In celebration of Veteran’s Day, the Bethlehem Area Public Library is delighted to announce the digitization of Stars in the Service, a cherished WWII-era magazine spotlighting the stories and sacrifices of local servicemen and women. This collection, preserved from 1942–1945, captures the community’s unity and support during wartime.

This project would not have been possible without the dedicated efforts of our staff and interns. A special thank you goes to volunteer Bob McCall for his invaluable contributions.

Explore this heartfelt collection here and join us in honoring those who served.

The Bethlehem Star Archive

The Bethlehem Star, a bold and engaging weekly newspaper, first hit the streets in December 1993. Known for addressing hot-button issues with no hesitation, the paper quickly made its mark. Unfortunately, its run was short-lived, ceasing publication just a year later in December 1994.

At the time, Thomson Newspapers, the paper’s owner, was in the process of selling many of its publications. In 1994, both The Bethlehem Star and its sister paper, The Express-Times, were sold to MediaNews Group. Editor Gerald Scharf optimistically noted in the March 3 issue that the sale wouldn’t affect the Star’s publication: “We’ve been assured that the people of MediaNews Group love cheeky little community newspapers like ours.” But sadly, the Star’s story ended soon after.

We are proud to present all 42 issues of The Bethlehem Star in PDF format for our community to browse, revisit, and reflect on.

Bethlehem Press Archive

The Bethlehem Press, part of the Lehigh Valley Press group of weekly newspapers, began its journey in September 1987 when Times News entered the local weekly newspaper scene. Over the years, it became an essential source of news, serving the Allentown and Bethlehem areas.

Thanks to the diligent efforts of BAPL staff, we’ve now digitized all weekly issues of the Bethlehem Press from January 20, 2010, through August 2, 2023. You can browse through the issues by date or use the search bar to find a specific edition.

Special thanks to volunteer Bob McCall and staff members Michael Henninger, Kristen Leipert, and Matthew Rothfuss for making this project a reality.

For any questions, feel free to reach out to us at info@bapl.org.

We are thrilled to announce the digitization of two significant local history collections, now available on our website. This achievement is the result of the hard work and dedication of our staff, interns, and volunteers.

Photograph and Print Collection Our extensive Photograph and Print Collection, which includes photographs, stereographs, and postcards showcasing Bethlehem and the surrounding areas, is now fully accessible online. You can explore the collection by subject or dive into specific subsets, such as Historic Stereographs, Postcards, Main Street Progress photographs, and images from the Frederick Truman Beckel Collection. This project was brought to life by the collaborative efforts of Reference Librarian Kristen Leipert, Head of Reference Matthew Rothfuss, volunteer Bob McCall, and several dedicated interns.

The Bethlehem Family Photo Album We’re also excited to share that The Bethlehem Family Photo Album—a 1991 initiative by the library and local community members in celebration of Bethlehem’s 250th Anniversary—is now available in digital form. Thanks to the meticulous work of Interlibrary Loan Librarian Caitlin Cuba, this collection, which spans over a century of Bethlehem’s history, is organized into categories that highlight various aspects of community life: culture and recreation, education, family, neighborhoods, social and civic life, work, and worship.

Hanover Township, Northampton County, tucked into the rolling hills north of the City of Bethlehem, is a relatively small municipality that has seen a lot of change over the decades.

Originally part of the Penn family’s hunting grounds, the area possesses a complicated history. The Penn brothers and other Philadelphia landowners (including the ubiquitous William Allen), who had unscrupulously “acquired” the land from the native populations (especially in the infamous Walking Purchase), had trouble selling it to settlers for several decades. The cause of this avoidance was a misunderstanding about the nature of the land and soil. Called the Dry Lands – an area encompassing much of Hanover Township and extending all the way to Palmer and Forks Townships – it was thought to be poorly watered scrubland. According to some sources, the first Anglo-European settlement in the area was James Burnside’s plantation.1

One part of Hanover did see a lot of early activity, however, including visits from some of the Colonies’ most famous persons. The old Lenape Nescopeck Path was the main road from Bethlehem and parts south to the northern settlements, including the doomed Moravian village of Gnadenhutten, and onward to the upper Lehigh River and the west branch of the Susquehanna (where the native village of Nescopeck was located). Beginning in north Bethlehem, it followed what is now Schoenersville and Weaversville Road, and took travelers through the Lehigh Gap in the Blue Mountains. The hardships of the road are described in Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, in a chapter dealing with his time establishing a series of forts along the Pennsylvania frontier during the French and Indian War:

“I concluded to go myself with the rest of my force to Gnadenhut, where a Fort was tho’t more immediately necessary. The Moravians procur’d me five Waggons for our Tools, Stores, Baggage, &c. Just before we left Bethlehem, Eleven Farmers who had been driven from their Plantations by the Indians, came to me requesting a supply of Fire Arms, that they might go back and fetch off their Cattle. I game them each a Gun with suitable Ammunition. We had not march’d many Miles before it began to rain, and it continu’d raining all Day. There were no Habitations on the Road, to shelter us, till we arriv’d near Night, at the House of a German, were and in his Barn we were all huddled together as wet as Water could make us…The next Day being fair, we continued our March and arriv’d at the desolated Gnadenhut.”

Among the ruins of Gnadenhutten Franklin’s men built Fort Allen, which then gave its name to the Lenape Nescopeck Path. Later, it was also known as The King’s Road to Allentown (Allentown was the early name for what we now call Weissport). Almost every traveler, exalted or humble, coming up out of the city of Philadelphia who traveled to the northern interior of Pennsylvania would have used that path.

