Historic Hotel Bethlehem

This historic hotel in Bethlehem (known to residents simply as "Hotel Bethlehem") is a member of the Historic Hotels of America in the area which is also known as "The Christmas City." This Beaux-Arts-style hotel dates from 1922. Hotel Bethlehem is listed on the National Register of Historic Places along with 165 buildings. It replaced a hotel converted from a general store in 1822 known as The Golden Eagle. The first hotel was remodeled in 1870 and then demolished in 1920 - and rebuilt in 1921 with funding from Charles M. Schwab and others at Bethlehem Steel. The hotel opened in 1922 as The Pioneer Tap Room, but a fire in the hotel on January 29, 1989 caused another closure so it stood vacant. Some ideas arose to adapt the space into facilities for the elderly and a women's dormitory for Moravian College. However, after the closure of Bethlehem Steel in the 1990s, a group of local investors bought it and renovated it extensively in late 1990. In 2019 the Bethlehem Hotel came third in the USA Today "10 Best Historic Hotels" poll.