A series of tours exploring the history of Bethlehem Steel and its workers will be returning this weekend.
The Steelworkers’ Archives, National Museum of Industrial History, and Northampton County are partnering for the eighth year of the “Steeples and Steel Tours.”
According to the archives’ website, these minibus tours pay tribute to Central and Eastern European immigrants who resettled in the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Many immigrants moved to Bethlehem, becoming steelworkers at Bethlehem Steel, and constructing their respective ethnic churches which still stand today.
The first hour of the tour will visit neighborhoods, cemeteries and churches in South Bethlehem and tell the story of their historical working-class communities.
The second hour will include a steelworker-guided tour of the Bethlehem Steel plant and the Hoover-Mason Trestle walkway. One church or cemetery is entered on each tour.
Tours will depart from NMIH at 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Sept. 2 and Sept. 16, as well as on Nov. 4.
The 2023 tour schedule includes:
- Sept. 2 – 9:30 AM – Fritz United Methodist Church
- Sept. 2 – 1:00 PM – Packer Memorial Church
- Sept. 16 – 9:30 AM – Holy Infancy Roman Catholic Church
- Sept. 16 – 1:00 PM – Cathedral Church of the Nativity
- Nov. 4 – 9:30 AM – St. John AME Zion Church
- Nov. 4 – 1:00 PM – TBA
Reservations are required, and can be made here. and tickets cost $30 per person. Lunch is included.
Additionally, the Steelworkers’ Archives “steelwalker” tours will also be returning this weekend.
These steelworker-guided walking tours will explore the evolution of iron-making in the Lehigh Valley and the history of the Bethlehem Steel plant from its opening to closing.
They will also cover the plant’s importance during World War I and World War II, and teach visitors about the remaining Bethlehem Steel buildings, life in the ethnic neighborhoods surrounding the plant, and the life of workers at the facility.
The tours leave from the plaza outside of NMIH and will take place at 11:30 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 17.
Tickets are $15 per person and free for children aged 12 and under. They can be purchased on the SteelStacks website.
The Steelworkers' Archives was formed in 2001 to create a permanent community center in Bethlehem's SouthSide and preserve the history, heritage, and cultures of steelworkers.
The organization also collects artifacts and memorabilia, and documents the lives and genealogical records of those who worked at Bethlehem Steel.
(Original air-date: 8/29/23)
