South Bethlehem

By Kenneth F. Raniere, Karen M. Samuels and South Bethlehem Historical Society

The story begins in 1848, when the Moravian Brethren sold 274 acres of farmland to investors who resold them as building lots. By 1855, Asa Packer had laid the tracks of his Lehigh Valley Railroad along the Lehigh River, bringing coal from Carbon County to markets in New York and Philadelphia. Industries rapidly grew, with the Pennsylvania and Lehigh Zinc Company in 1853 and the Saucona Iron Company in 1857. By 1865, South Bethlehem became a borough. Charles M. Schwab headed the former Iron Company in 1906, renaming it the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, and was instrumental in uniting the Bethlehems as one city in 1918. Countless immigrants shaped the tone of this region. Today the Sands Casino occupies part of the former Bethlehem Steel site. It is the future home of art and music venues that will contribute to a city already known for its historic and cultural heritage.?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Sep 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781439638590

Kenneth F. Raniere

Kenneth F. Raniere is editor of Southern Exposure, newsletter of the South Bethlehem Historical Society, and author of A Living Legacy: Architecture of A. W. Leh. Karen M. Samuels, who has been active with the restoration of a one-room schoolhouse in Lower Saucon Township, is the columnist of a weekly historical series in the Bethlehem Press.

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South.

One

AN AGE OF INDUSTRY

With the discovery of anthracite coal near Mauch Chunk, now Jim Thorpe, the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company formed and constructed the Lehigh Canal in 1829 to transport the coal to Trenton, New Jersey, then to New York City. In 1855, the Lehigh Valley Railroad laid tracks to follow the same route and purpose. In 1860, Bethlehem Rolling Mills and Iron Company selected South Bethlehem as the ideal location for their furnace. The company took full advantage of the close proximity of the railroad, the ore deposits of the Lehigh Valley, and anthracite coal mined near Mauch Chunk.

This 1925 winter scene of Bethlehem Steel Corporation from Nisky Hill Cemetery shows South Mountain. Along the Lehigh River, the Lehigh Valley Railroad successfully competed with the Lehigh Canal. In Easton, the Lehigh Valley Railroad met up with the Belvidere Delaware and Central of New Jersey Railroads, which offered access to Philadelphia and New York. These connections made South Bethlehem a desirable location for a variety of manufacturing companies.

In 1853, the furnaces of the Pennsylvania and Lehigh Zinc Company were built less than 100 yards from the current location of the entrance to the former New Street Bridge, now the Fahy Bridge. It was the first large enterprise established in South Bethlehem. Samuel Wetherill served as the first superintendent. In 1911, Bethlehem Steel annexed the Lehigh Zinc Company property for the production of steel.

On July 16, 1861, ground was broken for the first blast furnace of the Bethlehem Iron Company. The entrepreneur who led this risky endeavor was Augustus Wolle, a Bethlehem Moravian. The location was selected because of the nearby junction of the North Penn and Lehigh Valley Railroads. In its early years, the company produced rails for the railroads and armor plating for the U.S. Navy. By 1890, Bethlehem Iron was producing gun forging for the U.S. Navy.

The Bethlehem Foundry and Machine Company was founded in 1857 by M. E. Abbott and Cortright on property originally owned by Asa Packer. They engaged in general foundry work and in the manufacture of cement machinery, repair parts, and chemical castings of all kinds.

Charles M. Schwab acquired the Bethlehem Steel Company in 1906 and renamed it the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. The plant was portrayed as clean and orderly in this c. 1911 view looking west. Small buildings stand in front of the iron foundry and machine shops, while well-tended greens appear in front of the plate shops.

In this view from the anthracite building, looking northeast, an iron-truss railroad bridge crosses the Lehigh River in the foreground and converges with the 1841 covered bridge built by Rufus Graves. In 1892, a trolley line was proposed for the covered bridge but not advised since it was built for lighter traffic and already showed signs of