Bethlehem, city (2020 pop. 75,781),
Northampton and Lehigh counties, E Pa., on the Lehigh R. near Allentown and Easton; inc. as a city 1917. Local
manufacturing, once dominated by the giant Bethlehem Steel Corp., is now
more diversified. Chemicals, machines, cement, and textiles have been
important; semiconductor and e-commerce distribution center industries are
growing. A gambling casino opened in 2009. Bethlehem was settled in
1740–41 by Moravians (see Moravian Church) and incorporated as a
borough in 1845. Steelmaking began in the early 1870s, and Bethlehem Steel's
structural-steel mill opened in 1908; in 1995, when it closed, the
steelmaking era ended. Many of the mill's huge buildings remain in the city;
the National Museum of Industrial History is house in one. In Bethlehem is
the Moravian Museum, which incorporates the Gemeinhaus (1741); the Central
Moravian Church (c.1803); and the Schnitz House (1749). An internationally
famous spring music festival performed by the Bach Choir (1898) is held in
the city. Bethlehem is the seat of Lehigh Univ. and Moravian College.
See R. Schwartz, Bethlehem on the Lehigh (1991).
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