With the discovery in the nineteenth century that the land was much better for farming than previously thought, and then the further discovery of an abundance of iron ore, Hanover Township slowly began to fill with farms and homes. What had kept settlers away for so long – the gentle landscape and the lack of watercourses – eventually became a trait that attracted the rapid and dramatic development of the late twentieth century. The placement of Route 22 was instrumental to Hanover’s growth, both in terms of suburban housing and the industrial parks that sprang up.2 Lehigh Valley Industrial Park IV was the second largest Industrial Park in Pennsylvania when it was built in 1989, and it was quickly followed by another Industrial Park nearby.3 Today, more than ten-thousand people live in the township.

A flavor of mid-twentieth century local land use politics – as well as an idea of the surrounding landscape – can be gained from BAPL’s newspaper archive dealing with Hanover Township. In the “Vertical Files” of the Bethlehem Room, you can piece together an event that determined the kind of city we live in today. In the 1950s the City of Bethlehem created recreational space in the open land where the township tucks into the city along Illick’s Mill Road. After the quick success of the golf course, swimming pool, and ice rink, City Council decided to add to the park in September 1958 by annexing the triangle of land bordered by Illick’s Mill Road, Schoenersville Road, and the ice rink. This 62.5 acre parcel of land, most of which had once been the Kipp farm and had recently been bought by developer Harold S. Campbell, became a legal battleground.

Campbell had begun preparing the ground for the construction of a shopping center, and upon “first reading” of the eminent domain ordinance at a Council meeting, the feathers started to fly. There were accusations of broken agreements between the city and Campbell, who argued that the land had appreciated greatly in just the short time he’d owned it. At council meetings Campbell was called a “propagandist” and accused of extorting public money. Sometimes, Council would suddenly move to a private meeting in the mayor’s office. Several weeks later, the ordinance was read a second time, but, breaking the usual custom, not immediately read a third time and then adopted, so the issue hung in limbo for a few more months. Campbell (actually the attorney representing Campbell’s three children, who had apparently been entrusted with the land) took the city to court in order to force it to act, claiming that money was being lost every day that the shopping center was not getting built.

In late November 1958, the eminent domain ordinance was finally adopted. And with that the arguments in court switched to the land’s value. Campbell claimed the potential shopping center increased the worth of the land to $1.5 million; the city stuck to its original figure of $285,000. A district court appointed an outside appraisal board of “three Easton men,” who eventually set the figure at $385,000. Campbell stuck to his figure and his lawsuit.

In August 1962 new mayor Gordon Payrow (who had succeeded Earl Schaffer) and City Council rescinded the order of eminent domain, saying they didn’t want to take the risk of the court forcing the taxpayers to pay the $1.5 million. This brought new legal action: Campbell sued for $1,000,000 damages, claiming the land had lost 2/3 of its value during the standoff.

Finally, in January 1965, with a trial date set for February to determine possible damages, the city and Campbell settled on a figure of $565,000 for the land, dropping all pending and future claims. Mayor Payrow negotiated with Bethlehem Steel for a $200,000 grant, plus an interest – free loan to cover the rest, which would be paid off by redirecting federal money that was going to go toward land in the Poconos to increase Bethlehem’s watershed. On January 16, 1965, after so much governmental and legal artillery fire, a half-column story appeared in the local section of the Globe-Times: “Purchase Of Park Tract Completed.”

So that little patch of land at the bottom of Hanover Township has seen two seven years’ wars: the one that Ben Franklin took part in when he passed through on the Nescopeck Path, and the seven year Battle of the Campbell Tract almost exactly 200 years later.

Notes

1. Comprehensive Historic Resource Survey For: Hanover Township, Northampton County, Penna.
2. Ibid.
3. “Lehigh Valley Industrial Park At 30”

Sources

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Yale University Press, 1964.

“Lehigh Valley Industrial Park at 30.” The Bethlehem Globe-Times. 27 June 1989.

“Buildings & Streets – Hanover Township”  Vertical File, Bethlehem Room archive. Bethlehem Area Public Library.

“Purchase Of Park Tract Completed.” The Bethlehem Globe-Times. 16 Jan. 1965. Microfilm collection, Bethlehem Area Public Library.

“Steel Offers $565,000 To Buy Campbell Tract.” The Bethlehem Globe-Times. 6 Jan. 1965. Microfilm Collection, Bethlehem Area Public Library.

Comprehensive Historic Resource Survey For: Hanover Township, Northampton County, Penna. Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society; Northampton County Historical Resource Survey, Thomas Edward Jones, chairperson. [date unknown]

Article written by Information Technician, Brad Rogers.

Entering the Borough of Fountain Hill from “the Bethlehems” (a great phrase from the old local newspapers you can read in the Bethlehem Room) a person can’t help but notice a change in the atmosphere as imposing 19th century mansions, tall (19th century?) trees, and, of course, the hill itself, close in. From the famous Robert H. Sayre mansion and the Cathedral Church of the Nativity, which stand like sentinels at the entrance to the Hill, to the wooded ridge behind St. Luke’s Hospital and the old Weygandt farmhouse, Fountain Hill wears its history on its sleeve.

Most of the prominent families of industrial and philanthropic Bethlehem lived in Fountain Hill. The Wilbur mansion sits next to the Sayre. Up the hill a bit looms the Schwab pile, which was the original Linderman home. These great houses were built with canal, railroad, iron, and steel money, which then multiplied as the families intermarried and served on each other’s’ boards of directors and invested in the same handful of local banks.

Of course, a bona fide gentry requires a bona fide opera house. So in 1876, the Bethlehem Opera House opened to much fanfare (one of the rare times that word is used literally!). It was located at Fourth and Wyandotte, and, like so many theaters of the time, it burned to the ground (a motif, sadly). A few years later, banker E.P. Wilbur, Asa Packer’s nephew, built the Fountain Hill Opera House at the same location. It opened in 1888 and began a long career hosting traveling and local theater, concerts, vaudeville, and eventually films.

