|
|
|
|
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
|
| |
|
| |
Bethlehem is a city in Lehigh and Northampton Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 71,329 (2007 estimate 72,531), making it the sixth largest city in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, and Reading.
Bethlehem lies in the center of the Lehigh Valley, a 731 square miles (1,893 km²) area that is home to more than 750,000 people.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Bethlehem, Pennsylvania' Start a new discussion about 'Bethlehem, Pennsylvania' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Bethlehem is a city in Lehigh and Northampton Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 71,329 (2007 estimate 72,531), making it the sixth largest city in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, and Reading.
Bethlehem lies in the center of the Lehigh Valley, a 731 square miles (1,893 km²) area that is home to more than 750,000 people. The Lehigh Valley region embraces a trio of cities (Bethlehem, Allentown and Easton) within two counties (Lehigh and Northampton), making it Pennsylvania's third-largest metropolitan area. Smaller than Allentown but larger than Easton, Bethlehem is the Lehigh Valley's second most populous city.
There are three general sections of the city, North Bethlehem, South Bethlehem and West Bethlehem. Each of these sections blossomed at different times in the city's development and each contains areas recognized under the National Register of Historic Places.
In July 2006, Money magazine included Bethlehem as one of its "Top 100 Best Places to Live." It placed number 88.
History
Religious roots
On Christmas Eve in 1741, David Nitschmann and Count Nicolaus von Zinzendorf, leading a small group of Moravians, founded the city of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the "Forks of the Delaware" River along the banks of the Monocacy Creek by the Lehigh River. They named the settlement after the town of Bethlehem in Judea, the birthplace of Jesus Christ. According to the Moravian Church in North America Web site, Bethlehem became the headquarters of the Northern Province of the Moravian Church in North America after the Unity Synod of 1848. Originally a typical Moravian Settlement Congregation where the Church owned all the property, until the 1850s only members of the Moravian Church were permitted to live in Bethlehem. The historic Brethren's House, Sisters' House, Widows' House and Gemeinhaus (Congregation House} with the Old Chapel are remnants of this period of communal living.
In 1762, Bethlehem became home to the first water works in America to pump water for public usage. While George Washington and his troops stayed in Valley Forge, his personal effects were stored at the farm of James Burnside, which is now a historical museum (Burnside Plantation). The prosperous village was incorporated into a free borough in the County of Northampton in 1845.
On March 27, 1900, the Bach Choir of Bethlehem presented the American debut of Lutheran composer Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B Minor in the city's Central Moravian Church.
Bethlehem Steel F.C.
works, May 1881. Watercolor by Joseph Pennell.]]
In the early part of the 20th century, Bethlehem was a hotbed of American soccer, with the corporate Bethlehem Steel team, named Bethlehem Steel F.C. after the company, winning the 1918-19 championship in the National Association Football League (NAFL), and then winning what amounted to national championships three more times during the next decade (1920-21 in the NAFL; 1926-27 in the American Soccer League I; and in 1928-29 winning the EPSL II). The Bethlehem Steel sides consisted largely of British imported players and also had the distinction of being the first American professional soccer team to play in Europe, which it did during its tour of Sweden in 1919. The team also won the U.S. Open Cup, now called the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup after billionaire sports franchise owner Lamar Hunt, five times beginning in 1915, and for the last time in 1926.
