View of the Corner of Academy and Main Street

Henry Jacob Van Vleck arrived in Salem from Nazareth, Pennsylvania, in 1846 to teach at the Salem Boys’ School, seen on the right.  The building at the center is the Gemein Haus, which combined worship space with living space for the pastor. Van Vleck’s drawing of the Gemein Haus is one of the few to survive of the building.  Constructed in 1771, the Gemein Haus was torn down in the mid nineteenth century and replaced by the Salem College building, Main Hall.