Roadway in Suburban Square to be named for former township commissioner

LOWER MERION – A Lower Merion committee has recommended the commissioners name a roadway inside Suburban Square in honor of a former Ardmore Commissioner, Ora Pierce.

Once approved by the commissioners, the street will be named Pierce Way.

Chris Leswing, director of Building and Planning for Lower Merion, said the roadway connects to the new parking garage and mixed-use building approved earlier this decade.

The specific location of the private roadway is located in Suburban Square. It runs north to south from Coulter Avenue to Montgomery Avenue. The segment is adjacent to the parking garage in Suburban Square and the newly constructed building at 115 Coulter Avenue. It is across the street from the Ardmore Farmer’s Market and the Trader Joe’s parking lots.

As part of that land development approval, Suburban Square converted an existing driveway between Culture Avenue and Montgomery Avenue into a road. They were required to build that road to meet road standards.

Leswing said the subdivision process requires naming a road when it’s created. Suburban Square wasn’t ready to name it then. So they held off, and now they’ve come back to designate that roadway.

“Suburban Square submitted the name Thorncroft Road for review by the Planning Commission,” according to a staff memo to the commissioner. “Thorncroft is the name of the former estate on the property. At the October 5, 2026, Planning Commission meeting a suggestion was made to consider naming the road after Ora Pierce, a former Lower Merion commissioner and the first African American woman to serve on the Lower Merion Board of Commissioners. After public comments and deliberations, the Planning Commission recommended naming the road after Ora Pierce. After the Planning Commission meeting staff contacted Suburban Square and they have agreed to modify their request to name the new street Pierce Way.”

Pierce, who passed away in 2009 at the age of 74, served as commissioner for Ward 4 for 16 years, from 1986 to 2002.

According to a 2009 article in the Main Line Times following her passing in 2009, Pierce served as a founding member of Serendipity Day Camp and the Lower Merion Scholarship Fund; spearheaded support for the Ardmore Library when it was threatened with closing in the 1980s; and served on the boards of the Lower Merion Affordable Housing Corp., Ardmore Housing for the Elderly and the Lower Merion Development Corp.

She also previously served as president of the Ardmore Progressive Civic Association. In her tenure as a commissioner, she served as chairman of the Grants and Community Development Committee and vice chairman of the Fire and Residential Preservation committees.