The Christmas Star
On December 7, 1937, at a grand ceremony, Mrs. Marion Brown Grace pulled a large switch to light the new Christmas street lights and a large wooden star. Mrs. Grace was the daughter of a former South Bethlehem burgess, Charles F. Brown and wife of Eugene Grace, President of Bethlehem Steel Corporation. Hundreds of Bethlehem’s leading citizens attended the ceremony and thousands more listened to the speeches and musical performances on the radio. The switch for the lights was located in the ballroom of the Hotel Bethlehem. This was the first year that Mayor Robert Pfeifle and the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce adopted the nickname "Christmas City, USA" for Bethlehem. Donations from the community were raised for the street decorations. The Bethlehem Globe-Times underwrote the expense of the large wooden star on the top of South Mountain, at a cost of $460. The star was attached to two wooden poles and was smaller than the current star. The star was created with four wooden planks, overlapped to create an eight point star. The dimensions were 60’ high, 51’ wide lit by 150 bulbs, 50 watts each. The installation of the star was done by PP&L and Bethlehem Water Department. The star was erected on the top of South Mountain, on property owned by the Water Department, located in Lower Saucon Township. The lighting ceremony, in the Hotel Bethlehem, was an appropriate location. This was the site of the first building in Bethlehem, a two room log house. On Christmas Eve in 1741, the original settlers were conducting their evening worship in this building. As their benefactor, Count Zinzendorf, observed the farm animals that shared the space and listened to the words of the hymn they sang, “Not Jerusalem, But Lowly Bethlehem.” he proclaimed the name of the settlement to be Bethlehem. The people gathered at the 1937 ceremony also heard those same words when the Bach Choir, under the direction of Dr. T. Edgar Shields, sang the old German hymn “Jesu, Rufe Mich (Jesus, Call Thou Me),” by Adam Drese. Malcolm Gross, the Mayor of Allentown, Joseph Morrison, Easton’s Chief Executive, Bethlehem School administrators, and prominent church officials were also there to celebrate. In 1939 the wooden star was replaced with a star made of Bethlehem steel, at a cost of $5000. It had eight rays with the main horizontal ray extended eighty-one feet and the main vertical ray was fifty-three feet long. In 1967, the star was redesigned, and Plexiglas was installed to protect the 250 light bulbs, 50 watts each. It was installed on the old steel frame which was ninety-one feet high and twenty-five feet wide at the base with a depth of five feet, set in concrete. In the summer of 2006, the city attended to some much needed repairs of the base. Rust was scraped off the steel base then it was primed and painted at a cost of $25,000. This is the star we see today. The star is surrounded by a chain link fence topped with razor wire. A crew of municipal electricians changes the bulbs every two years. It can be a dangerous job so the crew wears safety gear and they avoid bad weather. Beginning in the mid-'90s, the star was lit from 4:30 p.m. until midnight, every day of the year. This schedule continues today. However during World War II, from 1941 to 1945, none of the Christmas decorations in Bethlehem were lit. At the time, Bethlehem officials explained that the lit star made "too good of an air raid target" and “during the global strife it didn't seem right for the lights to be all lit up when our boys were out in the darkness fighting for us." When lit, the star can be seen from as far as Wind Gap, away. The star has become an important symbol for Bethlehem. Blue-and-white signs surround the city and direct tourists to "Follow the Star to Bethlehem."
Center of American heavy industry
Bethlehem became a center of heavy industry and trade during the industrial revolution. Bethlehem Steel, founded in 1904, began producing the first wide-flange structural shapes made in America. The company was the first to produce the now-ubiquitous "I-beam," and was a major supplier of armor plate and ordnance products during World War I and World War II. After roughly 140 years of metal production at its Bethlehem plant, Bethlehem Steel ceased operations in Bethlehem in 1995.
Geography
Bethlehem is located at (40.626198, -75.375673).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 19.4 square miles (50.3 km²), of which, 19.3 square miles (49.9 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.4 km²) of it (0.88%) is water.
Necessitated by the large volumes of water that were required in the steelmaking process, the city owns 22,000 acres (89 km²) in the Pocono Mountains where its water is stored in reservoirs.
Neighborhoods
Bethlehem is broken up into four main areas: Center City, the West Side, the South Side, and the East Side. The West Side begins at the border with Allentown and continues to the Monocacy Creek. The South Side's borders are Fountain Hill, the Lehigh River, and Hellertown.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 71,329 people, 28,116 households, and 17,094 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,704.4 people per square mile (1,429.9/km²). There were 29,631 housing units at an average density of 1,538.8/sq mi (594.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 81.85% White, 3.64% African American, 0.26% Native American, 2.22% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 9.44% from other races, and 2.56% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 18.23% of the population. The city was named "Pennsylvania's Fastest Growing City".
There were 28,116 households out of which 26.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.1% were married couples living together, 12.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.2% were non-families. 32.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 2.95.
In the city the population was spread out with 21.0% under the age of 18, 14.4% from 18 to 24, 26.6% from 25 to 44, 20.1% from 45 to 64, and 17.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 91.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $35,815, and the median income for a family was $45,354. Males had a median income of $35,190 versus $25,817 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,987. About 11.1% of families and 15.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.7% of those under age 18 and 8.8% of those age 65 or over.
