The best kept secret in the Bethlehem area is the stunning mansion hidden on a narrow road in Bethlehem Township. The first mayor of the city of Bethlehem, Archibald Johnston, built it. His management style was described as “gentlemanly.” He graduated from Lehigh University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1889 and started work immediately at the Bethlehem Iron Company. Charles M. Schwab and Eugene Grace saw greatness in Johnston and made him vice-president of Bethlehem Steel. No matter how difficult the project, he got it done in his usual efficient, calm manner and his great regard for human dignity.

     Johnston headed the committee to consolidate Bethlehem with South Bethlehem.  He organized several luncheons for more than 500 workers at the Coliseum on Broad Street. He mapped out a strategy of having every ward, in Bethlehem and South Bethlehem covered by a team of workers. They persuaded the voters in their ward to support the consolidation. Johnston was also instrumental in the completion of the Hill-to-Hill Bridge. So it was no surprise that when consolidation passed, people called for Johnston to run to become the first mayor. He declined the suggestion but when he was presented with a petition signed by 7,000 voters he finally agreed to run. Johnston was elected in 1918 as first mayor of the city of Bethlehem. He served one term. His First Annual Message can be found on-line at the Bethlehem Area Public Library website: http://bapl.org/lochist/government/1918mrpt/1918mr01.htm

     When Archibald Johnston retired from Bethlehem Steel in 1927, it made headlines nationally. He was independently wealthy from his Bethlehem Steel stock. Johnston continued to advise Bethlehem Steel along with devoting his time to his large estate on Santee Mill Road. His property included two hills known as “Quaker Hill” which he renamed “Camel’s Hump.”  He put his mechanical ingenuity to work in keeping the Santee Grist Mill (built in 1722) in working order. The mill was 200 years old at the time and was the oldest operating mill in Pennsylvania. Once a year, Johnston would ground grain at the mill for family and friends. Johnston listed his occupation as “farmer” in the 1930 Federal census. He named his estate “Camel Hump Farms.”

     Johnston’s three-story mansion was built in 1923 located on a ridge above the Monocacy Creek. The mansion’s grounds once included manmade waterfalls, landscaped gardens, tennis courts, a dairy farm, a horse farm and a gristmill. A boathouse was constructed for canoes and an underwater concrete platform allowed the servants to wash Johnson’s cars with creek water. Johnson planted many trees around his estate. He used the springs and creek to provide water for his home. He engaged at least fifty people to build his vision of his estate. In addition he employed maids and caretakers on staff. One of the maid’s fiancé was a pilot who would fly by every weekday to drop off a copy of the New York Times for the mayor. The pilot in his open cockpit plane would perform a few acrobatics for entertainment as well.

     Johnston died at home on February 1, 1948, at the age of eighty-three, after a long illness. His granddaughter, Janet Housenick, donated 36 acres of the Johnston estate to Northampton County as the Archibald Johnston Conservation Area, in 1986. After her tragic death in a house fire in 2005, Housenick had willed another 55 acres including Archibald Johnston’s house, located on the property, to Bethlehem Township to create a park. She also left to the township almost $2 million to maintain the property.

     Local historians are concerned about past public discussions by Bethlehem Township council to demolish the home. Council member Jerry Batcha stated in 2008 that if the home turns out to be a money pit he would be leery of wasting more money on it. Housenick frequently told her long time friend and former township commissioner Timothy Brady that she could not bear the thought of the home being torn down. 

NEGLECTED Stunning Historic Bethlehem Mansion

     The best kept secret in the Bethlehem area is the stunning mansion hidden on a narrow road in Bethlehem Township. The first mayor of the city of Bethlehem, Archibald Johnston, built it. His management style was described as “gentlemanly.” He graduated from Lehigh University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1889 and started work immediately at the Bethlehem Iron Company. Charles M. Schwab and Eugene Grace saw greatness in Johnston and made him vice-president of Bethlehem Steel. No matter how difficult the project, he got it done in his usual efficient, calm manner and his great regard for human dignity.

     Johnston headed the committee to consolidate Bethlehem with South Bethlehem.  He organized several luncheons for more than 500 workers at the Coliseum on Broad Street. He mapped out a strategy of having every ward, in Bethlehem and South Bethlehem covered by a team of workers. They persuaded the voters in their ward to support the consolidation. Johnston was also instrumental in the completion of the Hill-to-Hill Bridge. So it was no surprise that when consolidation passed, people called for Johnston to run to become the first mayor. He declined the suggestion but when he was presented with a petition signed by 7,000 voters he finally agreed to run. Johnston was elected in 1918 as first mayor of the city of Bethlehem. He served one term. His First Annual Message can be found on-line at the Bethlehem Area Public Library website: http://bapl.org/lochist/government/1918mrpt/1918mr01.htm

     When Archibald Johnston retired from Bethlehem Steel in 1927, it made headlines nationally. He was independently wealthy from his Bethlehem Steel stock. Johnston continued to advise Bethlehem Steel along with devoting his time to his large estate on Santee Mill Road. His property included two hills known as “Quaker Hill” which he renamed “Camel’s Hump.”  He put his mechanical ingenuity to work in keeping the Santee Grist Mill (built in 1722) in working order. The mill was 200 years old at the time and was the oldest operating mill in Pennsylvania. Once a year, Johnston would ground grain at the mill for family and friends. Johnston listed his occupation as “farmer” in the 1930 Federal census. He named his estate “Camel Hump Farms.”

