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Bethlehem, city (1990 pop. 71,428), Northampton and Lehigh counties, E Pa., on the Lehigh River near Allentown and Easton; inc. as a city 1917. Local manufacturing, once dominated by the giant Bethlehem Steel Corp. (whose headquarters are still here), is now more diversified. Chemicals, machines, cement, and textiles have been important, and a semiconductor industry is growing rapidly. Bethlehem was settled in 1740–41 by Moravians and incorporated as a borough in 1845. Steelmaking began in the early 1870s, and Bethlehem Steel's structural-steel mill opened in 1908; in 1995, when it closed, the steelmaking era ended. In Bethlehem are the Central Moravian Church (c.1803), the Schnitz House (1749), and other early Moravian buildings. An internationally famous spring music festival performed by the Bach Choir (1898) is held in the city. Bethlehem is the seat of Lehigh Univ. and Moravian College.
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