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14

Wm. N. Ackerman, A.S. Kreiter, Lewis F. Beckel, A.H. Lynn, Tobias W. Lynn, Simon Dieter, Philip Becker, Jos. Seiple, Jacob Miller, A. Woot Detrixhe, George Rennig, Charles Bartholomew, Gillis Franket, Thonica Rayeur, James McMahon, Sevias Everard, James Purcell, Gen. Weigert, Frank Achterman, Nicholas Sauer, John Gehring, Joseph Schmidt, Joseph Pruchty, Jacob Lillie, A.W. Leibert, Lewis Tremmel, Leonhard Eckert, Julius Richter, Wm. H. Thomas, L.C. Peisert, Charles Decker, William Billiard, Josiah Lowry, Phaon Lowry, Morgan Apple, Daniel Bader, John A. Rhaod, Jacob Washburn, John Meyers, Geo. Hoch, Philip Ehman, David I. Yerkes, Patrick McBride, Aaron E. Miller, Philip Maulberg, John Fuenfstueck, Henry Krauskopf, Benjamin F. Williamson, Edwin Stein, Reuben Keederer, Peter L. Koch, Joseph S. Smith, Joseph W. Wilhelm, Charles Ueberroth, Jacob Fenstermacher, Adam D. Unangst, James B. Weaver, James Wohlbach, Francis Klotz, Benjamin F. Weil, Charles Schortz, Fredrick Albert, Edmond Boyer, George Reeser, John Hahn, James B. Weaver, Geo. Rakestraw, Charles Moritz, Stephen Young, Patrick Masterson, John Seems, E. McConaugh, Patrick Coleman, Charles Quinn, John B. Beyl, Peter A. Bauer, Jacob Huber, Henry Frankenfield, Jos. Danner, Theophilus Harlacher, Michael Anstatt, George W. Moritz, Frederick Keck.

NOTICE.

BETHLEHEM SOUTH, BOROUGH.

Notice is hereby given that application will be made to the Court of Quarter Sessions of Northampton County by the presentation of a petition to be laid before the grand jury by the said court on the 4th Monday in April next, to incorporate the Village of Bethlehem South, in Saucon township, into a borough under the name and title of South Bethlehem, the said petition to be signed by a majority of the Freeholders residing within the following described territorial limits: (here follow same descriptions, boundaries, courses and distances as in the above application for charter).

VAL. HILBURN,
Attorney for Applicants.

Northampton County, ss.

Lewis F. Beckel and William H. Bush, being each severally sworn, do depose and say that the foregoing and accompanying application for an incorporation is signed by a majority of the Freeholders residing within the limits of the borough proposed to be incorporated, that the name and title of the proposed borough is South Bethlehem, as set forth therein, that the limits and boundaries of the proposed borough are the same as particularly described therein with the courses and distances and words at length, and that the plot or draft accompanying the same as a just, true and correct exhibit, draft and plot of the territory proposed to be comprised within the limits of the said intended borough; that the resident population contained within the limits of the proposed borough is not less than one thousand, and that due public notice of this application was given by four insertions in four consecutive weeks, immediately prior to the date thereof, in The Moravian, a weekly English newspaper, printed and published in the Borough of Bethlehem, in said county, a copy of which said notice is hereto attached; and that the facts in said petition set forth are true, as they verily believe.

Sworn and subscribed the 24th day of April, A.D. 1865, before me.

S.MOORE, J.P.

To the Honorable, the Judges of the Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace of Northampton County, of April Sessions, A. D. 1865.

The grand jury of the said county respectfully certify that after a full investigation of the case presented by the annexed petition to incorporate the Town of South Bethlehem, a majority of the said jury do find that the conditions prescribed by the Act of Assembly relating thereto have been complied with, and believe that it is expedient to grant the prayer of the petitioners.

By direction of a majority of the grand jury, April 26, 1865. S. Troxsell, foreman.

In the Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace in and for the County of Northampton, it is thus contained.

In the matter of the petition of the inhabitants of South Bethlehem.

15

JOS. W. ADAMS
Chief Burgess

And now, August 21, 1865, the report of the grand jury being presented, certifying that it is expedient to grant the prayer of the petitioners, and it being certified by the affidavits of William H. Hutter and Josiah Cole, Esqs., that due notice according to the rule of court of the application at this time for a charter of incorporation has been given in one German and one English newspaper, and no exceptions having been filed against said application, it is decreed by the court in conformity with the prayer of the petitioners, that the town of South Bethlehem shall henceforth be deemed to be incorporated and be entitled to all the rights, immunities and privileges of a body corporate and politic according to the Act of Assembly, in such case made and provided. And that the said petition and this decree be recorded in the Recorders' office of Northampton County, at the expense of the applicants.

And now, August 22nd, 1865, the Court fix the 12th day of September as the time and the public house of Peter I. Eckert in South Bethlehem as the place for holding the election.

That Wm. H. Buss, Esq., be designated to give due notice of such election.

That Simon S. Dieter, Esq., be appointed judge, and James Wohlbach and Theophilus Harlacher be appointed inspectors of the first election, according to the Act of Assembly in such case made and provided.

(Seal of Court.)
Recorded, August 24th; A. D. 1865.
"Miscellany" Vol. 12, Page 374.

The election resulted in the selection of the following Borough Officers: Burgess, James McMahon; Councilmen, Louis F. Beckel, E.P. Wilbur, James McCoy, James Purcell, and David I. Yerkes, none of whom are now living. They held their first meeting on September 19, 1865, and William H. Bush was elected Town Clerk. They served until the regular election in March, 1866. Of all of the men who served in Council from the time of this beginning to 1877, the only person now living is William A. Lynn of 12 East Fourth Street who served two terms, years 1868 and 1869.

In 1866 an Act was passed by the Legislature dividing the Borough into three (3) wards and providing for the election of Councilmen. The Borough covered by wards was as follows: First Ward, all of the Borough west of New Street from the River to the southern Borough line; the Second Ward, all of the borough between New and Spruce Streets; and the Third Ward all of the Borough east of Spruce Street.

The representation in Council was three persons from each ward. The original boundaries of the Borough continued until 1889, when the University District of Saucon Township, lying south and east of the Borough, was annexed to the Borough and the number of wards increased to five, the addition necessitating the re-arrangement of the old wards. This continues to be the territory covered by the South Bethlehem of to-day. The southern and eastern boundary lines of the Borough run right along the top of the mountain.

The Burgesses in the order in which they served and their terms of office are as follows:

Municipal improvement in the new Borough did not proceed as rapidly in the early days as at the present time, and up to 1889 street improvement was confined mostly to the placing of cinders from the Zinc Works and Iron Works on the streets, and the grading and opening of streets. In 1889 the first expenditure for what was then believed to be permanent streets was made, and a loan of $15,000.00 was floated and Third Street was macadamized by the Telford plan of road making. This method of street improvement continued up to 1906 when began the permanent improvement of streets with concrete base and a top of Bituminous mixture. This permanent street paving is continued yearly until up to the present time there has been almost $150,000.00 expended on street paving. The paved streets include mostly business streets and the work is a great public improvement.

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