The Fountain Hill Opera House (renamed the Grand Opera House in 1900), became the theatrical and musical focus of the Bethlehems for several decades. John Philips Sousa’s band played there. The actor/director John Huston made his theatrical debut there. Temperance rallies were held there. It showed its first moving picture in 1912. And in 1983, John Grello, an escaped convict, hid out in the shuttered theater for two weeks while law enforcement combed the area.

Under new owners in the 1920s the name was changed to the Globe Theater, and during this time the theater, like most of the country, moved away from live performances and showed more movies. In 1930 A.R. Boyd Theaters of Philadelphia took over the Globe, eventually buying it in 1939. That company (a familiar name in the Lehigh Valley) remodeled some of the interior in Art Deco style and built the marquee that the building wore until the end of its days. It also installed state of the art projection and sound for modern movies: the Globe then became a movie theater for the next 30 years. It finally closed in 1961 due to an insufficient number of new movies coming out of Hollywood to fill all of the theaters in town, according to theater management at the time.

After a quiet couple of decades as a movie house and fifteen even quieter years as an empty building, things began to percolate for the Globe in the mid-1970s. Two groups, Lehigh Valley Stage and Friends of the Fountain Hill Opera House, began to organize and fund raise with the goal of reopening the Globe as a regional equity theater and a site for other events. Like the recent efforts to save the Boyd Theater on Broad Street, it was an uphill fight. In 1978 the State Department of General Services distributed a 1.5 million dollar grant to Bethlehem for the use of restoring the Luckenbach Mill and the Sun Inn, but refused to give any to the Globe. Continuing their efforts, the Friends of the Fountain Hill Opera House, with help from Lehigh Valley Stage and some Lehigh graduate students, got the Globe listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Lehigh University was tied to efforts to buy the Globe several times in the 1970s for use as the university’s theater department, but considerations of upkeep and the lack of parking, plus recently completed facilities on the campus itself, scuttled those plans.

And then, sadly, the end came suddenly in August 1983. An arsonist set fire to the theater, causing a massive blaze that destroyed the Globe, leading to its demolition and erasure from the community. By that time, of course, the Sayres, Wilburs, and Lindermans had given up their mansions, and the railroads and the Steel were in steep decline, as Bethlehem moved toward a new cultural life for itself.

Fountain Hill, even without the Globe’s historical and cultural significance, carried on as it always did. Situated where the original hydropathy spa (the Water Cure) that Henry Oppelt ran with such distinction from 1846 to 1871, St. Luke’s Hospital (begun by some of the same families that started the Opera House) has continued to thrive and expand throughout eastern Pennsylvania.The Lipps and Sutton Silk Mill was one of the first of its kind in the area, and it has been refurbished as municipal offices, a police station, and apartments. And the Sayre and Wilbur mansions, such iconic parts of the old borough, have become bustling destinations for fine dining, events, or just for taking in some grand architectural design and that warm feeling of history.

Sources Consulted

Bauman, Earl Joseph. The History of Fountain Hill. 1951.

Erdman, David M. “[unknown title].” Sunday Call Chronicle, 14 Aug 1983. A1-2.

Farrar, Carolyn. “1884 Fire Destroyed First Globe.” Bethlehem Globe-Times, 14 Aug 1983.  A8.

Grand Opera House Programs Collection, 1901-1902. Bethlehem Area Public Library.

Jones, Warren. “Globe Theater, Once Star-Studded, Will Never Reopen—Building For Sale.” Bethlehem Globe-Times, 25 Feb 1961. 13.

Lehren, Andy. “Arson Guts Globe Theater.” Bethlehem Globe-Times, 14 Aug 1983. A1.

Redding, Edward J. History of Fountain Hill, Pennsylvania. 1996.

Bethlehem has contributed its share of celebrities to the world, but none may have shone as brightly as May Yohe. The granddaughter of the proprietor of the Eagle Hotel (the predecessor of the Hotel Bethlehem), Caleb Yohe, May left Bethlehem for the big city when she was young and ended up on the stage in Chicago, New York, Paris, and London. While in Europe she met and married Lord Francis Hope, the owner of the famous—and famously cursed—Hope Diamond. According to legend, May wore the gem twice while she was Lady Hope, thereby bringing the curse upon herself.

She left Lord Hope for the dashing Captain Putnam Strong, lost her fortune and eventually the Captain, and finally married another captain, John A. Smuts.  With him she remained, moving around the world and fulfilling a dizzying array of roles as businesswoman, screenwriter, and, eventually, W.P.A. clerk in Boston.

To read about the adventurous life of Madcap May, as she was known at the height of her celebrity, is to be amazed at every turn. She was a darling of Edward, Prince of Wales; she ran a farm in New Hampshire, where she sold syrup; she toured the U.S. as an ageing vaudevillian; she produced two silent films with Boris Karloff in the cast; she was institutionalized for a time in Oregon, where legend has it she escaped; she (accidentally?) shot Captain Smuts!

Richard Kurin of the Smithsonian Institution and author of a recent biography of May Yohe (Madcap May: Mistress of Myth, Men and Hope, which the library has in circulation) attributed her gumption to being born in Moravian Bethlehem, As he told an interviewer ten years ago, “If you were born at the Inn at Bethlehem, you might think there’s something kind of sacred about your life. And so I think she was born in a community which had encouraged women, had never doubted the ability of women, had promoted women and made women feel that they can achieve anything on the planet. I think that she took that to heart. Now she took that to heart more in a kind of secular way than she did in a religious way but nevertheless I think she got it from a very strong Moravian upbringing.”

Was May Yohe cursed? You can read up on her at the library and decide for yourself!

