Historic Hotel Bethlehem
History
Before this Pennsylvania city became synonymous with steel production, it was known as a haven for religious freedom. The area was settled by the Moravian Brethren, a denomination of German Protestant settlers who arrived in the Lehigh Valley in 1740. The city was named a year later when Moravian patron Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf of Saxony visited the settlement’s first house on Christmas Eve and bestowed the name “Bethlehem” on the community. That house was torn down in 1823 and a century later, the Hotel Bethlehem was erected on the same spot. The town’s history, from religious settlement to industrial icon is chronicled in George Gray’s seven murals that have hung in the hotel since 1937.
