MoravianMoment

The Old Nisky Hill Seminary

Many early Moravian schools changed locations multiple times before settling in permanent homes, and the Moravian Theological Seminary was no exception. Established in Nazareth in 1807 as an offshoot of a boys’ boarding school dating to 1743, its original mission was to train ministers and especially teachers, who were in great demand. The school’s curriculum was expanded in 1820 to include a preparatory and classical department. A further expansion of the institutional mission in the mid-19th century prompted efforts to expand its physical campus simultaneously. The school had been moved several times since its founding, and as church leaders searched for a suitable, more permanent location in Bethlehem, the perfect site became available.

In 1855, Benjamin VanKirk had constructed a large building on East Church Street to house his private academy for boys, formerly located on Main Street. Once moved to its new location, the academy was rechristened the Nisky Hill Male Seminary. Shortly after opening the school in the new building, however, VanKirk suffered health problems that forced him to close the academy. A succession of renters occupied the building until 1858, when the Moravian Church took the opportunity to purchase it.

Although under new ownership and officially known as the Moravian Theological Seminary, the campus on East Church Street was sometimes still referred to by the old name Nisky Hill Seminary. It stood on the south side of Church Street, in the block east of North New Street where it now meets Church Street east of City Hall. A writer gave this description in 1873: “Situated on Church Street near Nisky Hill cemetery, it is a fine large commodious brick building, painted lead [grey] color, commanding one of the handsomest sites in the town, overlooking the Lehigh river and mountain, and the rapidly increasing town of South Bethlehem. It is surrounded by a well laid out garden, and a fine large pleasure ground for the recreation of the students.”

By Nancy Rutman ‘84

The old Nisky Hill Seminary building as it looked in the 1850s, as a private academy (above), and circa 1890, when it housed the Moravian Theological Seminary (left)

No doubt such close proximity to South Bethlehem’s many industries, with their noise and smokestacks belching soot, grew less appealing over the years. In any event, by the late 1900s, the deteriorating building was no longer sufficient to meet the needs of the institution. A much larger campus on the northern edge of Bethlehem, anchored by Comenius Hall, was planned and constructed. The last class graduated from the old Nisky Hill Seminary building in June 1892, and by 1897, the building had been demolished and replaced by two large houses—one of which was in turn demolished when New Street was rerouted to make way for the new City Center in the 1960s. Not even a historical plaque remains at the site today to mark this era in Moravian University history.