City of Bethlehem

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The Christmas City

On Christmas Eve, 1741, Count Nicholas von Zizendorf, leading a small group of Moravian missionaries who had founded a small settlement on banks of the Monocacy creek, gave Bethlehem it’s name.

Fast-forward to 1937. The Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce, mindful of Bethlehem’s first Christmas in 1741, declared – “Why not make Bethlehem, named at Christmas, the Christmas City for the entire country?”

Thus, since 1937, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania has been known throughout the world as the Christmas City.

To learn more about the city of Bethlehem, visit bethlehem-pa.gov