South Bethlehem

The story begins in 1848, when the Moravian Brethren sold 274 acres of farmland to investors who resold them as building lots. By 1855, Asa Packer had laid the tracks of his Lehigh Valley Railroad along the Lehigh River, bringing coal from Carbon County to markets in New York and Philadelphia. Industries rapidly grew, with the Pennsylvania and Lehigh Zinc Company in 1853 and the Saucona Iron Company in 1857. By 1865, South Bethlehem became a borough. Charles M. Schwab headed the former Iron...