• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Moravian Archives, Winston-Salem, NC

since 1753, documenting
our churches, our families, our communities

  • About
    • Our Mission, Our Witness
    • Our History, Governing Commission, and Staff
    • The Archie K. Davis Center
    • Brochures, Forms, Flyers
    • Work Study and Internships with Us
  • Our Churches
    • The Moravian Church, Then and Now
    • Southern Province and Salem Congregation
    • The Wachovia Moravian
    • Our Local Churches and Fellowships
    • For Churches and Church Agencies Adding Records
    • Moravian Archives Sunday
  • Family History
    • Our Memoir Collection
    • Reading Room Computer Resources
    • The Genealogy Bookshelves
    • Remote Ordering of Memoirs
    • Family History Docent Program
  • Research
    • Searching our Collections
    • Selected Moravian Bibliography
    • Research Studies Sampler
    • Research Policies and Appplcation Form
    • Helpful Links
    • Moravian Studies Collaborative
  • Services
    • Free Services For All Guests
    • Image Reproduction Services
    • Permissions For Use
    • Staff Research on Your Topic
    • Translation Services
  • Products
    • Book Series: Records of the Moravians in North Carolina
    • Book Series: Records of the Moravians Among the Cherokees
    • Bookstore & More: Items For Sale
    • Exhibits
      • The Languages of Flowers in Moravian Wachovia
      • The Botanizers of Salem, 1785-1835
      • Nurturing the Gardeners of Wachovia
    • Lunchtime Lectures
    • Presentations for Your Group
    • Archives and Moravian Studies Collaborative Monthly Newsletter
  • Supporters
    • Ways to Donate and Support
    • Dr. C. Daniel Crews Friends Fund – Annual Budget
    • Technology Fund – Computers and Software
    • Book Fund – Collection Maintenance
    • Endowment Fund – Long-Term Reserves
    • Sustainers – Planned Giving
    • Collectors – Gifts in Kind
    • Volunteers – Working Alongside Us
    • Annotations, Our Supporters Newsletter
  • Find Us
    • Contact and Visit Information
    • Site Map

Ardmore Moravian Church

The Great War was over, and as America “returned to normalcy” Winston-Salem was growing by leaps and bounds. It’s newest suburb at the dawn of the 1920’s was Ardmore to the west, and it was drawing a number of Moravians who of course needed a church in their neighborhood.

Calvary Moravian Church and its pastor, Edmund Schwarze, answered the call. On December 1, 1921, Br. Schwarze held the first Moravian service in Ardmore at the home of Br. and Sr. L. M. Hahn on Beach Street off Hawthorne Road.

A series of regularly scheduled meetings followed, and then a lovefeast was held in the Hahns’ home on April 20, 1922. A Ladies Aid Society was organized on May 30 to begin raising funds, and by summer the Provincial Elders Conference saw Ardmore as “an important enterprise.” A lot was purchased, and a “bungalow church” was erected and formally opened with a lovefeast on March 15, 1923. Formal organization as a church of the Southern Province came on June 29, 1924, and Br. William R. Steininger was installed as Ardmore’s pastor.

Charming as a bungalow may be, it is no substitute for a real church, especially if the congregation is growing. So in the midst of the Great Depression, Ardmore set about building a church, a distinctly “Moravian” design from the architectural firm of Northup and O’Brien. Work had to stop at times while more money was raised, but the first service in the new sanctuary was on March 20, 1932. The debt took the rest of the decade to erase, but finally on August 18, 1940, the church was dedicated by Bishop J. Kenneth Pfohl.

Following World War II, Ardmore set about building again, this time adding a Sunday school, fellowship hall, and offices to the rear of the sanctuary. In 1956 Ardmore became perhaps the first church of the Southern Province to air-condition its sanctuary. In 1990 Ardmore added an elevator, and in 1993 it converted a rental house into guest quarters for families of patients at nearby Baptist Hospital.

Today worshipping at Ardmore has been called “fun, high energy, spontaneous,” all aiming “to enjoy God and glorify him forever!”

Moravian Archives, 2002

back to top

Primary Sidebar

Support our Annual Giving – Dr. C. Daniel Crews Friends Fund

Give to our Technology Fund – a Special Project for 2019-2020

Monies will purchase new computers and software allowing the Archives to better access and share its holdings. Goal was $20,000 by June 30, 2020. More info here.




Shop our Bookstore

Follow us on Facebook

Subscribe to Our YouTube Videos

Visiting Us

Parking is in the northwest corner of the lot at the western end of SR 4326 (Rams Drive) off Salem Avenue. The same street serves as entry to the Elbertson Fine Arts Center at Salem College.  We are currently closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Once we re-open our hours will be Mondays-Thursdays (excepting holidays), 9:30am – noon, 1;30-4:30pm (appointments required). We will be closed to the public on Fridays for records accession work.  We invite you to contact us to plan your visit.

Contact Us

Moravian Archives
457 S. Church Street
Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101

Phone: (336) 722-1742
Email: moravianarchives@mcsp.org

Copyright © 2021 · Executive Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in