The city is served by Lehigh Valley International Airport, which also serves Allentown, Pennsylvania and the greater Lehigh Valley.
Politics and government
The city government is composed of a mayor and a seven-person city council. The current mayor of Bethlehem is John B. Callahan, who was elected to his second term in November 2005. His election marks the 10th consecutive year a Democrat has held the city's highest office.
Callahan is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, a bi-partisan group with a stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets." The Coalition is co-chaired by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Post-secondary and primary education
Colleges and universities
Bethlehem is home to two institutes of higher education, Lehigh University (ranked #31 in the US News Rankings) and a small also highly ranked liberal arts college, Moravian College. Moravian College also has a Theological Seminary with approximately 100 students of differing religious backgrounds. Founded in 1742 as Bethlehem Female Seminary, Moravian College is also the sixth oldest college in the nation. Northampton Community College is also located in neighboring Bethlehem Township.
Primary and secondary education
Bethlehem is home to Liberty High School for grades 9 through 12. Liberty is part of the Bethlehem Area School District. The district's other high school, Freedom High School, also hosting 9th through 12th grade students is located in neighboring Bethlehem Township. Liberty High School is the larger of the two schools.
Bethlehem also has two private high schools, Bethlehem Catholic High School, which serves grades 9 through 12, Moravian Academy, which serves all primary and secondary school grades. Located in Bethlehem Township, separated from Moravian Academy by Green Pond Golf Course, is Notre Dame High School, which serves grades 9 through 12. The city is also the home of the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts, or LVPA.
Bethlehem Catholic, Freedom and Liberty all compete athletically in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley Conference.
Bethlehem is also home to four public middle schools for grades six through eight: Broughal Middle School, East Hills Middle School, Nitschmann Middle School, and Northeast Middle School. It has 19 public elementary schools for grades K-5. In addition, it has a number of smaller, parochial and other religious grade schools that serve students Pre-K through 8th grade.
Media
Bethlehem's daily newspaper, The Globe-Times, ceased publication in 1991. The Morning Call, based in Allentown, and the Express-Times, based in Easton, are now the city's dominant newspapers. The newspapers used to have offices on Bethlehem's historic Main Street, separated by only a couple of buildings, but the Express-Times has moved several blocks away. Other smaller newspapers include the Bethlehem Press, an award-winning weekly, Pulse Weekly, based in Allentown, and the Eastern Pennsylvania Business Journal, based in Bethlehem.
Religious broadcaster WBPH is the only television station licensed in Bethlehem, though WLVT Channel 39, a PBS affiliate, has its operations in Bethlehem. WFMZ Channel 69, an independent station, is based in neighboring Allentown. Bethlehem is part of the Philadelphia DMA and its cable systems also receive select radio and television broadcasts from New York City.
Bethlehem has two licensed commercial radio stations, variety WGPA AM, and hard rock WZZO FM (though the latter's facilities are in Whitehall Township). There is also one non-commercial station, WLVR FM, operated by Lehigh University. In addition, public radio WDIY FM, while licensed in Allentown, maintains its facilities in Bethlehem. There are numerous other stations broadcast from Allentown and Easton representing a variety of commercial formats, as well as several translators of public stations from Philadelphia and New Jersey.
Sports
The Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League hold their pre-season training camp each summer at the football facilities of Bethlehem's Lehigh University. The Eagles camp in Bethlehem is among the most highly-attended training camps in the entire NFL, drawing thousands of fans to each practice. During training camp, Eagles' practices typically are held twice daily (at 8:45am and 2:45pm) and are usually open to the public. An estimated 10,000 fans attended Eagles practice daily, the highest of any NFL team's training camp, in the summer of 2006.
Bethlehem also is home to Lehigh University's Stabler Arena, which hosts numerous athletic and music events. Stabler is home to the Continental Indoor Football League's Lehigh Valley Outlawz and to Lehigh University collegiate basketball.
Bethlehem Steel F.C., founded in 1911, was one of the most successful early American soccer clubs. Bethlehem Steel won the American Cup in 1914, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919 and 1924. Additionally, they won the National Cup, currently the U.S. Open Cup, in 1915, 1916, 1918, 1919, and 1926, the Allied Amateur Cup in 1914 and the Lewis Cup in 1928. The team folded in 1930.
