About NMH History

D. L. Moody

Dwight Lyman Moody was among the most well-known Christian evangelists of the 19th century, traveling and preaching in the United States and abroad. He was born in Northfield on February 5, 1837, in a house that still remains on the Northfield campus. His father died when Dwight was four years old. His mother, Betsey, despite poverty, kept together her family of nine children. Moody was baptized in a local church and attended school in the town of Northfield.

At age 17, he left home and moved to Boston to work in his Uncle Samuel Holton's shoe store. In 1855, he was "born again." As D. L. himself said: "When God waked me up...I could not sit still, but I had to go out to preach." Within the year, he moved to Chicago, once more successfully working in the shoe store business.

In mid-19th-century America, along with new immigrants, hundreds of thousands of Americans moved from their farms and towns to cities, to reap what they anticipated would be their share in the industrial revolution. Many  had inadequate social and financial strategies to cope with the temptations and disappointments of urban living: Young Moody felt compelled to preach. "I went out one Sunday and got hold of eighteen ragged boys," he said. "That was about the happiest Sunday I ever experienced." He started teaching his own informal Bible classes in the most ignored and dangerous neighborhoods of Chicago.

Moody's listeners in Chicago grew. His commitment to evangelism went from weekends to weekdays and, finally, to full time. Trusting God and the contributions of friends and admirers for his livelihood, Moody gave up business to become a city missionary. During the 1860s he preached to civilians, soldiers, prisoners; he served as president of the Chicago YMCA; and he made the first of his many long and famous evangelical trips.

In 1870 Moody met Ira David Sankey, hymn-singer, song-leader, and composer. Moody needed a singer to fill the intervals between his sermons. Together Moody and Sankey expanded and professionalized urban revivalism, campaigning for Christ, among other places, in England, Scotland, Jerusalem, Ireland, Italy, Egypt, Paris, Switzerland, Mexico, and across the United States.

When Moody founded the Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies (1879) and Mount Hermon School for Boys (1881), he selected students who were talented but came from impoverished backgrounds. As he did in his revival campaigns, Moody drew his students from all over the world, from all over America, and from every race.

Dwight Lyman Moody died in Northfield on December 22, 1899. Condolences were mailed and wired from around the world, and an estimated 3,000 people were on campus during the day of the funeral, held on December 26 in the Congregational Church. He is buried on a hill called Round Top on the Northfield campus, the site of both his birth and death.

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