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Located in the Lehigh Valley along the Lehigh River, Bethlehem was founded by Moravian settlers in 1741. In 1845, the traffic on the Lehigh Canal convinced the Moravians to open the town to outsiders who could purchase their land and buildings. The former Moravian farmlands south of the river were soon developed into railroad lines, industrial mills, homes, and Lehigh University. One of the mills evolved into Bethlehem Steel, once the second-largest steelmaker in the United States.
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.?
Lower Saucon Township provides a unique glimpse of the regions many diverse villages and the German immigrant population. Towns including Wassergass, Shimersville, Polk Valley, Redington, and Bingen were settled largely because of the areas fertile soil, abundant water, and many iron and limestone deposits, which contributed to surrounding communities such as Bethlehem and Hellertown both socially and economically. These rare family photographs depict a blend of lives that influenced the area before and after the industrial revolution.
Before the first European settlers arrived in the Saucon Valley, the local Native American tribe, the Lenape, named the 17-mile, eastern Pennsylvania creek Saucon, meaning "at the mouth of the creek." Saucon Valley refers to the area drained by the Saucon Creek, a tributary of the Lehigh River. The valley includes Hellertown and Lower Saucon Township in Northampton County. Lower Saucon Township was chartered in 1743, when it was still a part of Bucks County. The township also included South Bethlehem until 1865, and Hellertown until 1872. Before becoming a borough in 1872, Hellertown was the largest village in Lower Saucon Township for many years. Even though the two municipalities remain separate, it is today impossible to disunite the families, culture, and history that have been interwoven through the years.
Due in part to the Lehigh Canal and the Lehigh Valley Railroad, Bethlehem evolved from a tranquil town to a modern industrial city. Built in 1829, the Lehigh Canal passed by the center of Bethlehem. With it brought a steady stream of outsiders who shaped and changed the community. The Lehigh Valley Railroad was established in South Bethlehem in the 1850s, turning the city into a manufacturing center with such new industries as Lehigh Zinc and Bethlehem Steel as well as silk mills. Bethlehem Revisited captures a city in transition, at a time when its streets could barely accommodate the influx of horses, trolleys, automobiles, and pedestrians. Bursting at its seams with people, businesses, and residences, Bethlehem comes alive through this collection of extraordinary postcards.
Covers receipts and expenditures of appropriations and other funds.
Joseph Byerly (b. ca. 1730-1740; d. 1803) immigrated from Germany to Pennsylvania then moved to Rockingham County Virginia. He married Martha between 1786-1788. Descendants lived in Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, West Virginia, Nebraska, and elsewhere.
The Delaware River flows some 330 miles from its headwaters near Hancock, New York, to the mouth of the Delaware Bay. It is the longest free-flowing river east of the Mississippi and one of America’s most important rivers. Not only is it the primary water supply for New York City, but it provides clean drinking water to every home within a 150-mile radius. When the reservoirs were built on the East and West Branches, they disrupted the natural flows and turned nature upside down. The once-warm waterway now has cooler flows creating a self-sustaining wild trout population and establishing a modern-day fishing and boating industry to fuel the economy of the Upper Delaware River communities. ...