“May Yohe Dies in Poverty at 72” by United Press
Philadelphia Record, August 29, 1938

“May Yohe Jailed; Hope Diamond Casts Its Spell” by Edward B. Lockett
Bethlehem Globe-Times, February 8, 1937

  “May Yohe Dead; Once Owner Of Hope Diamond”
Bethlehem Globe-Times, August 29, 1938

Head Reference Librarian Matthew Rothfuss will take the audience on a tour through the process of collecting, digitizing, and sharing thousands of pages of these yearbooks dating back to 1922. 

“We at BAPL are so thankful to the community for how they responded and collaborated with us on this project. We couldn’t have completed it without the contribution of so many,” Rothfuss said. He explained that all the entire 100 years of yearbooks are now available on the library’s website, free and open to all to access. The archive also includes photos of events like high school reunions, programs from football games, and all sorts of historical ephemera from the school’s long life.

Light refreshments will be served at the event at the Main Library, and the audience is encouraged to share their memories of The Cauldron as well. Will you be brave enough to share your high school portrait with the crowd?

It is a fascinating look through the past. Consider a few of the first graduating class (1923) like Paul “Bots” Brunner, described as a “Dapper Dan.” Consider Dora Leidich whose photo was underscored by a bit of poetry: “Parent of golden dreams, Romance; Auspicious dream of childish joys, Who leadst along, in any dance, Thy native train of girls and boys…”

WHAT: 100 Years of Liberty High School Yearbooks presentation
WHEN: September 27, 2022, 6:30pm
WHERE: BAPL Main Library, 11 W. Church St.
REGISTRATION: Register at bapl.org

Bethlehem Area Public Library’s Liberty High School Collection, a growing digital repository of digitized items related to Liberty High School and Bethlehem Area School District history in Bethlehem, PA.

The collection was donated to the library by Marlene Spector Levine, a former resident of Bethlehem. She carefully arranged postcards and photos by location into two large postcard albums and the originals can be seen in our local history collection.

BAPL ILL Librarian Caitlin Cuba spent many hours digitizing the collection and creating the web exhibit using Omeka. Since many of the postcards contain messages, this collection also provides a small glimpse into the lives of the senders and recipients. One of Caitlin’s favorite postcards in the collection shows a snowy Easter Morning service in Moravian Cemetery with a message addressed to Mabel in Puerto Rico: “Whenever you feel uncomfortably warm sit down look at this picture and get a chill.”

So if you’re interested in seeing what Bethlehem’s Main Street looked like in the early 1900s, if you like postcards with bridges (we have 85 of those!), or if you just want to see how the Lehigh Valley has changed over the years, then we hope you enjoy this collection!

From Our Local History Collection

The Bethlehem Palette Club: The Arts in Postwar Bethlehem

In the years after World War II, the arts flourished in Bethlehem. The Palette Club, a local group of artists, held their first meeting on June 11, 1947. Nine artists joined together to form the club with the common goal of cultivating the public’s interest in local fine art and artists. Their first exhibition took place at the Drawing Room Theatre, which was located at 546 School Street in Bethlehem and was founded by members of the Bethlehem Civic Theatre. The Drawing Room Theatre shut down in 1954, but 1950s theater enthusiasts could still attend productions of the Bethlehem Civic Theatre and the Community Players.

Early members of the Palette Club included a Liberty High School art teacher, an engineer at the Bethlehem Steel Machine Shop, and a Lehigh University fine arts professor, among others. Not only did they display their art in the lobby of the Drawing Room Theatre, but they also held special galleries called washline exhibitions, where they hung their art outside. In November 1947, the first washline exhibition took place on the corner of New and Market Streets in Bethlehem. The Palette Club still exists today and has made an impact on connecting the Lehigh Valley community to fine art.

For further information:

https://www.bethlehempaletteclub.org/ 

http://www.paplayhouse.org/history-and-archives

by Julia Brennan 

Ah, movies! The cultural time capsules preserved within a motion picture, full of great costume design and bad acting! Nah, just kidding, there are plenty of great movies out there. Movies have really kept society pushing through despite difficult times over the decades – they make us laugh, they make us cry, they terrify us – where would we be without movies?

What was the Boyd Theater, really? A historical monument struggling to stay afloat despite the changing times? A dilapidated building whose time had come? A place for expensive popcorn? It was all of these things, but most importantly, its previous name was Kurtz. The Boyd has gone through lots of names over the years, to say the least. It was constructed in 1919 and finished in 1920. I wonder if the original building doubled as a speakeasy? It’s not something they would have publicly advertised at the time, of course…

One of its incarnations was Colonial Billiard & Bowling Academy. And then it was Kurtz Restaurant & Cafe. And theeeen it was Kurtz Billiard & Bowling Academy. And finally it received its final name, Boyd Theater in 1934. The reason why it became the Boyd is because it was bought out by A. R. Boyd Enterprises in 1934 and the rest is, as they say, history.

The Reference Department at BAPL and I dug deep within our ancient and mysterious archives for information on the beloved building. We have all this material within our “Bethlehem Room” at the Main Library–if you’d like to dig deep into a local topic of your choice! Now, onward to some postcards that we found in our collection.

How can that be the Boyd Theater? Well, at the time, there was no internet and things were really boring back then. Where could you go to get dinner and entertainment? Kurtz filled that void with lots of live music. (I wouldn’t mind a violin serenading me as I eat chicken fingers at a restaurant, mind you).

The Kurtz Brothers were named Charles & John, in case you were curious. They originally owned a carpenter’s store that also manufactured equipment for “Banks, Libraries, Churches, Colleges, etc” and guess what? They’re still operating today! Kurtz Brothers began in 1894 and you can see their About Us page here. While pouring over records, it does appear consistent that the Boyd was listed as either Kurtz, Colonial, or Boyd over the years. I guess Kurtz thought Colonial sounded better but then it evolved into the Boyd.

Below is a piece of the Bethlehem City Directory in 1920. (This is in Microfilm format…what a #ThrowbackThursday moment, huh?)

