Moravian Preservation Master Plan.indb - Society for College and ...

Moravian College • Preservation Master Plan
Chapter Two
Historic Overview of Moravian College
2.0 Introduction
Moravian College has a long and rich history. Closely
intertwined with the establishment of Bethlehem
and Moravian theology and culture, today’s college
is the descendant of two distinguished Moravian
educational institutions, which served both men
and women over the course of two centuries before
merging in 1954. The founders of these schools were
also instrumental in the settlement and growth of
Moravian Bethlehem. Though Bethlehem’s era as
an exclusively Moravian settlement is long gone,
Moravian College and its parent schools have
perpetuated some of the Moravian faith’s most
cherished educational and cultural values into
the present day, and kept this legacy relevant to
generations of students.
2.1 Bethlehem: Moravian
Capital to Industrial Giant
Natural and Scenic Qualities of
Bethlehem
The earliest part of Bethlehem, including the
entirety of today’s Priscilla Payne Hurd Campus,
stands atop a bluff overlooking the confluence of
the Lehigh River and Monocacy Creek. The site is
part of the Great Valley, a large limestone formation
measuring eight to twelve miles in width, which
curves north into New Jersey and south through
Pennsylvania into Maryland and Virginia. The
site is part of the Lehigh River drainage area. The
Lehigh River flows eastward to the south of the
bluff, and Monocacy Creek flows southward to
the west of the project area (see figure 1-1). Bedrock
beneath the city consists of medium-gray thickbedded
dolomite and impure limestone calcareous
siltstone at its base. Subsoil in the area is yellow to
reddish-yellow clay (Gerhardt et al. 2008:4; National
Heritage Corporation 1977:20).
The site chosen for the city had a number of
features attractive to the first settlers. Foremost was
a plenteous spring at the base of the bluff, which
would provide water in all seasons and was a
primary reason for the purchase of this particular
tract. The hillside was wooded with a steep descent
to the river and creek. Monocacy Creek at that time
flowed south along the west side of the future city
and then turned toward the east, meeting the Lehigh
River southeast of the town site and forming a long
east-west peninsula between the two waterways.
On the south side of the Monocacy Creek peninsula
was a ford across the Lehigh River. The new town
was sited “some distance from the river” beside an
old Native American trail that extended north and
west from the ford, crossing the peninsula and the
Monocacy Creek, and running uphill past the new
site (Murtagh 1967:23).
Roots of Moravian Faith
Moravian Christianity dates back to the fifteenth
century, and had two distinct periods: the original
Bohemian church, which was eventually driven
underground, and the Renewed Church beginning
in 1722 (Weinlick in Myers 1982:5). Moravianism
began in Bohemia and Moravia in central and
Eastern Europe (figure 2-1). This area was originally
Christianized by the Eastern Orthodox branch of
Catholicism, but eventually Roman Catholicism
became the controlling denomination. Still, the
Christians of these regions felt ties to the Eastern
tradition and as such reacted strongly to the
worldly corruption occurring within the Roman
Catholic Church during the 1300s and 1400s. John
Hus (born 1369), an instructor at the University of
Prague, helped voice the sentiment that Christian
belief and way of life derived from the Bible, not
from the Pope and the church leadership hierarchy.
Following his break with the Church, Hus was
condemned as a heretic and burned at the stake in
1415. His martyrdom sowed seeds of Protestantism
among his community (Groenfeldt 1976:13).
In the years following the death of Hus, his followers
struggled with different perspectives but could not
create a united community of believers. One faction
separated itself in 1457, and was known as the
Unity of the Brethren (Unitas Fratrum). The group’s
primary goal was to avoid further religious conflict
and live peacefully, following the teachings of the
New Testament. Despite continued persecution,
the denomination began to grow. During the Thirty
John Milner Associates • October 2009 • Chapter 2 • Historic Overview • 5