Gemeinhaus, Bethlehem, Northampton County

I'm once again starting to run out of my stock of markers! I haven't had the opportunity to do a great deal of marker hunting this spring, though I'm hoping to get out next month and collect a few. My best friend Andrea and my sister Liza are both interested in accompanying me on an excursion to Concrete City up north, and I have a handful of other destinations on my radar, so we'll see how that goes.

For this week's quest, I'm venturing back to Moravian Bethlehem, one of my favorite historical places, and showing you around the beautiful Gemeinhaus. When I last had a visit from my dear friend Rachel, who moved out of state, she requested that we spend a day in Bethlehem, where she had grown up. I was more than happy to oblige, and she took me around several of the places she knew best. That included today's destination, where she used to work as a tour guide.

The marker stands in front of the Gemeinhaus
at 66 West Church Street

Gemeinhaus, as some of you may remember from my post about the one in Lititz, literally translates as "community house." In many Moravian settlements, it was the first building they constructed. Not so in Bethlehem - that honor went to what is aptly remembered as the First House - but the Gemeinhaus there was the second building of the settlement, and has stood in its position since 1741. Because the original first house of Bethlehem has been long since torn down (the one seen today is a replica), the Gemeinhaus does have the distinction of being the oldest building in the city.

Built in the German Colonial style, the Gemeinhaus is constructed of white oak timbers; these are original to the house, carefully preserved, though the original wooden roof shingles were replaced with slate in the 19th century. It was actually completed in stages, as they began work on the center and western portions in 1741 but didn't start the eastern part until the following year. The full building was completed in 1743 and includes a steep roof with kicked eaves, a two-story attic, and elegant wooden entrance porches. The northwestern side also has a small clapboard one-story addition, which is the only surviving piece of a series of wooden storage sheds that once stood there.

Originally the Gemeinhaus stood alone. It was home to the entire community, less than a hundred people, for its first few years while additional residences were constructed on Church Street. It was their house of worship, their school, their kitchen, their hospital, and their workshop. Yes, all at the same time. As more buildings were added, the Gemeinhaus became part of what we now call the Moravian Museum Complex, which also includes the Bell House and the Old Chapel.

Even Count von Zinzendorf, who naturally has to show up at least once in a Moravian blog post, lived here when he visited. During his visit in 1742, his daughter Benigna instituted the nation's first schoolroom classes for girls, which were also held in the Gemeinhaus. The classes for boys actually started a month after those for girls. 

Also in 1742, the Gemeinhaus began offering hospital services under the guidance of Dr. John Adolph Meyer, in a small room which is now a restroom. Moravian medical practices were remarkably innovative for the time period, and Dr. Meyer oversaw a staff of fifteen nurses, both male and female. In 1743 he established an apothecary, which was later moved into the Bell House after its construction and later still to a designated building on modern-day Main Street. There, it remained the oldest pharmacy continuously operated in the United States for roughly two hundred years, until it finally closed in the 1950s.

The second floor of the Gemeinhaus, which was the part that Rachel was most excited to show me during our tour, served as their house of worship. From the original construction of the Gemeinhaus in 1741 until the construction of the Old Chapel ten years later, the second floor functioned as the Saal, the first place of worship in Bethlehem. It was the largest room in the building and, as you can see in my picture here, it was and still is quite a beautiful space. I've mentioned before that the Moravians were extremely musical people; they had many instruments as part of their worship (some of which are still displayed in the Saal) and would sing hymns from memory. What I find particularly amusing is that they would sometimes do something called polyglot singing, polyglot meaning 'many tongues'. The worshipers, which included converts from many backgrounds other than German, were allowed to sing the hymns in their native tongues, so you can imagine the auditory chaos created when the same hymn was being sung in as many as thirteen different languages all at the same time.

The Saal was also where they would conduct weddings and funerals. The first funeral was led by Count von Zinzendorf for Johann Mueller; if that name rings a bell for my longtime readers or podcast listeners, it's probably because you remember that he was the first person buried in God's Acre, the Moravian cemetery of Bethlehem. That was in June of 1742, and a month later the Saal hosted its first wedding, the union of Johann Zander and Johanna Magdalena Mueller. The biggest event in the Saal was what history remembers as the "Great Wedding," on July 15, 1749. On that day, seven clergymen performed a wedding service for 28 couples.

With the growth of the Moravian Community, the Gemeinhaus didn't need to wear quite so many hats. The Old Chapel was added because the Saal was no longer big enough for the entire community to worship together. Unmarried men were moved into the Single Brethren's House, while the apothecary and various craftsmen were given their own designated places of operation. Clergy continued to live in the Gemeinhaus well into the 19th century, but as more and more homes were built this too became unnecessary. Parts of the building were rented out, during the early 20th century, but it remained a residence for unmarried and widowed women all the way to the 1960s. 

On April 30, 1966, the Gemeinhaus reopened as the Moravian Museum of Bethlehem, and has been so ever since. With a floor plan virtually unchanged from the original construction, it houses musical instruments, clothing, books, and many other implements of early Moravian life in Bethlehem. Visitors are able to learn about the first residents of the city of Bethlehem - how they lived, how they worshiped, how they taught their children, how they did their missionary work, and who they were. It's a National Historic Landmark and, we're hoping, will soon join the rest of the Moravian Community as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The museum is open to the general public Friday through Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Monday through Thursday, tours are granted only by appointment.) Just head for the Historic Bethlehem Visitor Center on Main Street and purchase a museum pass, or you can first visit the Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites website to book a custom tour.

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Sources and Further Reading:

The Gemeinhaus at the official website of Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites

Nelson, Vernon. The Bethlehem Gemeinhaus: A National Historic Landmark. Oaks Printing Company, Bethlehem, PA, 1990.

Architectural prints and photographs of the Gemeinhaus at the Library of Congress

Geimenhaus at the Historical Marker Database

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Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.