If you’re really curious about the area even before Kurtz, it was a bunch of private homes and a garage but that area was completely razed over to make room for the new buildings. Thankfully, they didn’t tear down any historical Moravian buildings in the process!

The Boyd area and its buildings were rented out to multiple businesses throughout its history. The Bethlehem Globe-Times (December 27, 1966) reported that the following businesses were present at some point:

• Steelworkers Union
• Beethoven Mannechor
• Young Democrats
• Knights of Columbus
• Bethlehem Lodge of Elks
• Colombian Home

The Morning Call (December 28, 1966) reported these buildings were also present:

• Boyd Beauty Salon
• A tailor
• Grocery Store
• Grill
• Men’s & Women’s Wear Stores
• Dance Hall
• Billard & Bowling Academy
• Music Store
• A confectioner
• Casino

And of course, that brings us to the present-day, a lovely movie theater. What was the first and last movie you remember seeing at the Boyd Theater?

I’m going to be showing my age and reluctantly saying that the first & last movie I saw at the Boyd was Snow Dogs (2002). I remember being more impressed with the architecture over the movie itself (sorry, fluffy dogs can’t beat 1920s art deco). I don’t remember seeing many movies after the one and I believe it’s because they generally did not have open-captions for movies at the time, unlike now. What’s the point of a deaf kid such as myself, watching a movie when they don’t understand a word of it? Still, the experience of going to Boyd was memorable enough!

Now I’m asking YOU lovely readers to share your fond memories of the theater! More specifically, The Boyd. The Boyd Theater may be gone, but our memories remain.

(If you’d like to see more local history, stop by the Main Library’s Bethlehem Room to check out some vintage articles and photographs today!)

One of the first items we located was an entry in the minutes books of the “Free Library of the Bethlehems” from 1900. It spoke of “nine prominent women” from Bethlehem and Fountain Hill who met late that year to “consider the need of a Public Library in the Bethlehems and to devise methods by which it might be established.” There were private, or membership/subscription-based in the City prior to then, including the Bethlehem Congregational Library and the Bethlehem Library Company going back to the 18th century. But these 20th century leaders were the first to conceive of a truly public library–free and open to all–in Bethlehem.

Our first question was, who exactly were these nine prominent women? The minute books listed them under their husband’s names, as was often the case at the time. We read of Mrs. H.F.J. Porter, Mrs. J. Mortimer Levering, Mrs. Wm. W. Coleman, Mrs. G.B. Linderman, and Miss Minnie Erwin. Only Minnie, who was not married, had her name listed. The other eight were listed as “Mrs.” and then the name of their husbands. 

BAPL Reference Librarian Kristen Leipert started to research the question further. “These ladies of Bethlehem society have been my true joy of the week,” Kristen said. She was able to find their names by heading to our Genealogy Research databases and searching in Ancestry Library Edition using names and location, in this case Bethlehem, Northampton, Pennsylvania, USA. Sometimes names of people and streets are transcribed incorrectly, but the site offers a column of “Suggested Records” and links to various other records like birth, marriage, and death certificates, and school yearbooks. These help to clarify spellings and locations. Find a Grave was also helpful in figuring out relationships!

So rather than nameless prominent women known only as their husband’s wives, we’d like to introduce you to: 

• Rose Smith Porter, Bethlehem
• Martha Whitesell Levering, Bethlehem
• Alice Frazier Coleman, Fountain Hill
• Minnie Erwin, Bethlehem
• Jennie Brodhead Linderman, Fountain Hill

The names of some additional ladies of the Library Committee were uncovered as well. These include: Grace Wolle and Libbie O. Luckenbach. These are some very well-known names to students of Bethlehem history. Luckenbach Mill was an important place of business and still stands in downtown Bethlehem. Jennie Linderman’s husband, Garrett, was the son of Lucy, whose father was Lehigh founder Asa Packer and the library at LU bears her name.  Peter, Christian Jacob and John Frederick Wolle were among the city’s earliest leaders, and Augustus Wolle built the Bethlehem Rolling Mill and Iron company, a predecessor of Bethlehem Steel. It was J. Fred Wolle who founded the Bach Choir.

But back to the ladies and the library! They were clearly skilled organizers and administrators because after meeting in late 1900s, the first free reading rooms were opened to the public just a few months later on February 1, 1901. This required quick work in raising money, acquiring the space, building a library collection, and myriad other details. They did all this work without much credit, just as groups of women did in cities all across the country. And the ones here in Bethlehem did a fine job. To quote an article from 1901 covering the opening of the library:

Quite a large number of people inspected the rooms during the day and spoke very highly of the cozy surroundings and the manner in which the rooms are equipped. Many of the visitors expressed a desire to patronize the library, which every one thinks supplies a long-felt necessity in Bethlehem.

Some other prominent ladies who deserve mention were the librarians who did the day-to-day work of running the organization. The first Head Librarian was Mary A. Reichel, who was followed by Isabel Turner and Elizabeth Burrow. Harriet Root took over in 1923 and ran the library successfully for the next three decades.

BAPL’s early Head Librarians:

• Mary A. Reichel, 1901-1905
• Isabel Turner, 1905-1915
• Elizabeth D. Burrow, 1915-1923
• Harriet T. Root, 1923-1956

So were there important women in the history of BAPL? You could say so! From its founding to administration and leadership, the women of Bethlehem have played a leadership role in the history of our library.  Happy Women’s History Month from BAPL!

1908 was the fourth Summer Games of the modern Olympic competitions. The games were held in London that year, and they were the longest Summer Olympics in history (187 days). There were also marked by controversy, including several disputes between British and American athletes.

