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.
During the American Revolution food was as critical as bullets in keeping the army on the move. George Washington issued orders for his troops to save ammunition and also ordered the removal of the “running stone” from grist mills. Mills in proximity to British troops could provide food for the Redcoats.
Pennsylvania's founding father, William Penn also understood the importance of grist mills and the vital role mills would play in the economic and social development of communities.
When he set sail to America he brought the plans for one with him and he would commission the first official mills in the colony.
In 1737, William Penn's sons used a dubious treaty from 1686 to acquire under false pretenses a massive area of land from the Lenape, known as the Walking Purchase, by having fast runners walk as far as possible in a day and a half.
Four years later the Moravians purchased parts of this acquired land from the Penns.
Utilizing the free-flowing natural waterway of the Monocracy Creek, a tributary of the Lehigh River in Pennsylvania, the Moravians established settlements in Bethlehem and Nazareth in 1741.
In the mid 1700s a significant colonial industrial center developed in Bethlehem that featured various mills and workshops powered by the creek.
During this period wheat was the principal crop. In 1743 the first wooden log flour mill was built in the colony industrial quarter.
The grist mill was central to the Moravians goal of creating a self-sufficient community. The mill turned wheat into flour by cleaning the grain and fed it between two large rotating millstones. The turning runner stone grounded the wheat against a stationary bedstone breaking into a course meal. The meal was sifted through a process called bolting to separate the finer flour from the coarser bran. The wheat flour was generally reserved for bread for the upper class while cornmeal feed enslaved people and livestock.
In 1751 a larger two-story limestone grist mill replaced the wooden one. Located adjacent to the mill stood the Grist Miller’s House. The house was built by the Moravian church in 1782 to provide a home for the miller and his family, and it remains a key historical structure today.
This grist mill also served as a fulling mill to soften leather and cloth until it was destroyed by a fire in 1869.
A third grist mill was built on the site that same year by Charles Augustus Lunckenbach. The Moravian businessman was instrumental in developing the area. In 1877 steam power was added to the mill and in 1949 the operations ended at the mill.
In 1953 the building became an automobile parts and salvage store with the area becoming a junk yard.
In 1983 the Luckenbach Grist Mill was restored and opened to the public. On the first and second floors, Lehigh Art Alliance presents exhibitions throughout the year and it is home to the Historic Bethlehem Library and archives.
The 1869 Luckenbach Mill is located at 459 Old York Road in Bethlehem, PA and is part of the Moravian Church Settlements - Bethlehem World Heritage Inscription marking the 26th World Heritage Site in the United States.
Information for this episode was provided by the Historic Bethlehem Museums and Sites and ExplorePAHistory.com.
