| Introduction | Historical Background | Chronology | Geography | Biography | Technology | Ownership and Financing | General Bibliography |
| Middle Atlantic States | Pennsylvania | South Bethlehem |
South Bethlehem was incorporated as a borough in 1865 and was included in the incorporation of the City of Bethlehem in 1917.
The Bethlehem South Gas and Water Company was incorporated in 1864 to supply the village of Bethlehem South, and the villages adjoining, in Saucon, Salisbury, and Hanover, townships, in the counties of Northampton and Lehigh. The company built a system that began operating in 1875 by using gravity and also pumping water from the Lehigh River.
The Mountain Water Company was incorporated on July 24, 1893 to supply South Bethlehem Borough.
These two companies merged into the Bethlehem Consolidated Water Company in 1902, and it the following year was conveyed to the Bethlehem City Water Company, and the latter, on September 28, 1920,
The water system is currently owned by the Bethlehem Municipal Water Authority, which leases it to the City of Bethlehem.
References
1864 An act to incorporate the Bethlehem South
Gas and Water Company. April 13, 1864.
1882 South Bethlehem, from Engineering News, 8:130 (April 22, 1882)
1882 South Bethlehem from "The Water-Supply of Certain Cities and Towns of the United States," by Walter G. Elliot, C. E., Ph. D.
1888 "South Bethlehem," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 1.
1890 "South Bethlehem," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 2.
1891 "South Bethlehem," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 3.
1897 "South Bethlehem," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 4.
1911 Sixth
Annual Report of the Commissioner of Health of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, Part I
Page 214: Report of Investigation of Typhoid Fever in South
Bethlehem and Vicinity, September and October, 1911.
1922 Bethlehem, Appellant, v. Allentown, 275 Pa. 110, June 24, 1922, Pennsylvania Supreme Court
1922 "Opinion
in the 15th Ward Water Case," The Allentown Morning Call,
June 30, 1922, Page 5. | Part
2 |
The Bethlehem South Gas and Water Company, incorporated in 1864 was
empowered to introduce into the "village of Bethlehem South and the
villages adjoining in Saucon, Salisbury, and Hanover Townships, in the
counties of Northampton and Lehigh, a sufficient supply of water."
The company was organized in 1867, and immediately thereafter began to
carry out the provisions of its charter. The Mountain Water Company
was incorporated in 1893, and the Bethlehem Consolidated Water Company in
1902. These three concerns were, on April 18, 1902, merged into the
Bethlehem Consolidated Water Company, which, in 1903, conveyed all its
franchises, power rights, privilege, property, real and personal, in the
Bethlehem City Water Company, and the latter, on September 28, 1920, after
approval of the Public Service Commission, conveyed all the merged rights,
power, privileges and franchises to the City of Bethlehem.
2016 Historical Evolution of Design and Supply of Drinking Water Treatment Plant for the City ofB ethlehem, 1741-Present, by Juliana Telles, William Sullivan, Pantelis Takos, Amber Schrum, Allie Stevens, and Evan Ward. Undergraduate Honors Theses and Capstone Projects, Lehigh University
© 2019 Morris A. Pierce