The games coincided with the Lambeth Conference, a gathering of Anglican bishops from all over the world. One of the bishops attending the Lambeth Conference was the Right Reverend Ethelbert Talbot, a bishop of the Episcopal Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Talbot was given the honor of preaching at St. Paul’s Cathedral during the games at a service for athletes and Olympic officials. Aware of the controversies, he included the message “…the Games themselves are better than the race and the prize…and though only one may wear the laurel wreath, all may share the equal joy of the contest.”

Ethelbert Talbot 

Pierre Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympic movement, was in attendance at the service and repeated Talbot’s message in a speech soon afterward, saying “The importance of these Olympiads is not so much to win as to take part” – a sentiment now well known as the first part of the Olympic Creed.

Talbot continued as Bishop of the Diocese of Bethlehem until 1924, and then became the Presiding Bishop (leader) of the Episcopal Church in the United States. He died in 1928 and is buried in Nisky Hill Cemetery. Several of his books are included in BAPL’s Local History collection.

One of several books by Talbot in BAPL’s Bethlehem Room Collection.

“As To Vaccination”

Letter to the editor

Bethlehem Daily Times, March 7, 1881

While fulfilling patrons’ various research requests I’ve looked through a lot of old Bethlehem newspapers from the last few decades of the 19^th century and the first few of the 20^th century. In many of them appear articles and little items dealing with smallpox and its impact on our community. Often the pieces will be short announcements of an outbreak within a local family, or the status of someone suffering from the disease, or, of course, their death from it. Occasionally, there will be warnings that the disease is in nearby towns and that people need to be vigilant. In one edition of the Bethlehem Daily Times from 1882, there is a clear call by editors—even naming the individual town leaders to whom the call is addressed—that a smallpox hospital needs to be established before it is too late. I’ve even seen the editors just insert the comment “Get the vaccination for smallpox” among the local bits and pieces of news for the different Bethlehem boroughs (remember, they were separate cities back then).

In one edition of the Daily Times from March 7, 1881, a letter to the editor is published (smack in the center of the front page) that is remarkable in its clarity for laying out the various rumors about the purported dangers of the smallpox vaccine. The author lists claims, and wants someone to “ascertain if it is true” what they have heard. Some of the fears include that the vaccine doesn’t work, that it can cause other diseases to be more malignant, and that it is responsible for the “greatly increased number of the insane.” They finish with a quotation from a Dr. Ennemoser, a German doctor who believed in “animal magnetism” and was often quoted in anti-vaccination writing in the 1880s, presumably because his quote is so dramatic. [See the picture of the Daily Times page with this article.]

In an article written in late 1882 for Public Health Papers and Reports, Dr. John Detwiller of Bethlehem wrote that there was an outbreak of smallpox in South Bethlehem in March of that year (exactly one year after the letter to the editor!). In it he praised the Health Boards of the local boroughs for acting swiftly to prevent a massive infection of the populace. Forty years later, in October 1921, Moravian College was put under quarantine after a student came down with smallpox, as reported around the country at the time. Vaccinations were swiftly administered.

Edward Jenner famously developed the smallpox vaccine in 1796 from cowpox. Well into the 19^th century, one of the rumors about the vaccine was that it would cause people to grow horns and hooves. Fortunately, enough people were able to disregard much of the panic about the vaccine so that smallpox was eradicated in the 20^th century, the only human disease to be successfully suppressed in this way.

Full text

“Voros Lukacs: Pioneer Polar Trail Blazer”
Bethlehem Globe-Times, April 5, 1938

South Bethlehem has always been lucky to have many immigrants with fascinating personal histories, and there might not be any more interesting than that of Voros Lukacs. Bethlemites of the early 20^th century would know Lukacs as the proprietor of a candy and tobacco shop on Third Street, where he received his multitude of friends from his days at the Steel as a laborer in the No. 2 machine shop.

But before coming to our little town, Lukacs took part in the famous—and famously failed—Baldwin Ziegler Polar Expedition of 1901-02. The obituary in our files gives many fascinating details of his adventure as a crewmember, including some close calls in storms and hunting walrus. Also included are two pictures of Lukacs on shipboard.

Lukacs’ early years sound like something out of a Jack London story: working in a shipyard in Norway, as a pump machinist in Brooklyn, working his way back to Europe on an ocean liner, taking in the Paris World’s Fair, then home to Budapest until Baldwin requested his services for the expedition.

Full-text: “Voros Lukacs: Pioneer Polar Trail Blazer”

“Lincoln Family Settled In Berks”
Public Ledger, October 3, 1932

Sometimes old newspaper articles are fascinating both for what they say, and for how and where it was said. In this article, about the house built by Mordecai Lincoln (Abraham’s great-great-grandfather) in Berks County near Reading, we learn about the president’s family history in our area, which is fairly extensive over the first half of the nineteenth century.

Near the beginning of the article we are informed, “Today the building is owned by John B. Hoffman, a Socialist,” who farms there and holds regular socialist meetings. Why is this short paragraph such a prominent part of the article? Well, Reading is one of the few cities in the U.S. to elect a socialist mayor, J. Henry Stump. And, in fact, he was elected to three terms between 1927 and 1947. And so the article is giving us some interesting context for our region’s political history.

Which brings our attention to the source of the article, the Public Ledger. This was a daily newspaper published in Philadelphia from 1836-1942. At one time it was hugely popular, and pioneered several innovations in the newspaper business. This article was written near the end of the paper’s impressive run, and it is one of the very few from that publication that we’ve come across in our collection so far. How did it end up there? Who preserved it and contributed it to us?

Incidentally, the Mordecai Lincoln House can still be seen out in beautiful Berks County. It is privately owned by a person of undisclosed political beliefs.

