Moravian College - History

History

The College traces its roots to the Bethlehem Female Seminary, which was founded in 1742 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, as the first school for young women in the U.S. The seminary was created by Benigna, Countess von Zinzendorf, the daughter of Count Nikolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf, who was the benefactor of the fledgling Moravian communities in Nazareth and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The Female Seminary was incorporated by the Pennsylvania State Legislature in 1863 and became the woman's college, the Moravian Seminary and College for Women in 1913.

The College also traces its roots to the founding of two boys' schools, established in 1742 and 1743, which merged to become Nazareth Hall in 1759. It was located in the town of Nazareth. Nazareth Hall became, in part, Moravian College & Theological Seminary in 1807. It was later incorporated by the Pennsylvania State Legislature as "Moravian College & Theological Seminary" in 1863. Beginning in 1858 and continuing to 1892, the Seminary and College relocated from Nazareth to a former boys’ school on Church Street in Bethlehem, located on the present site of the Bethlehem City Hall.

The men's Moravian College & Theological Seminary then settled in the north end of the city (the present day North Campus) as a result of a donation from the Bethlehem Congregation of the Moravian Church in 1888. The first buildings constructed at North Campus, Comenius Hall and Zinzendorf Hall, were completed in 1892 and joined the property's original brick farmhouse to form the new campus. The farmhouse was later named Hamilton Hall and still exists today.

In 1954, the two schools combined to form the single, coeducational, modern institution of Moravian College. The merger of the two institutions combined the North Campus (the location of the men's College from 1892–1954) and the South Campus (the location of the woman's College) into a single collegiate campus. The distance between the North and South campuses is about 0.8 miles of Main Street, called the "Moravian Mile." First year students traditionally walk the "Moravian Mile" as part of their orientation activities.