USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > Bethlehem > A history of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1741-1892, with some account of its founders and their early activity in America > Part 78
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86
South side newspapers have been sufficiently referred to in treating of the local press generally in one connection. The educational work of South Bethlehem has grown from the most humble begin- ning to an extent and character of which its people may with reason feel proud. When the Borough was incorporated, it contained the little brick school-house built in 1858, between the present Locust and Elm Streets, near the line of what is now Packer Avenue, and another small one built in 1860, in a field, some distance east of that and nearer the river. For a while an adjunct school was also kept in
5 The first three of these gentlemen, with the late Mr. McMahon, South Bethlehem's first Burgess, lived to see the extensive results which, at the close of the century, had issued from the various beginnings made in those years, in local enterprises as well as in the large general interests so intimately connected with the progress of the town and with which they have been so closely identified from the first. Their names have, from that time, been inseparably connected with the great mining, manufacturing and transportation activities of the Lehigh Valley, as well as with the material advancement of South Bethlehem and with its educa- tional, charitable and ecclesiastical work. Mr. Goodwin was Burgess nearly twenty years.
728
A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
the grain-house of A. Wolle & Co., at the north-west corner of New and Second Streets.6 In 1869, the Penrose school-house was built on Vine Street, and remained in use until replaced by the Central High School building in 1892. The next was the Melrose building, off to the east on the hill, at what is now the corner of Fourth and Poplar Streets. A High School was opened in 1872, in a room of the Penrose building, where it was continued until transferred, in 1886, to the Excelsior building on Fourth Street, erected in 1879, and enlarged in 1885. The Webster and Packer buildings have been erected since the consolidation and unification of the school-system of the Borough under a Superintendent in 1889, which was a very important and beneficial step.
While the public schools .of the south side were yet in the days of small things, the very year in which the Borough was incor- porated, there suddenly loomed up the prospect of a seat of learning which, like the great works of the Bethlehem Iron Company, has made South Bethlehem famous, even in far distant parts. In July, 1865, the announcement went forth that the Hon. Asa Packer pro- posed to crown his successful enterprises and public benefits in the Lehigh Valley by founding, "in Bethlehem South," a great poly- technic institute; to devote $500,000 and fifty-seven acres of land lying along the upper border of the new town at the base of the mountain to this purpose, and to call it the Lehigh University. Its story is well-known and may be read in many a publication. The munificent founder later added largely to the body of real estate and to the working endowment, with the purpose of making tuition in all departments free, and, in his will, left $1,500,000 of his estate to its use, with $500,000 as a library endowment. Others joined him in contributing to its equipment, adding ground, buildings and costly apparatus and endowing scholarships. His plan embraced provisions for literary, scientific and technical courses, with the professions called into requisition in the surrounding region especially in view, as he contemplated the prospect of its further development ; and with the young men of the Lehigh Valley nearest his heart, as those
ยท 6 Three of the teachers, prior to and during the few years following the incorporation of the Borough, have been mentioned in connection with the Bethlehem schools-A. A. Camp- bell, C. H. Cline and Jacob Nickum. Some others were John D. Maughan, Griffith Perkin, George Getter, J. A. Campbell and the Misses Margaret Halpin, Sallie Bitters, Mary Naylor, Elmira Whitman. Yet another was O. R. Wilt, the present Superintendent of the South Bethlehem public schools, the first incumbent of this office, elected in 1889.
-
JOHN CHRISTIAN JACOBSON
HENRY AUGUSTUS SCHULTZ
CHARLES FREDERICK SEIDEL
DAVID BIGLER
SYLVESTER WOLLE
729
1846-1876.
