Side A: In December 1772, Brother David Zeisberger and his followers began the construction of Schoenbrunn schoolhouse. The school was built in the Tuscarawas Valley on land given to Zeisberger in the spring of 1771 by the Delaware Native Americans as a Moravian mission to the Delaware. With the land, Zeisberger laid out the town of Schoenbrunn or “Beautiful Spring.” The school served Delaware Indian children, who were taught from special textbooks prepared in the Delaware and German languages by Zeisberger. John Heckewelder, who taught at the school, is recognized as the first schoolteacher in Tuscarawas County. The present reconstructed schoolhouse was dedicated on July 29, 1928 on the 155th anniversary of the completion of the school’s construction. The village can be seen just a few hundred yards south of this marker.
Side B: The construction of the Schoenbrunn church was finished in the fall of 1772, 41 days after the first log was cut. The church was located where the two main streets of Schoenbrunn, which formed a “T,” came together. One of the duties of the church was to oversee the conversion and baptism of many of the Native American residents. Inside the church’s steeple, sat what is believed to be the first bell in the Tuscarawas Valley. Worship services were held regularly in this structure until the village was destroyed during the Revolutionary War. New Schoenbrunn was built about a mile further up the Tuscarawas River in December 1779. The present reconstructed church, where Easter Sunrise services and Christmas Love feasts are held, was dedicated on October 21, 1928. The village can be seen just a few hundred yards south of this marker.
Sponsors: Max T. and Erma Miller Foundation, New Philadelphia Bicentennial Committee, Tuscarawas County Historical Society, and The Ohio Historical Society