Linden Hall (school)
Linden Hall is an independent boarding school and day for girls in grades 6-12 located in Lititz, Pennsylvania. The school was founded in 1746 and is the oldest girls' boarding and day school in continuous operation in the United States. History. The school traces its history to November 1746, when a Moravian congregation was established in Warwick, Pennsylvania, now known as Lititz. The congregation's original building was a "Gemeinhaus," a log structure that could serve as a combined chapel, schoolhouse, and parsonage. The school educated both boys and girls. As of 1758, it reportedly enrolled  70 to 77 children. Brethren's and Sisters' Houses were built by the Moravian congregation between 1758 and 1761 to separate the activities and education of the community's unmarried men and women. The original Gemeinhaus building was taken down in 1766. For the next few years, girl's schooling occurred in the Sisters' House, while boys' schooling was closely associated with the Brethren's House. Church diaries from this period mention that girls from Moravian families in Lancaster (several miles from Lititz) were enrolling in the school and boarding with local families. The local Moravian congregation was a country  congregation whose members lived on scattered farms, so it is likely that some of their daughters boarded at the school or nearby due to its distance from their homes. In May 1769 the cornerstone was laid for a new building for the girls' school, apparently to accommodate a growing student body. This building, now named Stengel Hall, is still standing as of 2020. The school's first recorded non-Moravian boarding student, Margaret "Peggy" Marvel of Baltimore, Maryland, was enrolled in 1794. The name of the school was changed from Lititz Seminary to Linden Hall in 1883. The new name  referred to plantings of basswood (linden) trees on the campus. Linden Hall added a junior college, known as Linden Hall Junior College, in 1935. Its offerings included a secretarial program. The Junior College was discontinued in 1961. Linden Hall is now nonsectarian. The school handbook states that the school's weekly chapel services are held in the Lititz Moravian Church and incorporate "readings, commentaries, and music that represent many of the major philosophies and religions," along with "the School's Moravian heritage." Program. Linden Hall's academic program is entirely aimed at college preparation. Athletic offerings include an extensive equestrian  program. Team sports include soccer, tennis, volleyball, riding, cross country, golf, basketball, archery and dance. A cooperative program with Warwick High School enables Linden Hall students to participate in field hockey, lacrosse, swimming, track and field, softball, and bowling teams. Upper school students can participate in an aviation program through which they can earn a pilot's license. Historically related school. The Beck School for Boys, now defunct, also was related to the Moravian church schools established in Lititz in the 1700s.