“You’d Better Clean Your Plate: Theresa’s Restaurant in 50^th Year”
by Ron Stumpf
Bethlehem Globe-Times, April 14, 1978

There is nothing like a neighborhood café to anchor a community. And so often, these local institutions are sources of wonderful food. One such place in South Bethlehem’s history was Theresa’s Restaurant (also known as Theresa’s Fillmore St. Restaurant or the Fillmore Restaurant—it seems that its official name was pretty hazy; imagine that in our modern world of branding!), which was located at 5^th and Fillmore from 1929 to 1986. More recent Bethlemites know the site as Leon’s bar.

Theresa Kelemen was the proprietor and cook. She was Windish, which is a term used in the Lehigh Valley for and by people of Slavic descent that come mostly from the old Austro-Hungarian Empire, where indeed Theresa was born in 1898, and from which she emigrated in 1913. Her restaurant doled out Windish/Slavic/Hungarian delights to south siders for multiple generations. Theresa never used a recipe, and she had at least one employee, Julia Fortley, a niece, who was with her for over 50 years. She ran her restaurant six days a week, from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m.. Occasionally, she took a nap.

The display is located on the first floor of the Main Library (11 W. Church St.) — come check it out any time during library hours

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“We at BAPL want to give LHS alumni and their families a glimpse into Bethlehem’s past,” says Reference Librarian Matthew Rothfuss, the project’s lead. “By digitizing LHS yearbooks we aim to make the entire Cauldron collection open to all.” Each yearbook will be individually scanned and digitally archived to create a free and accessible local history resource. Unfortunately, the library’s current collection of yearbooks has gaps. “We’re especially looking for yearbooks from 1925-1926, the 1950s, and 1970 – present,” says Rothfuss.

If you have yearbooks to contribute to the archive, please contact Matthew Rothfuss, at mrothfuss@bapl.org or 610.867.3761 x 276, BEFORE you make arrangements to drop off materials, to determine if your years are missing or still needed. Yearbook owners may either loan or fully donate to the archive. Donors will be asked to complete a release form and physically drop off yearbooks at the Main library at 11 W. Church Street.

It’s an attractive electronic edition of archived information presented in a convenient, easy-to-use online resource. Check it out!

https://www.bapl.org/research-learning/newspapers-and-magazines/

Those that walk through the South Side of Bethlehem might be surprised to know that the alleyways and side lots that they see now were at one time green with full gardens that included multitude of vegetables and herbs, and tall fig, cherry, peach, plum or apple trees. “Old fashioned flower varieties” were also in the mix, bringing color and variety to these backyard gardens. These vegetables and fruits were eaten fresh or preserved and canned for the winter months.

From personal gardening came the shift to the “Depression Gardens” of the 1930s, when Mayor Robert Pfeifle acquired several lots for gardening– totaling 175 gardens. Donated seeds from community members helped create these gardens so struggling families could gather produce “without monetary charge.” Mayor Pfeifle was also responsible for launching a program to produce 10,000 processed and canned jars to be distributed to needy families during the long winter months. In the 1940s during WWII, “Victory Gardens” sprung up to boost morale, and soon, “Thrift Gardens” were created to furnish seeds for an Emergency Relief Fund. These South Side gardens represented patriotism and solidarity in a changing, turbulent time.

In the years to come, South Side corner grocery stores would begin to carry the produce, and while the elderly retained their traditions of gardening, their grandchildren would choose not to acquire those same skills and would eventually leave the neighborhoods for different homes, or rent their homes out to students, leading to the “demise and eradication of backyard gardening” with backyards and side yards being paved for parking.

Those that retain garden knowledge do so through “innate heritage or gardening publications and TV programs,” as well as internet resources and classes. People now have the support of supermarkets and nurseries providing everything necessary to make home gardening happen. Today, the Southside Garden Alliance and Penn State Master Gardeners have shared their skills at the South Side Branch of Bethlehem Area Public Library free-of-charge to provide gardening workshops of all kinds to South Side patrons, and anyone else who wants to learn more about gardening right at home to create their own “backyard paradisos!” Read the article originally published by the South Bethlehem Historical Society to learn more about this beautiful heritage of South Side Gardening and become inspired to revive some of these home gardening skills with our virtual “Home Gardens of Hope” workshops, which you can register for here: https://www.bapl.org/events/categories/virtual-events/

Notes:

Janine Santoro works within Adult Services at the South Side Branch of Bethlehem Area Public Library, in Bethlehem, PA, creating curriculum and workshops that serve those in the community free of cost. Janine received her B.A. in English and Psychology from Rutgers University (NJ) and her M.Div from Drew Theological School (NJ). She is currently working with Lehigh University and the local Latinx community to create a digital oral history collection that explores the diversity of the community, the changing nature of work, and the evolving landscape for Latinx members in Bethlehem, which will shine a light on the community’s unheard stories and their contributions over the past 50 years.

Source:
Raneire, Ken. “Backyard Paradiso.” Southern Exposure (Summer 2007): 5-7.

*Southern Exposure is a quarterly newsletter published by the South Bethlehem Historical Society. * See the original articles here:

Backyard Paradiso by Ken Raniere

Backyard Paradiso – Photos – by Ken Raniere

Researched by Elizabeth Saraceno

The Bethlehem Area Public Library is a great source for old artifacts on the historic town of Bethlehem, PA. Some of the most interesting artifacts that the library has (which anyone can access for study and/or leisure) are maps of the town of Bethlehem from the bygone years of 1873, 1886, and 1929. These maps can be viewed at www.bapl.org/local-history. Check them out! Each of these maps gives viewers an interesting look into what Bethlehem, PA looked like 145, 132, and 89 years ago. Each are drawn differently, giving an insight into what maps of the town looked like from each time period.

When comparing each of the maps, the viewer notices the significant difference in style and colors. The first map from 1873 is a drawing of all of the houses, trees, rivers, roads, and even horse-drawn carriages roaming the streets. This map is a piece of artwork on its own. The map from 1886 and the map from 1929 are much like the maps that we see today, like ones that you’d purchase at a gas station to use when on the road.