     Johnston’s three-story mansion was built in 1923 located on a ridge above the Monocacy Creek. The mansion’s grounds once included manmade waterfalls, landscaped gardens, tennis courts, a dairy farm, a horse farm and a gristmill. A boathouse was constructed for canoes and an underwater concrete platform allowed the servants to wash Johnson’s cars with creek water. Johnson planted many trees around his estate. He used the springs and creek to provide water for his home. He engaged at least fifty people to build his vision of his estate. In addition he employed maids and caretakers on staff. One of the maid’s fiancé was a pilot who would fly by every weekday to drop off a copy of the New York Times for the mayor. The pilot in his open cockpit plane would perform a few acrobatics for entertainment as well.

     Johnston died at home on February 1, 1948, at the age of eighty-three, after a long illness. His granddaughter, Janet Housenick, donated 36 acres of the Johnston estate to Northampton County as the Archibald Johnston Conservation Area, in 1986. After her tragic death in a house fire in 2005, Housenick had willed another 55 acres including Archibald Johnston’s house, located on the property, to Bethlehem Township to create a park. She also left to the township almost $2 million to maintain the property.

     Local historians are concerned about past public discussions by Bethlehem Township council to demolish the home. Council member Jerry Batcha stated in 2008 that if the home turns out to be a money pit he would be leery of wasting more money on it. Housenick frequently told her long time friend and former township commissioner Timothy Brady that she could not bear the thought of the home being torn down.

Future Site of Sixty-six Single Wide Mobile Homes

     A rural country road, first known as “Latwerg strass”, winds in and out of Bethlehem and Lower Saucon Township near the base of Green Hill. This road, now known as Applebutter Road, branches off the old wagon road petitioned by the Moravians in 1743. There are a string of sixteen old stone farmhouses and barns that line the road. No one knows when the road was created but the farms were situated there to take advantage of the mills in Shimersville.  Every farm along the road had an apple orchard. The farmers cooked the apples to produce large amounts of apple butter to sell to customers in Bethlehem, South Bethlehem, Hellertown and Easton. 

     Mayme (Vance) Lerch wrote to Lower Saucon Township Historian Ethel Helms in 1973 about her memories of growing up on Applebutter Road. She was 86 years old at the time. She clearly recalled living on the William Henn farm and attending the Lutz-Franklin one-room schoolhouse. Mrs. Lerch drew a map indicating the names of the families who lived in the homes along Applebutter Road in 1900. These same homes would be included in the Applebutter Road Historic District, determined to be eligible for listing in the National Registry of Historic Places by the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission, in 2001. By pure luck, the majority of these structures are still standing today.

     Mrs. Lerch remembered the Rinker family who lived at the sharp bend of Applebutter Road, in the late 1800s. William Addison Rinker and his wife, Elemina (Laubach) lived there with their three daughters, Sallie, Edna and Carrie. W. Addison was the third generation of Rinkers to live on the farm. Around 1840, his grandfather, Samuel Rinker, purchased an 1820 farmhouse located there on 94 acres. He added an addition and improved the farm land. The east end of the Saucon Creek flows through the property.

     The house is a two and a half story stone farmhouse with a gable end roof. The rafters and cross ties are pegged not nailed. The inside wooden doors have six and five panels. The center staircase is original to the 1840 addition. The house still retains the summer kitchen, large stone fireplace and smokehouse. In the kitchen is a brick hearth and stone bake oven. There is a root cellar in the basement and a separate stone “cool cellar” built on the east side of the house.

     Samuel’s son, Franklin,was listed as the owner in the 1870 tax records. He was taxed for his four horses, two cows and a pleasure carriage. Soon after W. Addison’s death in 1900, Bethlehem Steel purchased the farm from his widow. The majority of the farm’s land lay south of Applebutter Road.

     In the 1920s, the Charles Szy family rented the farmhouse from Bethlehem Steel until they purchase the house and 6.57 acres, on the north side of the road, in 1927. Bethlehem Steel retained the 80 some acres, south of the road. It was such a scenic spot that for many years Bethlehem Steel President Eugene Grace organized company picnics in the orchard there. The house was sold to Jean and Heckman D. Harrison in 1985. Eric Ortwein purchased the house and 6.57 acres in 2004 and the house is currently owned jointly by Jay S. Pichel and Ortwein.

     Pichel and Ortwein submitted a development plan this year to Bethlehem Planning Commission that calls for the demolition of the Rinker farmhouse. Their proposed “Applebutter Village” plan indicates that sixty-six single wide mobile homes will be located on the property. Each mobile home will be 14 by 48 feet with ten feet of spacing between the units. The Bethlehem Planning Commission, as a good neighbor, sent the plan to Lower Saucon Council to review. Jack Cahalan, Lower Saucon Township Manager, sent a letter to Darlene Heller, Director of Planning for Bethlehem, dated September 7, 2010 with a summary of Lower Saucon Council’s opinion of the plan. Their response included, “The Township would be greatly concerned if this historic structure was razed for the construction of a mobile home park” and “The Township is concerned that the addition of 60+ cars exiting this proposed development at the peak morning commuter period onto Applebutter Road, which is already clogged with school buses and landfill traffic, will cause intolerable traffic conditions.”

     Bethlehem has two historic review boards, the Historical Architectural Review Board and the South Bethlehem Historic Conservation Commission. These boards only cover specific areas of Bethlehem. They may not be given the opportunity to examine the proposed plan before it is approved by the Bethlehem Planning Commission.
Applebutter Road Historic District Study
6/28/11 Bethlehem Planning meeting