he wished to benefit. Ground was broken, July 1, 1866, to com- mence the erection of the original structure, which was given the name Packer Hall. Although not entirely finished, it was opened, March 4, 1869. Meanwhile, not waiting for satisfactory external appointments, a modest beginning was made with the work of the institution. The formal opening occurred on September 1, 1866, with six professors, including the President, three additional instruc- tors and twenty-five students. The exercises took place in what was named and is yet called Christmas Hall, a building intended for a Moravian Church, and erected on a lot presented by Judge Packer for the purpose, but then purchased, together with the unfinished building, because it lay within the boundaries desired for the seat of the institution. Out of the work then organized, which was placed under the auspices of the Protestant Episcopal Church, but in such a manner that it could develop on broad lines in the spirit and intent of the founder, has grown the splendid body of departments and courses, with their imposing group of buildings, now so familiar as the Lehigh University.7
The year following the opening of the University brought the inception of another educational institution on the south side, under the auspices of the Protestant Episcopal Church, primarily at the instance of Tinsley Jeter who, in 1866, had become the owner of Fontainebleau. Conceiving that it would be a choice location for a girls' school, he broached this idea to Bishop Stevens who was favor- ably impressed by it. His tender of the property on favor- able terms for this purpose was formally accepted at a meeting of interested persons on December II, 1867, and the necessary steps were at once taken. The school which, at the suggestion of the
7 The original Board of Trustees were - The Right Rev. William Bacon Stevens, D.D., LL.D., President; the Hon. Asa Packer; the Hon. J. W. Maynard; Robert H. Sayre ; William H. Sayre; Robert A. Packer; G. B. Linderman, M. D .; John Fritz; Harry E. Packer ; Joseph Harrison, Jr., with Robert A. Packer as Secretary and E. P. Wilbur as Treasurer.
The faculty, when the opening took place, were the following: Henry Coppee, LL.D., Professor of History and English Literature, President ; the Rev. Eliphalet Nott Potter, M.A., Professor of Moral and Mental Philosophy and of Christian Evidences; Charles Mayer Wetherill, Ph.D., M.D., Professor of Chemistry; Edwin Wright Morgan, LL.D., Professor of Mathematics and Mechanics; Alfred Marshall Mayer, Ph.D., Professor of Physics and Astronomy ; William Theodore Roepper, Professor of Mineralogy and Geology and Curator of the Museum. The Instructors were : George Thomas Graham, A.B., Latin, Greek and Mathematics; M. Henri Albert Rinck, French and German; Stephen Paschall Sharpless, S.B., Chemistry.
730
A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
Bishop, was called "Bishopthorpe" -- the name of a country-seat of the Archbishop of York which had attracted his fancy-was opened, September 5, 1868, with Miss Edith L. Chase as first Principal.8
Proximity of location suggests reference, at this point, to that beneficent institution, St. Luke's Hospital, so beautifully situated where once Dr. Oppelt's famous Water-Cure flourished. After the decline of the latter establishment and its purchase, in 1872, by James T. Borhek, it was sold by him to Tinsley Jeter, who had before possessed Fontainebleau. It was purchased of him in 1875, along with an adjacent tract, through the aid of gifts by Asa Packer and others, and conveyed to the Trustees of St. Luke's Hospital. Mr. Jeter, the owner for a while of both of those picturesque hill-side properties, participated in founding both of the institutions there established ; having served with the rector of the Church of the Nativity, the Rev. Cortlandt Whitehead, now Bishop of the Western Pennsylvania Diocese of the Protestant Episcopal Church, as the original committee to procure a charter, in 1872, for the "cottage hospital" which Mr. Whitehead had been zealously advocating as a feature of parish work. The charter extended official direction to include representatives of other Episcopal churches in the Valley. At the instance of leading men who became connected with the enterprise as Trustees, the base was broadened by an amendment to the charter in 1873, so that the selection of Trustees was not limited denominationally. The partici- pation of all the people of the Bethlehems and the surrounding region in its up-building was desired, just as its benign ministrations were to extend to people of all churches and of no church. In October, 1873, it was opened in a building that had been purchased and fitted up on Broad-then Carpenter-Street, South Bethlehem. On the 17th of that month the first patient was admitted. On May 24, 1876, it took possession of its new quarters, the Water-Cure property. There, through the further generosity of Judge Packer and of other large-hearted friends of the Hospital, its successive admirable build- ings were erected and gradually furnished in the course of years. The efficient training-school for nurses was added, December 1, 1884. The Ladies' Aid Society, organized, August 6, 1874, enlarged its valuable auxiliary activity, while the undiscriminating work of mercy employing a high order of medical and surgical skill and steadily
8 The first Board of Trustees were-besides Bishop Stevens and the local Rector, Rev. E. N. Potter-Dr. Coppee, President of Lehigh University, H. Stanley Goodwin, James Jen- kins, Tinsley Jeter, Robert H. Sayre, William H. Sayre and John Smylie.
