Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781, making it the second-largest city in the Lehigh Valley after Allentown and the seventh-largest city in the state.U.S. Census Bureau, 2010. Retrieved 25 March 2011. Among its total population as of 2020, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19,343 were in Lehigh County. The city is located along the Lehigh River, a tributary of the Delaware River.
Bethlehem lies in the geographic center of the Lehigh Valley, a metropolitan region of with a population of 861,899 people as of the 2020 census that is Pennsylvania's third-most populous metropolitan area and the 68th-most populated metropolitan area in the U.S. Bethlehem borders Allentown to its west and is north of Philadelphia and west of New York City.
There are four sections to the city: central Bethlehem, the south side, the east side, and the west side. 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. Norfolk Southern Railway's Lehigh Line, formerly the main line of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, runs through Bethlehem heading east to Easton and across the Delaware River to Phillipsburg, New Jersey. The Norfolk Southern Railway's Reading Line runs through Bethlehem and west to Allentown and Reading.
Bethlehem has a long historical relationship with the celebration of Christmas. The city was christened as Bethlehem on Christmas Eve 1741 by Nicolaus Zinzendorf, a Moravian bishop. In 1749, Bethlehem was the first U.S. city to feature a decorated Christmas tree. On December 7, 1937, at a grand ceremony during the Great Depression, the city adopted the nickname Christmas City USA. It is one of several Lehigh Valley locations, including Egypt, Emmaus, Jordan Creek, and Nazareth, whose names were inspired by locations in the Bible.
History
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.Cf. Werner Raupp: „Ein vergnügter Herrnhuter“. Johann Martin Mack, Württembergs erster evangelischer Missionar, in: Blätter für Württembergische Kirchengeschichte 92 (1992), ISSN 0341-9479, p. 111–115.
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. Note: This includes
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
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (0.88%) is water. Because large volumes of water were required in the steelmaking process, the city purchased of land in the Pocono Mountains, where its water is stored in reservoirs. The Lehigh River, a tributary of the Delaware, flows through Bethlehem. Monocacy and Saucon Creeks empty into the Lehigh River in Bethlehem.
Bethlehem is approximately north of Philadelphia and about west of New York City.
Climate Bethlehem has a humid continental climate (Dfa). Summers are typically hot and humid, fall and spring are generally mild, and winter is cold. Precipitation is distributed fairly uniformly throughout the year, with thunderstorms in the summer, showers in spring and fall, and snow in winter. The average high temperature varies widely, from in January to in July. The highest recorded temperature was , while the lowest recorded temperature was .
Bethlehem falls under the USDA 6b Plant hardiness zone.
Neighborhoods Bethlehem is divided into five main areas: Center City, West Side, East Side, South Side, and North Side. The West Side is located in Lehigh County and the other four neighborhoods are in Northampton County. Center City is bounded by Monocacy Creek to the west, Dewberry Ave. to the North, and Stefko Boulevard to the east. The West Side begins at the city's western border with Allentown and continues east to the Monocacy Creek and north to Hanover Township. The Mount Airy Neighborhood is bounded by Pennsylvania Ave to the west, West Broad St to the north, 2nd Avenue to the east, and the Lehigh River to the south. The East Side is bordered to the west by Center City and to the east by Bethlehem Township and Freemansburg. The East Side includes the Pembroke Village area. The South Side's borders are Fountain Hill to the west, the Lehigh River to the north, South Mountain to the south, and Hellertown to the east. The North Side begins above Dewberry Ave and extends up Route 191 (Linden Ave) to Oakland Road, where the city and township divide is. Northside extends as far West as Monocacy Creek on Macada Road and as far East as Easton Ave and Stefko Blvd. intersection. 'North Side' refers more to a cultural division than an actual boundary.
Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a population of 75,781. The median age was 36.3 years. 18.9% of residents were under the age of 18 and 17.8% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 92.1 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 89.5 males age 18 and over.
100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 30,303 households in Bethlehem, of which 25.4% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 35.1% were married-couple households, 21.4% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 34.7% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 34.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 32,205 housing units, of which 5.9% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.1% and the rental vacancy rate was 5.1%.
+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number Percent White 47,206 62.3% Black or African American 6,591 8.7% American Indian and Alaska Native 353 0.5% Asian 2,622 3.5% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 44 0.1% Some other race 9,859 13.0% Two or more races 9,106 12.0% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 22,101 29.2%
2010 census
As of the 2010 census there were 74,982 people living in the city. There were 31,221 housing units, with 5.9% vacant. The racial makeup of the city was 76.4% White, 6.9% African American, 0.3% Native American, 2.9% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 10.0% from other races, and 3.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 24.4% of the population.
2000 census
As of the 2000 census there were 71,329 people living in the city, including 17,094 families and 28,116 households. The population density was . There were 29,631 housing units at an average density of . 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.