The Lehigh Valley RFC rugby union team play their matches in Bethlehem at Monocacy Park.
Recreation and entertainment
The city is famous for its Musikfest, a largely free, ten-day music festival that draws over a million people to the city each August. Other festivals include The Celtic Classic, which celebrates Celtic culture, food and music, and the SouthSide Film Festival, a non-competitive, not-for-profit film festival. The city has also been the past, and current host of the North East Art Rock Festival, or NEARFest a popular 3-day Progressive rock music event. The Bethlehem Area Public Library is another popular destination for recreation and entertainment. The Banana Factory houses studios of area artists and is open to the public every first Friday of the month. Touchstone Theatre, also on the SouthSide, houses the Valley's only professional resident theatre company, producing and presenting original theatre performances.
Historic Bethlehem hosts the famed Musikfest and also features many specialized boutiques, spas and clubs along its main streets. The Boyd, Pop-mart and Club 40 Below are among the prominent spots to hang out amongst local college students. The Boyd Theatre boasts a phenomenal sound system and classic 1920's architecture, while Pop-mart features New York fashion and designer names in this quaint town. Club 40 Below has recently been renovated and features the largest dance floor in the Lehigh Valley.
Lehigh University's Zoellner Arts Center offers a variety of musical and dramatic events through the year.
The city is set to be the future location of a large casino, the Sands BethWorks, located on the former Bethlehem Steel property.
The Lehigh Canal provides hiking and biking opportunities along the canal towpath which follows the Lehigh River in Bethlehem.
The western part of the former Bethlehem Steel site was selected as a filming location for the movie Transformers 2, which is set to release in summer 2009. In the film, the Steel's blast furnaces and surrounding area are used for the opening sequence of the film.
City Parks
Bethlehem owns 39 park sites, encompassing . Among the city's parks are Buchannan Park, Elmwood Park, Illick's Mill Park, Johnston Park, Monocacy Park, Rockland Park, Rose Garden, Sand Island, Saucon Park, Sell Field, South Mountain Park, Triangle Park, West Side Park, and Yosko Park.
Notable people from Bethlehem
- Jeff Andretti, is an American race car driver.
- John Andretti, professional race car driver, raced in NASCAR, and currently races in the IndyCar Series.
- Michael Andretti, professional racing team owner, former professional race car driver.
- David A. Bader, Georgia Tech professor.
- Chuck Bednarik, former professional football player, Philadelphia Eagles, Pro Football Hall of Fame member.
- Michael Behe, biochemist at Lehigh University, advocate of intelligent design.
- Stephen Vincent Benét, American writer.
- Pete Carril, former professional and collegiate basketball coach.
- Alexandra Chando, actress, As The World Turns.
- H.D., writer, poet.
- Russell Davenport, publisher and writer.
- Jimmy DeGrasso, former drummer, Megadeth.
- Richard Diehl, archaeologist, academic and Mesoamericanist scholar.
- Edwin Drake, oil driller.
- Jonathan Frakes, director and actor, Star Trek: The Next Generation.
- Eugene Grace, industrialist, President of Bethlehem Steel, 1916-1945.
- Mel Harris, actress, ABC's thirtysomething.
- Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, professional wrestler and actor.
- Gelsey Kirkland, ballerina.
- Nathan Homer Knorr, religious leader and 3rd president, Jehovah's Witnesses.
- Gary Lavelle, former professional baseball player, Oakland Athletics, San Francisco Giants and Toronto Blue Jays.
- Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
- Alix Olson, spoken word poet.
- Billy Packer, CBS basketball analyst.
- Daniel Roebuck, actor, ABC's Lost.
- Charles M. Schwab, industrialist, former President of U.S. Steel, later incorporated as Bethlehem Steel in 1904.
- Sheetal Sheth, actress, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World.
- John Spagnola, former professional football player, Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles and Seattle Seahawks.
- Sarah Strohmeyer, novelist, creator of Bubbles.
- Jonathan Taylor Thomas, actor, ABC's Home Improvement.
Sister cities
External links
|
| |
|
|
