Welcome to the Lehigh Valley Landmarks with Leon podcast series, celebrating 250 years of independence. I'm your host, Rachel Leon. Since being elected in 2022 and serving as Vice President of Bethlehem City Council, I'm humbled by the opportunity to serve the diverse communities that make up our great city. But to understand where we're going, we need to understand our past. Each week, I'll share a short feature with a big story about the 250 years that made the Lehigh Valley and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, known as the Christmas City, as we explore historic landmarks.
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania boasts many firsts. In addition to the 1762 Waterworks in Bethlehem, that is believed to be the oldest pump powered public water supply in the United States, the bell house belfry, not to be confused with the Moravian Church bell tower, housed at an impressive clock that is the oldest continuous running town clock in America.
Located among the historic buildings on Church Street, the bell house belfry was built in a Germanic style in 1745 with humble beginnings. The bell house was a small square building with only the central section of the present structure. In the bell tower, the Moravians hung three bells cast by Samuel Powell, who had learned his craft in England. From the belfry of the bell tower, the largest of Powell's bells roused the settlement to greet the new day every morning at 4:15am, and to announce the time for dinner, the hour to stop work, the occasions of worship, marriages and deaths. The bell also rang on the hour. Below the large bell sat two tiny ones until a few years ago. These bells struck the quarter hours.
The bells functioned from the days of the French and Indian War. They were heard by Native American converts, members of the Continental Congress, soldiers and visiting nobility from abroad. These tiny bells were a familiar sound that was heard from both within the church and without.
On February 15, 1746, a clock was installed at the base of the bell tower of the bell house, recognized by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum commissions as the first town clock. The clock in the Bell House Bell faced two ways — south and north. On the Historic Towns of America website, credit is given to Johann Abraham Houser, a Moravian clock maker from Germany with building and designing the brass clock. However, in the book Sketches of Early Bethlehem, written by Richard E Myers, credit is given to Augustine Neisser.
Augustine Neisser was also German and in the business of making clocks, and had acquired considerable fame and success in that profession. He was a brother of George Neisser, Bethlehem's, first schoolmaster. One factor that supports Augustine Neisser as the creator of the bell house clock is documented that David Rittenhouse, Pennsylvania's famous colonial astronomer, visited Bethlehem in 1777 and again in 1778 for the sole purpose of inspecting Neisser's town clock. Rittenhouse was greatly interested in the clocks. In fact, he also was a clock maker.
Within a few years of its construction, the enlargement of the bell house became necessary. The Moravians originally intended the building to provide for the needs of the growing choirs throughout its long history.
The bell house building served many purposes. It provided a home for the Moravian educational activity and the first boarding school for girls in the colonies. Today, the bell house building operates as an apartment complex.
The Moravian Bell House, that also goes by the name the First Seminary for Girls, is a historic structure located at 56 West Church Street in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The bell house is included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site designation of the historical Moravian Bethlehem district.
For a guided tour, visit the website, historicbethlehem.org.