Each of these maps played an important role in recording the history of the town. You can learn the City’s layout as well as where notable buildings stood such as the Moravian Female Seminary. You can trace the winding streets of South Bethlehem, noting what has changed and what has remained the same.

There have been some curious changes across the decades and centuries. For example, did you know that the map in 1886 has Monocacy Street listed as “Manockisy Avenue”? Check it out in the picture on the right. In the 1929 map, the name of this street is spelled just as it is today. Also interestingly, in the 1873 map (13 years before the 1886 map), Monocacy Creek is spelled the same way as it is today as well.

Another fascinating thing viewers can discover is what parts of Bethlehem, PA have been around since the 1800s. By looking at the map from 1873, we can see that schools like Moravian College and Lehigh University have been around for quite some time. Although Liberty High School is not present on the maps from the late 1800s, it is on the map from 1929. The Bethlehem Steel Co. is present on all of the maps, but is labeled as Bethlehem Iron Co. in the maps from 1873 and 1886. Many things are relatively similar to today’s Bethlehem, but it is really intriguing to discover some small differences about the town we all know and love so dearly.

These maps are available for perusal using the link above or here: 1873 map, 1886 map, 1929 map. Who knows what you might find when you take a look? Check it out for yourself, and you may just discover something about your historic neighborhood that you never knew about before. Share it with your friends and family and soon you will all be experts not only on what Bethlehem looks like today, but also on what it looked like over 100 years ago.

This post was written by BAPL intern Jennifer Khawam of Moravian College. Thanks, Jennifer!

Cars of strikebreakers and company officials were overturned, and massive demonstrations were held

On March 24, 1941 a four-day steel workers’ strike began in Bethlehem. Workers walked out of factories, massive demonstrations were held, and tensions rose. A famous photograph captured an image of a car that been overturned in the tumult.

See pictures, newspaper articles, and more from BAPL on the 1941 strike at the link below, and see the timeline of Bethlehem history going back to 1741 here.

BAPL MAIN LIBRARY
Wednesday, February 26
5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

The collection has been fully digitized and organized using a digital collection tool called Omeka. It can now be browsed or searched by name. Have a relative who served in WWII? Try the search tool to find articles where they were mentioned. You may also want to check out the exhibit features, where our librarians have selected articles of note.

Hats off to BAPL librarian Jennifer Bruch for taking the lead and putting in lots of hard work to bring this resource to life!

This project was funded in part with Federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, administered by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries as well as the Mellon Digital Humanities Initiative of Lehigh University.

R.K. Laros

This summer marks 100 years of the opening of the R.K. Laros Silk Mill. The official date of the founding of the first mill is recorded as July 1, 1919. The first mill was established in the Miller Heights section of what is now Bethlehem Township. Other mills were later built on Broad St. in Bethlehem, and in Kingston, PA. Laros Silk Company would go on to become one of the country’s top silk manufacturers and one of the most influential companies in City. The company survived the Great Depression and World War II, but was eventually liquidated following R.K.’s death in 1955.

See more Bethlehem milestones on BAPL’s local history timeline here.

A plaque on the City’s South Side honors Mayor Robert Pfeifle (1930-1950).

We were happy to see news of a plaque dedicated to Mayor Robert Pfeifle yesterday! The plaque went up in the Greenway near the place where he lived on the City’s South Side. Mayor Pfeifle certainly had an eventful tenure, serving as the City’s Mayor for five consecutive terms (1930-1950) through an era that saw much tumult both locally (significant crime) and nationally (the Great Depression, World War II). See below for the full text of the plaque and see here for BAPL’s page with portraits of all of Bethlehem’s mayors.

Born in Almont, Pa., Bob was a farm boy with an eighth grade education. He came to Bethlehem as a simple carpenter where he built 800 homes. Bob served as City Councilman and was elected Mayor five consecutive terms from 1930 to 1950. He halted crime and corruption which defined the south side in the roaring ’20s, guide the City through the Great Depression of the ’30s, then World War II and the difficult peace time recovery. Bob fostered the erection of the star on South Mountain, thus naming Bethlehem “Christmas City.” He lived Nearby on Webster Street.

-Memorial by the Pfeifle Family

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On a sunny morning last August in Bethlehem, Pa., Edmund F. Martin, Bethlehem’s chairman and chief executive officer turned a shovel full of sod. Then Stewart S. Cort, Bethlehem’s president, turned one. Minutes later, a yellow bulldozer bit into the ground.

Bethlehem’s new office building was under way.

That Bethlehem needed additional office space has been obvious for some time, for home office personnel are now scattered in a dozen different buildings.

In brief remarks at the August 25^th ground-breaking ceremony, Mr. Martin spoke of the location problem: “Forty years ago, when a similar question was considered, there was a large group in the company management favoring a move to New York. Thank goodness, they were a minority! This time, no one suggested that we move to another city. The only question was where to put the new building in Bethlehem.”

The where is a 75-acre tract of land in northwest Bethlehem where the corporation already has a two-story office building, a printer, and a power plant.

“The new office building,” Mr. Martin said, “is an important part of our efforts to streamline and modernize our facilities so that we can prosper in the highly competitive, fast-paced business world.”

Scheduled for completion by the end of 1971, the new 23-story building will rise 320 feet above ground level and will contain over 600,000 square feet of space. It will be cross-shaped, with four wings of equal length extending from a central service core, and will be clad in porcelainized steel panels colored charcoal gray and beige. The two-story high lobby area will be topped by 19 floors of office space and a two-story high penthouse for mechanical equipment.

Steelwork is being fabricated at our Bethlehem and Leetsdale, Pa., works and will be erected by men of our Eastern Erection District.

When Martin Tower is completed, all departments except sales, which will occupy the present corporate office building, will be located on the northwest Bethlehem site.