731
1846-1876.
growing-often extending beyond its resources in room and funds- has received loyal support from some churches, many industrial establishments, and very many benevolent persons of the Lehigh Valley.
Yet another public enterprise that has taken possession of a portion of the old Hoffert Farm, off to the west of the Hospital and Bishop- thorpe, is the Fountain Hill Cemetery. The company was incorpor- ated in June, 1872. The cemetery was dedicated, July 7, by a service at the site, in which Lutheran, Moravian, Reformed, and other min- isters participated, and the first interment was made, August 28, 1872.
At that time all of the denominations which, since 1850, had organ- ized congregations or commenced services in Bethlehem were also represented in the new town on the south side. Some mention of several of them has been made in reviewing the beginnings of the Bethlehem churches, because of the intimate connection that existed. Several others were the fruit of efforts made by pastors and members of north side churches. The origin of the South Bethlehem churches which existed within the period embraced in this review may yet be given briefly in chronological order.
On May 1, 1859, a Sunday-school was opened in the first district school house on the south side by Miss Amanda Jones, a member of the Moravian Church in Bethlehem. This was the beginning of organized religious work south of the river. The following month, the first public services were held in that building by the Rev. Lewis F. Kampmann, President of the Moravian College and Theo- logical Seminary, assisted by several of the students. July 3, 1860, a memorial signed by sixty persons, who lived south of the river, asking for the erection of a place of worship in Bethlehem South, was received and discussed by the Moravian Home Mission Society of Bethlehem. In September, 1861, the Sunday-school was transferred to the grain- depot at the corner of New and Second Streets, and services were held there with considerable regularity until the close of 1864, prin- cipally by the Rev. F. F. Hagen, a member of the Executive Board of the Moravian Church. In that grain-house a congregation was organized on Christmas Day, 1863. The population of the new town which, at the close of 1861, was 947 persons, of whom 387 were mem- bers of the Roman Catholic Church, had, as already noted, increased to about 1500 at the end of 1863. The corner-stone of the church- later "Christmas Hall," already referred to, which was sold unfinished to the Trustees of Lehigh University in April, 1866-was laid, Nov-
732
A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
ember 22, 1863, and its lower story was consecrated November 20, 1864. The corner-stone of the present church, at the corner of Elm Street and Packer Avenue, was laid, October 6, 1867, and its consecration took place, March 29, 1868. The first stationed min- ister was the Rev. Henry J. Van Vleck, who began his work on April 22, 1866. The congregation was German, but an English one in conjunction with it was organized, April 26, 1868, with twenty mem- bers under the Rev. J. Albert Rondthaler, as English pastor. Out of the latter undertaking proceeded the Presbyterian Church of South Bethlehem. Mr. Rondthaler and sundry English members- some of whom had previously been Presbyterians-transferred their connection to that denomination in 1869, and on April 29 of that year, organized, as such, under the name of "The Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem." Later developments on the north side have been related. The Presbyterian Church-edifice on Fourth Street, South Bethlehem, was commenced in 1870, began to be used unfin- ished in April, 1871, and on May 5, 1872, the first service was held in the main body of the church.
The first services by bishops and clergy of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Bethlehem and the lay services on the south side, prior to 1862, have already been mentioned. A Sunday-school was opened, May II, 1862, in the former North Pennsylvania railroad-station and in November of that year, steps towards building a church were taken, while services were being regularly held on the north side, as previously stated. The corner-stone of the Church of the Nativity, at the corner of Third and Wyandotte Streets, was laid on August 6, 1863, and significantly the first service in the church took place on Christmas Day in 1864. The completed edifice was consecrated by Bishop Stevens on April 19, 1865, a day made memorable by the funeral of the martyred President Lincoln, some of the clergy present on that occasion participating afterwards in the memorial services in the Moravian church of Bethlehem. The Rev. Eliphalet Nott Potter, who had been connected with the founding of the parish, as missionary in charge, became the first rector of the Church of the Nativity. On the site of the first church, with a portion of it retained, the present handsome edifice was commenced in 1885. The first service was held in the basement at Christmas of that year, and in the main body of the church, on Easter Day, 1887. The finished building was consecrated on All Saints' Day, November 1, 1888. St. Mary's Chapel at Lechauweki Springs, where Mr. John Smylie, one of the early prominent residents of Fountain Hill, with others brought
.
