March 24, 1948

March 21st, 2012 |

Did you know that on March 25, 1948 the local front page news headline reported a blast furnace explosion at the Steel that occurred the previous day? It resulted in four documented deaths and several injuries. Could you imagine stepping outside to see this pivotal building on fire? Perhaps it is where your father or grandfather spends the majority of his day. Perhaps he may have been there in Blast Furnace G. What thoughts would be running through your head? Would you be one of those people standing along the Lehigh River watching?

This article was clipped from the newspaper and saved. Unfortunately, a portion of the clipping has been lost, but there must have been some motivation to save the story. Was the clipper related to one of the workers involved in the explosion? Was it someone looking back through history and keeping records?

In reality, the clipper was one Mr. Robert T. Brown, a city of Bethlehem zoning administrator and amateur local historian who collected records of important historical events.  He would choose news articles and stories that he viewed as important to remember from his lifetime.  His collection was so large that it was divided among several historical sites upon his death, and Historic Bethlehem, alone, has about five boxes of his collection.

Have you kept any front page articles from your local newspaper? Which of these do you think may end up in the history books? Which of these will people be reading about in another 64 years?

The anniversary of the tragedy is tomorrow. What will you be doing on March 24th?

This blog installment was written by our brilliant Moravian College interns Miranda and Allison.

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