by
Karl Bodmer in the background in 1935 of St. Michael's Cemetery in the foreground with Bethlehem Steel's smokestacks in the background
Settlement Prior to European settlements, the areas around present-day Bethlehem and its surrounding locales along the
Delaware River and its tributaries in eastern Pennsylvania were inhabited by various
indigenous peoples, including the
Algonquian-speaking
Lenape, which had three main divisions, known by the
dialects, the
Unami,
Unalachtigo, and
Munsee. They traded with the
Dutch and then
British colonialists in the
Mid-Atlantic region in present-day
Connecticut,
Delaware,
Long Island,
Maryland,
New Jersey, the lower
Hudson Valley in
New York, and other regions in
Pennsylvania.
18th century On April 2, 1741,
William Allen, a wealthy
Philadelphia merchant and political figure, who later founded the city of
Allentown, deeded along the banks of the
Monocacy Creek and
Lehigh River to the
Moravian Church. On Christmas Eve of that year,
David Nitschmann and
Nicolaus Zinzendorf, leading a small group of
Moravians, founded the
mission community of Bethlehem at the confluence of the
Monocacy and
Lehigh rivers. This group included
John Martin Mack, who later became bishop of the Moravians in the
Virgin Islands. They established missionary communities among the Native Americans and unchurched
German-speaking
Christians and named the settlement after the Biblical town
Bethlehem of
Judea, said to be the birthplace of
Jesus. "
Count Zinzendorf said, 'Brothers, how more fittingly could we call our new home than to name it in honor of the spot where the event we now commemorate took place. We will call this place Bethlehem.' And so was Bethlehem named after the birthplace of the Man of Peace." Bethlehem was started as a typical Moravian Settlement Congregation, where the Church owned all the property. In the late 1700s, Bethlehem established grist and saw mills, known as Calvin's Mills. The historic Brethren's House, Sisters' House, Widows' House, and
Congregation House, with the Old Chapel, are remnants of this period of communal living. Moravians ministered to the regional
Lenape Native Americans through their mission in the area, and to others further east in the
New York colony. In historic Bethlehem's
God's Acre cemetery, converted Lenape were buried alongside Moravians. In 1762, Bethlehem built the first
waterworks in America to pump water for public use. In the autumn of 1777, during the
American Revolutionary War, many
patriots fled from
Philadelphia to Bethlehem and the surrounding area as the
British Army advanced from the east. The
Marquis de Lafayette recovered from an injury received at the
Battle of Brandywine in Bethlehem, and several of the most prominent members of the
Continental Congress fled north to Bethlehem before the congress eventually reconvened in
Lancaster. Before, during, and after the
American Revolution, Bethlehem was visited by
George Washington and his wife
Martha,
John Adams,
Samuel Adams,
Benjamin Franklin,
Alexander Hamilton,
John Hancock, and the Marquis de Lafayette. On September 22, 1777, records show, 14 of the 56 delegates to the
Second Continental Congress signed the
Moravian Sun Inn register in Bethlehem and stayed there overnight. George Washington stored his personal effects at the
James Burnside farm at 1461 Schoenersville Road in Bethlehem. As of 1998, the farm is operated as a historical museum known as James Burnside Plantation.
19th century In 1845, Bethlehem was a prosperous village that was incorporated into a free borough in the
County of Northampton. After the
Unity Synod of 1848, Bethlehem became the headquarters of the Northern Province of the Moravian Church in North America. On March 27, 1900,
the Bach Choir of Bethlehem presented the United States debut of
German Lutheran composer
Johann Sebastian Bach's
Mass in B Minor in the city's Central Moravian Church. Bethlehem was one of the four leading Moravian communities in the
Northeastern United States;
Emmaus,
Lititz, and
Nazareth, each in Pennsylvania, were the three others. Until the 1850s, officially only members of the Moravian Church were permitted to lease land plots in Bethlehem. A member of a group of
Huguenot families also settled in Bethlehem. In 1865, after the end of the
Civil War, the Borough of South Bethlehem was formed. In 1886, the Borough of West Bethlehem in
Lehigh County was formed.
20th century With the turn of the century the Bethlehem began a concerted effort to annex neighboring municipalities. In 1901, the Borough of
Northampton Heights was incorporated. In 1904 Bethlehem absorbed West Bethlehem followed shortly after in 1905 by Hottlesville. South Bethlehem would attempt to resist merger and incorporated themselves as their own city in 1913; however, the
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania struck down their incorporation as unconstitutional in 1915 and in 1917 South Bethlehem would be annexed, shortly after by Northampton Heights in 1918. Following the merger with South Bethlehem, the new consolidated City of Bethlehem was incorporated.
Bethlehem Steel executive
Archibald Johnston was elected the new city's first mayor. With the annexation of
Hottlesville,
Macada,
Altonah, and the former town of
Shimersville, Bethlehem's present borders were established. ==Geography==