Helping humanities professionals tap the power of the region's expansive cultural heritage to enrich community life, inspire visitors, and revitalize the economy.
Furnaces D&E, Bethlehem Steel, Photo by Bruce Ward
Click here for background information on MARCH's involvement with the Bethlehem Steel project. Click on the numbers for HAER drawings of Bethlehem Steel High House (1), (2), (3), all from the Library of Congress print and photograph collection. Weather or other emergency information: June 24, 2008 -- No emergency in progress. |
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Bethlehem Steel Resources for the Interpretation of the Bethlehem Steel Site
Narrative of Bethlehem industrial history project up to 2008: In November 2007, MARCH presented a working version of an Interpretive Plan to the Bethlehem community at a public meeting. Click on the title to read "Designing Interpretation for the Bethlehem Steel site ... and beyond." Click here for a diagram summarizing desired interpretation, and here for an explanatory key to the diagram. In June 2007, MARCH and the LVIHC hosted a public discussion of priorities for interpreting the Steel site. The city of Bethlehem hosted the meeting at The Ice House, Sand Island, Bethlehem, PA. Click for full list of discussion topics for public conversation. The meeting produced a draft interpretive plan for the site and other Lehigh Valley industrial history resources. In March 2007, MARCH won a planning grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to lead an interpretive planning workshop for the Steel site. The conference is scheduled for June 14-15, 2007, in Bethlehem. Working with the Lehigh Valley Industrical Heritage Coalition (LVIHC), city government, the public, and the site owners/developers, the interpretive plan will guide a broad array of work, including the preparation of a business plan to support interpretation. In December 2006, the Pennsylvania Gaming Commission awarded a state license for a slots casino to Bethlehem Works Now/Las Vegas Sands casino. Plans for the site include commercial, residential, cultural, and historical functions, located in revamped historic structures and appropriately designed new construction. Open space on the site, and a new arena, will host Bethlehem's successful Musikfest, public broadcasting, and other musical performances. Community reaction to the plans has been positive, especially as the developers intend to preserve most of the important historic structures within their re-use plans. Several structures are still endangered however, and community opinion has been sharply divided about bringing in legalized gambling. In 2005, the interested cultural groups that had come together to write a shared vistion statement in 2004 formed the Lehigh Valley Industrial Heritage Coalition (LVIHC), to coordinate interpretive work at the Steel as the commercial and residential development went forward. In 2004, MARCH and the Historic Bethlehem Partnership invited a range of groups and individuals interested in the future of the Bethlehem Steel site to convene in Bethlehem. Over a full-day workshop the group articulated a shared vision for the site to which each group could contribute. Insights from Robert Rathburn, director of Sloss Furnace National Historic Landmark in Birmingham, AL, and Peter Neill, president of South Street Seaport Museum in New York City. For details of that meeting and the vision statement that emerged from it, click here. Leading up to the June conference, public input and debate will be supported by The Morning Call, which will continue after the conference to invite public input in shaping the final interpretive plan.
For the most current news and information, visit Save Our Steel. For more information, please contact MARCH by phone at 856-225-6064, or email.
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Last updated: June 11, 2008
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