History of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. It is the ninth most populous city in Pennsylvania. The community is situated along the Lehigh River, a 109-mile-long Delaware River tributary.

Bethlehem is located in the center of the Lehigh Valley, which is the third most populous metropolitan region in Pennsylvania and the 68th most populous metropolitan region in the United States according to the 2020 census. Smaller than Allentown but larger than Easton, Bethlehem is the Lehigh Valley's second most populous city. Bethlehem borders Allentown to its west and is 48 miles north of Philadelphia and 72 miles west of New York City.

There are four sections to the city: central Bethlehem, the south side, the east side, and the west side. Each of these sectors flourished at different stages during the city's growth and has National Register of Historic Places-listed properties. Norfolk Southern Railway's Lehigh Line, formerly the main line of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, runs through Bethlehem heading east to Easton and across the Delaware River to Phillipsburg, New Jersey. Reading Line of the Norfolk Southern Railway runs through Bethlehem and west to Allentown and Reading.

Bethlehem has a historical connection with the Christmas holiday. On Christmas Day, 1741, Nicolaus Zinzendorf, a Moravian bishop, christened the city Bethlehem. In 1747, Bethlehem was the first U.S. city to decorate a Christmas tree. During the Great Depression, on December 7, 1937, the city formally adopted the moniker Christmas City, USA. It is one of numerous Lehigh Valley communities whose names were inspired by biblical places, such as Emmaus, Egypt, Allentown's Jordan Creek, and Nazareth. Learn more about the geography of Bethlehem, PA.