Francis Nollo
733
1846-1876.
about the establishment of the governor works in 1872, and opened an attractive summer resort, was built in 1874-1875. St. Joseph's Chapel, on Iron Hill, also connected with the parish, was built in 1884. The massive and beautiful Packer Memorial Church of Lehigh University, the gift of Mrs. Mary Packer Cummings, daughter of the founder, was consecrated, October 13, 1887.
The erection of the Church of the Holy. Infancy9 for the Roman Catholic population of South Bethlehem which had, for a season, worshiped in the church on Union Street, Bethlehem, as already stated, was naturally called for by the large increase of membership on the south side. The church was commenced in the autumn of 1863, the corner-stone being laid on October 4, by Archbishop Wood, of Philadelphia. The consecration of the church in 1864, was also performed by him. The first pastor was the Rev. Michael McEnroe, brother of his successor, the present pastor. The present fine large edifice, on which work was commenced in 1882, arose on the site of the first which was demolished in 1883. The corner-stone of the new church was laid September 17, 1882, the basement was occupied at Christmas, 1883, and the finished church was consecrated, May 23, 1886. The parochial school work and other organized activities that have arisen in connection with that large parish in recent years, stand prominent on the south side, where also the second German Catholic Church of the Bethlehems has been founded; besides one for the Slavic population, commenced in 1891, the name of which honors Cyrill and Methodius, the illustrious missionaries who, a thousand years ago, carried the gospel to the Slavonians of Bohemia and Moravia, among whom, in days of decline five hundred years ago, the martyr John Hus tried to restore that gospel, and a half a century later the Church whose representatives founded Bethlehem arose out of his labors.
The beginning of Lutheran work in South Bethlehem was made by the Rev. A. T. Geissenhainer who, with several other clergy, on August 30, 1863, laid the corner-stone of a church on Vine Street in which the first service was held on March 13, 1864, and which was dedicated and received the name St. Peter's Church on the following 26th of June-the first consecrated house of worship on the south side. Mr. Geissenhainer ministered there gratuitously until 1867,
9 The interesting historic Christmas associations of Bethlehem are signalized in the names of some modern churches and chapels-" The Nativity of our Lord," " The Holy Infancy,"' and " The Nativity," with " St. Mary's" and " St. Joseph's " chapels.
734
A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
when he transferred his residence elsewhere and Pastor Rath, of Bethlehem, cared for the congregation until the Rev. C. J. Cooper became pastor in 1870. The present church, on the same site, was commenced in 1873, the corner-stone being laid on June 22. The basement was occupied for worship, March 29, 1874, and the finished church was finally consecrated, May 4, 1879. St. Mark's Church on Fourth Street was built in 1895, by a colony from St. Peter's, formed in 1888 for English services, and incorporated, May 6, 1889. The chapel, immediately built, was first occupied for worship on January 20, 1889.
Regular preaching by the Rev. I. K. Loos, of Bethlehem, was begun on the south side, January 20, 1867, and this led to the founding of the Reformed Church of South Bethlehem, the first officers of which were installed, November 10, 1867. The Rev. N. Z. Snyder was pastor from September 1, 1870, to September 1, 1892. The church on Fourth Street, the corner-stone of which was laid Septem- ber II, 1870, was consecrated, October 22, 1871. It was demolished in April, 1896. On May 4, of that year, work was commenced on the present church, the corner-stone was laid on June 7, and the edifice was consecrated, May 30, 1897.
The work of the Methodist Episcopal Church in South Bethlehem began with prayer-meetings in 1887, followed by the first preaching in July, 1888, in Brinker's Hall, when the first class was formed and a Sunday-school was organized, both being in charge of Charles Laramy, of Bethlehem. He, with the Rev. J. B. Graff and the Rev. E. E. Burriss, pastors of Wesley M. E. Church, Bethlehem, built up the new work which in 1889, was put in the care of the Rev. A. M. Strayhorn as a separate congregation. A building-site was soon purchased on Packer Avenue and on June 28, 1891, the corner-stone of the church was laid. This commodious and attractive edifice was the gift of Mr. John Fritz, of Bethlehem, in memory of a pious mother. It came naturally to be called The Fritz Memorial Church, although it is known officially as The Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church. The church was consecrated, March 26, 1893. The efforts to establish an African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Beth- lehem lie within the closing years of the century. St. Luke's Church of the Evangelical Association at the corner of Pawnee and Seminole Streets, was the outcome of efforts commenced in 1885, by the Rev. O. L. Saylor, then pastor of St. John's Church, Bethlehem, and later of the new congregation on the south side, until the appointment of the Rev. W. H. Stauffer in 1889. Work at the church was com-
735
1846-1876.
