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Several views of the
Central Bethlehem Historic District
Photographs by Sue Pridemore |
The Central
Bethlehem Historic District is historically important
beyond its current emphasis on the Moravian period of
1741 to 1844 considering the impact of industrialization
and religious pluralism. The Moravian community functioned
as a Utopian experiment, which allowed for cultural expression
and religious adherence to a pietistic belief from German
theologians emigrating from Europe to this part of Pennsylvania
to bring Christianity to the Native Americans. Their communal
way of life established extraordinary 18th-century industry
and hand crafts in shared cooperative efforts. The various
Moravian communal buildings, with 18th-century Germanic
architectural elements, such as herringbone pattern doors,
gambrel roofs with flared eaves, brick jack-arched windows
and doors, tiled roofs, Germanic sloping-roofed dormers,
parged stone walls, and deep-set windows represent the
largest collection of Germanic style architecture in the
United States. After 1844 the divestiture of property
by the Moravian Congregation enabled people of all religions
to purchase land in Bethlehem. With the newly built Trinity
Episcopal, Wesley Methodist, and Salem Lutheran churches,
religious pluralism had arrived in Bethlehem. The growth
of Bethlehem after 1845 was affected by the heavy industry
when the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Bethlehem Iron
Company (later Bethlehem Steel) established their headquarters
in the community. Several examples of high style architecture
as monuments to wealthy industrialists were built on Main
Street. In 1892 George H. Myers, director of Bethlehem
Iron Company, the First National Bank, and the Lehigh
Valley Railroad, built the largest building in the Lehigh
Valley at 525 Main Street. Five stories high and built
of Milford pink granite, it was designed by Philadelphia
architect Wills G. Hale. Not all architectural innovations
originated with wealthy industrialists, homes in the Gothic,
Second Empire and Queen Anne styles can be found within
the historic district.
The Central Bethlehem Historic District is bordered
roughly by Broad St., Linden St., Monocacy Creek and
West St., Mitmat St., part of Schaffer St. and First
Ave. facing Monocacy Creek or visit the website.
The Central Bethlehem
Historic District is the subject of an online-lesson
plan produced by Teaching with Historic Places,
a National Register program that offers classroom-ready
lesson plans on properties listed in the National Register.
To learn more, visit the Teaching
with Historic Places home page. |