New Building Named for Revered Moorestown Friends Teacher

As one of the pillars of Moorestown Friends School’s (MFS) past, Neil Hartman’s name will soon prop up its future for many years to come.

One of the Quaker institution’s longest-tenured math teachers—33 years—Hartman’s name will adorn the new math building under construction on the former Greenleaf property, up till now referred to as the “south annex.”

Head of School Larry Van Meter, a former student of Hartman’s, said his old prof was a natural choice to name the building after.

“Neil Hartman was one of the larger-than-life teachers who made MFS a very special place in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. He had a huge influence on me and on an entire generation of Moorestown Friends students,” said Van Meter. “Naming the new classroom building for Mr. Hartman is a fitting way to honor his memorable achievements and contributions as a teacher, coach and person.”

Once opened, the math building will house eight new state-of-the-art math classrooms, a choral music suite and a technology lab.

The facility would certainly have been a dream come true for Hartman, who was interested in math from a very early age and spent the better part of his teaching career, from 1952 to 1985, at Moorestown Friends, including several years as chair of the math department.

Hartman, currently a Medford Leas resident, was still somewhat at a loss for words Wednesday, roughly two months after he first learned of the honor.

“I was very shocked. It’s not something you expect to happen,” he said. “It’s an honor beyond anything I’ve ever had.”

In addition to teaching math, Hartman taught scripture, science and coached tennis and contributed in numerous other ways to the culture at Moorestown Friends, including acting in faculty-student productions, leading square dances, co-chairing the school’s Bicentennial Celebration, co-editing the school’s history published in 1986, being a mainstay at the Lobster Dinner and Dinner Among Friends, and teaching the May Pole Dance to scores of MFS students, according to a release from the school.

Hartman Hall will be formally dedicated on May 4, at the kickoff of Alumni Weekened. But the building will open to students a few weeks prior, right around spring break, according to MFS spokesman Mike Schlotterbeck.

“The mindset from the get-go has been to get the students in there as early as possible,” he said.

Work began on the building in July 2011—approximately three years after Greenleaf Retirement Community closed—and continues today. The rooms are still relatively bare, lacking the details typical of a school building (desks, chairs, chalkboards, students), but the bones are there, the beginnings of an education environment taking shape. 

Though the weather has cooperated, the structure required a not insignificant amount of work. Schlotterbeck said a number of walls needed to be knocked down to provide ample space for classrooms and a new roof was installed, along with new windows. The heating and air conditioning system was also augmented.