menced in June, 1887, the corner-stone was laid, August 7, and the basement dedicated, December II, of that year. The dedication of the completed church took place, November 3, 1889. Added to this ecclesiastical diversity even organized Hebrew work, with a syna- gogue has come into existence among the mixed population during the last two decades of the century.
Closing this survey of beginnings on the south side, attention may turn back again some years to the old town on the north side. The river may be recrossed this time not on the old Main Street bridge, built after its predecessor had been swept away in 1841, but on the New Street bridge, which came into existence to meet manifest needs, when the forward strides along the river on the south side were being taken and the people were pouring rapidly into the place at the time of the Borough organization. The project began to be agitated in 1863, and definite steps were taken early in 1864. The New Street Bridge Company was chartered, May 3, 1864. The Commissioners were Aaron W. Radley, John J. Levers, Richard W. Leibert, Herman A. Doster. The first Directors of the Company were Charles N. Beckel, President; Robert H. Sayre, Elisha P. Wilbur, John J. Levers, Robert A. Abbott and Herman A. Doster, Secretary and Treasurer. Three years elapsed before the new bridge was a reality. The piers were finished, the second week in April, 1867, the timbers were laid before the end of that month and, the last week in June, it was open for travel. The next great freshet in the Lehigh, October 4, 1869, seriously damaged one span and the following year an iron span was built by Charles N. Beckel, at the old works on Sand Island. It was finished in November. It may be remarked that Mr. Beckel's reputation as a constructor of iron bridges was quite extensive at that time. The following year, 1871, in August, he commenced the erection of the Union Street bridge across the Monocacy.
The inception of the Broad Street bridge project dates from soon after the completion of the New Street bridge. The company was incorporated, May 1, 1869, and commenced operations at once, pur- chasing portions of the Dixon and Luckenbach properties on Main Street to open an approach, and settling upon designs and materials. Work at the foundations was commenced on June 10, and in October, of that year, the masonry was finished. After a long delay in conse- quence of various impeding circumstances, the work was started anew in August, 1870. The second week in May, 1871, teams began to cross and on the 17th of that month the finished bridge was for- mally opened to the public.
736
A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
If the New Street bridge, so severely tested in 1869, had been built seven years sooner than it was, it would probably have shared the fate of all the bridges which then crossed the Lehigh, in the most disastrous flood on record in the valley. It came on June 4 and 5, 1862. The description of the havoc wrought in January, 1841, which has been transferred to these pages from the records of the time, tells, in the main, what the inundated district at Bethlehem suffered on this occasion. The water rose only a little higher at this point than in 1841, but the ruin was very much greater, not only because there was more property and a larger population to be imperiled, but because the chief flood was occasioned by the breaking of a succes- sion of great dams far up the river, and the unprecedented rise of the water came with appalling suddenness.10
This caused serious loss of life at some places, which was not the case in 1841, when the water rose more gradually and the people were better prepared. More than a hundred and fifty persons perished in the Valley in 1862, and the pecuniary loss was variously estimated at between two and three million dollars. It is recorded that seventeen bodies were buried at the Lehigh County Poor House. Seven lives were lost in Old South Bethlehem and, many days after the water had subsided, unknown bodies were found amid the debris being cleared away in the grounds of the Young Ladies' Seminary and elsewhere in the neighborhood. The need was great among the poor at many places. About $500 in cash and large quantities of provis- ions were collected at Bethlehem for local relief. Charitable people in Philadelphia contributed more than $4000, which was entrusted to a committee of seven in the Lehigh Valley for distribution. Two members of the committee, Mr. Jacob Rice and the Rev. Sylvester Wolle, were in charge at Bethlehem, as one of the distributing centers, where $400 of the fund were disbursed. The committee, when it rendered its account, reported that a hundred and eighty-six families in the Valley had been recipients.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.