of it: Gladwyne, the wooded village north of Lancaster Avenue, and Bala Cynwyd, on the city line.

Generations of locals have learned the first stretch with a mnemonic: “Old Maids Never Wed And Have Babies”, for Overbrook, Merion, Narberth, Wynnewood, Ardmore, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr.

Where does the Main Line end?

Traditionally at Paoli, the western end of the railroad’s famous “Paoli Local” commuter trains for generations. Today many local trains run one stop farther to Malvern, and plenty of people include Malvern in the Main Line. There is no official boundary, so the debate continues.

Townships, counties, and school districts

Here is the part that matters most when you buy: the Main Line is not one municipality. It spans one borough, four townships, and three counties, and many towns cross those lines.

Bryn Mawr spans Lower Merion, Haverford, and Radnor townships. Wayne is centered in Radnor but reaches into Tredyffrin and Upper Merion. Paoli is split between Tredyffrin and Willistown. So a Main Line address never tells you the school district by itself; confirm it for each home. Transfer taxes vary, too: Radnor and Tredyffrin total 2.5 percent instead of the usual 2 percent, as the guide to Pennsylvania’s realty transfer tax explains.

What homes cost

Zillow’s typical single-family value by ZIP code in August 2026, rounded:

Ardmore and Paoli are often the most accessible ways into Main Line living, while Gladwyne and Villanova sit at the top of the market.

Character and culture

The Main Line’s Gilded Age history still shows in its stone train stations, churches, and estates. It is famously the setting of The Philadelphia Story, Philip Barry’s 1939 play and the 1940 film with Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and James Stewart, which drew on the family at Ardrossan, an estate in Villanova.

It is also a college corridor. Haverford College (1833), Villanova University (1842), Bryn Mawr College (1885), Rosemont College (1921), and Eastern University (1925) are all here. Rosemont announced in 2025 that it will merge with Villanova.

Getting around

SEPTA’s Paoli/Thorndale Line follows the old Pennsylvania Railroad route; its service to Paoli became the railroad’s first electrified commuter line in 1915. Amtrak’s Keystone Service stops at Ardmore and Paoli. By car, Lancaster Avenue follows the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, which opened in 1795 as one of the country’s first long-distance paved roads, and I-476 and the Schuylkill Expressway connect the area to the rest of the region.

Choosing a Main Line town

A simple way to narrow it down:

• Inner Main Line (Merion Station, Narberth, Wynnewood, Ardmore, Bala Cynwyd, Gladwyne): closest to Center City, mostly Lower Merion schools, with Narberth and Ardmore the most walkable.
• Middle Main Line (Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Villanova, Radnor, Wayne): college towns and estates, with Bryn Mawr and Wayne offering busy downtowns.
• Outer Main Line (Devon, Berwyn, Paoli, and Malvern): more space and Tredyffrin/Easttown or Great Valley schools, closer to King of Prussia and the Route 202 job corridor.

For a broader comparison beyond the Main Line, see the guide to the best suburbs of Philadelphia and the Main Line overview.

Working with Karen

Karen Langsfeld is a REALTOR® and Pricing Strategy Advisor (P.S.A.) with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach, working with buyers and sellers across the Main Line. She helps buyers sort out township and school district lines town by town, and helps sellers price homes against the right comparable sales.

Contact Karen at (215) 495-2914 or through the contact page.

Sources: Lower Merion Historical Society; SEPTA Paoli/Thorndale Line; Zillow Home Value Index, August 2026.