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Moravian College • Preservation Master Plan
project to construct 1,500 units of company housing
spanning both sides of the river. The company also
purchased 18 acres of land in the North Main Street
neighborhood and constructed Steel Field (figure
3-12) in 1916 as an athletic facility for employees’
use (Schamberger 2008, personal communication).
Figure 3-12. Early postcard view of Steel Field (Bethlehem Steel
Soccer Club).
Not all lots in the neighborhood were developed,
and pockets of vacant land remained here and
there when the Great Depression hit. Due to
the slowdown of construction during the Great
Depression, there remained many vacant lots in
the neighborhood among the older houses through
World War II. Neighborhood children of the 1930s
and 1940s played freely in these lots and fields,
which eventually disappeared when new housing
was built after 1945 (Moravian College 2007:9;
Steers 2007:26-27).
3.2 Moravian Beliefs and
Educational Principles
The Moravian Church’s historic emphasis on
education, and the vital role of education as an
instrument of salvation, derives from the beliefs of
its influential early bishop, John Amos Comenius
(1592-1670). Moravian adherents believed that
all human souls could find salvation, and thus all
human beings needed to be educated as a means
toward salvation. In a time when education in
Western societies was generally limited to elite
males, Comenius believed in education for males
and females, poor and wealthy alike. Education was
nearly as important as religious observance from
an early time. In more recent times, Comenius has
been credited as “the father of modern education”
(Moravian College 2007:2-3).
From the beginning, the Moravians of Bethlehem
educated both male and female children. Parents,
whose responsibilities were tied up in working
for the communal economy, had little time to
educate their own children. In most cases, children
did not live with their parents once they reached
toddlerhood and became part of the children’s
choirs. The Economy, acting in loco parentis,
provided for each child’s basic needs and was
thus also responsible for providing an education.
Moravian educational institutions were established
as part of this system, and were supported by the
community and church (Moravian College 2007:3;
Smaby 1988:32-36).
Moravian culture was distinct among religious
denominations in America in its treatment of
women. Moravian females were accorded dignity
and status that was lacking in most other religious
and ethnic cultures, and its first Boarding School
for Girls was supported by both males and females.
The girls’ school attracted far more renown and
drew more students from other regions than the
boys’ school, not only due to its strong academic
reputation, but because it was so unusual among
the limited educational opportunities for American
female students prior to 1900 (Yates et al. 1976:265-
266).
3.3 Nature and Nurture:
Nineteenth Century
Campus Planning
The establishment of men’s colleges and theological
seminaries in the United States accelerated in
the nineteenth century. Modeled on the English
example, American colleges continued to focus on
the liberal arts and turn out teachers, lawyers, and
ministers. By the mid-nineteenth-century, critics
derided college education as irrelevant and the
province of the elite. This soon began to change.
Longtime attempts to reform the standing model
of education, and the advent of the land-grant
school system in 1862, combined to open college
education to a greater number of students than
ever before, and freed them from the traditional
classical program of study. Disciplines were
created for those interested in a more technical
or practical education, broadening the appeal of
college to a larger demographic. Coursework in
engineering, agriculture, science, and technical
John Milner Associates • October 2009 • Chapter 3 • College Context • 40