Road Renaming Ceremony Held In Honor Of Famous Montco Physician

LANSDALE, PA — A slate of elected officials and other supporters turned out Thursday for a dedication ceremony in this Montgomery County borough honoring a famous resident and doctor whose name is now on a state route sign.

A portion of North Broad Street that runs through Lansdale and neighboring Hatfield was recently renamed the Dr. Frank Erdman Boston Memorial Highway, in honor of the famous Montgomery County resident who served in the U.S. Army during World War I and was considered a pioneer of local healthcare for decades.

Officials on Thursday attended a dedication ceremony Thursday to honor Boston, who had also founded what is today Jefferson Lansdale Hospital as well as the Volunteer Medical Service Corps of Lansdale.

"It's really great to see that my efforts, along with the efforts of Senator [Bob] Mensch and the Boston Legacy Foundation, have paid off, and that our local hero will be remembered for years to come," State Rep. Steve Malagari, D-Montgomery, said in a statement. "Having the stretch of road, which runs in front of the two institutions that Dr. Boston founded, bear his name is an exceptionally fitting way to memorialize him."

Malagari said that the community owes much to Boston, who helped pioneer pre-hospital care and medical transportation in Montgomery County long before the establishment of major EMS services throughout Pennsylvania and the rest of the nation.

"Remembering him and memorializing this stretch of highway in his name are but small gestures that allow us to keep the legacy of his work, his tenacity, and his dedication alive," Malagari stated.

More about Boston can be read below:

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Related: 'Make Him A National Hero': Lansdale's Frank Boston Not Forgotten

Mensch, a Republican state senator representing the Lansdale area, also attended Thursday's dedication ceremony.

"We are very appreciative, and I know the people that are here today representing all of Lansdale are very appreciative of the fact we are now naming that street the Dr. Boston Highway," Mensch said in a statement.

Others who attended the dedication ceremony included State Sen. Maria Collett, a Montgomery County Democrat who was also a sponsor of House Bill 1560, the measure that eventually was signed into law as Act 23 and officially renames North Broad Street in honor of Boston; State Rep. Todd Stephens, a Montgomery County Republican; and members of Jefferson Health and Volunteer Medical Services Corps.

Boston was born in 1890 in Philadelphia and later relocated to the Lansdale area of Montgomery County.

He served as a medical officer with one of the few Black regiments of the U.S. Army during the first World War.

Boston later became one of the first Black Americans to found both a hospital and an ambulance service, both of which are continuing to operate to this day in Montgomery County.