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Bishopthorpe Manor is the only seminary for girls and young ladies in the State of Pennsylvania conducted under the auspices of the Episcopal Church. This select high-grade school, situated on Fountain Hill, has had, as Bishop Talbot so aptly states, an honorable career extending over a period of nearly fifty years. Its alumnae are now numbered by the hundreds, including many of prominence in different sections of the country.
In 1850, the present property and adjoining lands belonged to Auguste Fiot, a Frenchman, of Philadelphia, who improved them for a country seat, and had them laid out with great beauty. In that year he built the Manor House of stone, a stately and massive mansion, and named the estate Fontainebleau after the historic park and place near Paris. With its extensive grounds, fine walks and terraces, grand old trees, beautiful flowers and fountains, it is said to have been the most attractive place in the picturesque Lehigh Valley. The borough that grew up around it on the mountain side was called Fountain Hill, the name being, it is claimed, a free translation of the original.
After Mr. Fiot’s death, which occurred in 1866, the property was sold to Mr. Tinsley Jeter, an ardent Southerner and a devoted churchman of broad culture, who proposed to use it as a church school for girls, and it was purchased for this purpose in 1867. At the suggestion of the Rt. Rev. William Bacon Stevens, D.D., Bishop of Pennsylvania, as the Diocese of Bethlehem had not at that time been separated from that of Pennsylvania, it was renamed “Bishopthorpe”, the term signifying a Bishop’s demesne, after the country seat of the Archbishop of York, England, where he had recently been a visitor.
But few alterations were necessary or were made in the mansion which still remains the main building. What is now known as the Middle House in which are the dining-room and the large study hall was then built and the school opened in 1868 under the control of a board of Trustees of which the Bishop was president. When the Diocese of Bethlehem was organized in 1871 it became the owner of the property. The school’s capacity at that time was twenty-five resident students. It has also considerable day patronage. The school from the beginning had maintained a high standard of character and scholarship, and had been very successful in its work. In 1885–1886, in order to meet the demands for increased capacity, it was greatly improved by the addition of the New House which contains the gymnasium, music rooms, studio, several bedrooms, the kitchen, pantries, etc.
The institution sustained a serious loss during the session 1893–1894 in the death of Miss Walsh, the Principal for twenty-five years. Its success up to that time had been due largely to her strong personality. After her death the position was held by successive principals, some of them very capable, with varying success until 1902, when the school was closed temporarily for financial reasons. The property was sold in 1908 to Mr. Claude N. Wyant, its present owner, and an associate.
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Mr. Wyant who has had much experience in high-grade schools in Virginia and Ohio decided that Bishopthorpe Manor, conducted according to approved modem methods, should continue to be a school of exceptional advantages for a discriminating patronage.
With this policy in view he became sole owner in 1910. In that year he built the Annex which contains the large concert hall, some class rooms, and several bedrooms. In 1914 he built the New Annex, to meet the growing needs of the school. It contains two class rooms, three music rooms and several double bedrooms. The capacity of the school was thus increased to more than double what it was when the Diocese of Bethlehem took charge of it. All the buildings adjoin one another so that communication does not require going out of doors.
Mrs. Wyant, a graduate of Hollins College, exercises close personal supervision over the daily life of the girls, and her thorough sympathy and understanding of their needs has been and is a marked factor in the school’s success.
The plan of administration of Bishopthorpe Manor under the present management is to some extent different from that of boarding schools generally. The school is conducted largely as a spacious residence and the students are considered as the members of one family. All are placed on honor to observe those regulations of proper decorum and correct demeanor that will best serve the whole household.
The school is advantageously located in a region free from malaria with a bracing mountain climate, and noted for healthfulness. Every facility exists for athletic sports, physical exercise, and outdoor pastimes. The many pleasant walks along the mountain paths, the rural highways, the river, the park, the tennis court, afford an alluring invitation to open-air life. The isolation and inconvenience of country location, however, are altogether lacking, as its position enables it to enjoy all the advantages of the contiguous cities.
The educational work of the school is based upon as full a development of the intellectual capabilities of each student as possible. This is accomplished by flexible courses of study under an excellent and particularly well-arranged elective system. There are three Courses provided — the College Preparatory, the Academic, and the General Culture or Collegiate. The first two cover four years, and the last, two years. The College Preparatory Course gives complete preparation for the best colleges, certificate admission to Wellesley, Smith, Wells, University of Chicago, and other Colleges. The Academic Course corresponds to that of the best high schools. The General Culture or Collegiate Course is planned for high school graduates or for graduates of the Academic Course. There are Special Courses in Music Expression, Art, Arts and Crafts, Domestic Art, and Domestic Science. The work in all courses is most thorough and comprehensive, under teachers — all of whom are resident — of high scholarly attainments and of sufficient number to insure careful individual instruction. There are no entrance examinations for admittance.
The school shares in a generous measure in the excellent musical advantages of the Bethlehems, and maintains an unusually high standard for efficiency of work in music. Among the exceptional musical advantages available are the annual Bach Festivals which have been designated “the greatest choir and the finest sequence of choral performances in America”, and the famous concerts of the Lehigh Valley Symphony Orchestra which is supported by Mr. Chas. M. Schwab and other local music lovers.
The nearness of the school to New York and Philadelphia enables its students to enjoy their special musical treats, such as grand opera, without interruption from the regular work. Special arrangements have been made for week-end trips, for parties with a school chaperon, these cities when advisable.
The carefully-arranged, comprehensive and practical two-year courses in Domestic Science, Domestic Art, Expression, and Arts and Crafts, meet an increasing demand for the training they give, and are becoming more popular each year. The equipment in each department is very complete in every respect, and the work, taught systematically and thoroughly, has been very successful.
Bishopthorpe Manor, although conducted under the auspices of the Episcopal Church and under the pastoral care of the Dean of the Pro-Cathedral, is in no wise sectarian, and much of its patronage come from those of other affiliations. It is pre-eminently a home school in management and direction, the aim being to prepare its students to be true home-makers.
The substantial improvements made in the buildings in recent years have added much to their beauty as well as to the comfort and convenience of the students. The utmost care is taken to have Bishopthorpe Manor sustain fully, in its standards, methods and work to-day, the best ideal’s and traditions of the past. To its students from all sections of our country and parts of Canada it furnishes a cheerful refined hone school of earnest and accurate scholarship with the best social training one where the physical health and the moral and spiritual life of its students are happily combined with the most approved methods of educations.
Title–9 | 10–19 | 20–29 | 30–31 32–33 34–35 36–37 38–39 | 40–49 | 50–59 | 60–69 | 70–79 | 80–89 | 90–99 | 100–109 | 110–119 | 120–129 | 130–139 | 140–151