Nazareth, Pennsylvania
Encyclopedia
Nazareth is a borough
in Northampton County
, Pennsylvania
, in the United States. The population was 6,023 at the 2000 census.
Nazareth is located seven miles (11 km) northwest of Easton
, four miles north of Bethlehem
and twelve miles northeast of Allentown
. It is located in the center of Northampton County
, and is part of Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley
region.
, where Jesus Christ resided in his youth. The names of other places in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania are similarly inspired, including Bethlehem
, Emmaus
, Egypt
, and Allentown
's Jordan Creek.
. Initially, Nazareth was specifically Moravian by charter. Outside faiths were not allowed to purchase property within Nazareth, a basically all German protestant community. Nazareth remained basically all German derivative in population until 1980 at the completion of connecting superhighways to the New York City area. (Interstate routes 78, 33, 80)
In 1735 a small group of the Moravian missionaries had begun work in the newly settled community of Savannah, Georgia
. Their intent was to evangelize the native American tribes and minister to the settlers. Governor Oglethorpe, founder of Georgia
, and John and Charles Wesley, founders of the Methodist Church and deeply interested in Moravian ideals, came along on the same boat. The Brethren settled along the Savannah River
in Georgia. Like the Quakers, the Brethren refused to take part in the war with the Spanish and, as a result, they were evicted from Georgia in 1739.
George Whitefield, a widely known itinerant preacher who had served for a time as chaplain of Savannah, brought the group of evicted Georgia Brethren north to Philadelphia
in his sloop. Whitefield had grandiose plans, and one of them was for a school for Negro children to be established on his tract of 5000 acres (20.2 km²) called the Barony of Nazareth. He invited the Brethren who accompanied him to Philadelphia to settle at this location for the time being and hired them to build his school. By the end of June, 1739, the first log dwelling was erected.
The workers struggled, the weather did not cooperate, and winter soon arrived. They quickly erected a second log house. After its completion, word came that Whitefield had returned to Pennsylvania, bristling and angered by theological disputes with certain Moravians, particularly on the issue of predestination
. In no uncertain terms he ordered the Moravian Brethren off his land at once.
While evicted from the Barony, Moravian leaders in England were negotiating to buy the entire Barony. When Whitefield's business manager suddenly died, Whitefield discovered that his finances, shaky on more than one occasion, would not allow him to proceed with his Nazareth plan. He was forced to sell the whole tract. On July 16, 1741, it officially became Moravian property.
Nazareth was originally planned as a central English-speaking church village. But in October 1742, its 18 English inhabitants departed for Philadelphia. Meanwhile, the Nazareth tract was largely in the hand of Captain John, a Lenape
chieftain who (along with his followers) stubbornly refused to leave, even though they no longer owned the land. In December 1742, Count Zinzendorf made a settlement with Captain John, and his tribe moved back into the hinterland. A letter on the settlement was agreed upon, and is available here:http://bdhp.moravian.edu/community_records/bethlehem_diary/731742source.html
During 1743, the still unfinished Whitefield House was put in readiness for 32 young married couples who were to arrive from Europe. On the second day of the new year, 1744, the couples went overland to Nazareth to settle in the nearly completed Whitefield House.
The result was that Nazareth began to grow rapidly. So many visitors were attracted to the town that the Rose Inn was built in 1752 on an additional tract to the north. Finally, in 1754, Nazareth Hall was built in hopes that Count Zinzendorf would return from Europe and settle in Nazareth permanently, but he never returned to the U.S. However, in 1759 Nazareth Hall
became the central boarding school for sons of Moravian parents. Later it attained wide fame as a "classical academy." This eventually led to the founding, in 1807, of Moravian College
and Theological Seminary, now located in Bethlehem. The Nazareth Hall Tract
was added to the National Register of Historic Places
in 1980.
origin, better known as the Pennsylvania Dutch
. "Dutch" was a corruption of the word "Deutsch", which is the original German word for the English word "German." The Pennsylvania Dutch were spread throughout many counties of southern and central Pennsylvania. In addition to Pennsylvania Dutch from Germany, many also came from Switzerland
and the Alsace
, which is now part of France. Thus Pennsylvania Dutch, the term, includes residents which historically lived near the "German" origin Pennsylvania Dutch of Germany, in both France and Switzerland, whose borders over time had been traded around to be included in one country and then another, and the Pennsylvania Dutch were not then technically JUST from Germany, although they did share common bloodlines and ancestries, living in close locale. Pennsylvania Dutch might more properly include one area of European origin, rather than one specific country of Europe, as the borders were given to vary over the centuries.
), and Roman Catholic worship centers of the town. The town also hosted a fairly sizable Italian
and Polish
population, which largely attended the Catholic Church in the area. Strong religious partisanship was largely a reflection of the seriousness with which the Pennsylvania Dutch took their faith, while only differing in seemingly minor points from each other, at least compared to a more worldwide view of religions and their differences. The churches of Nazareth polarized the town's people with varying interpretations of scripture in ritual and practice.
This new expansion and housing boom was enabled by the local completion of the interstate system of highways, first begun by former U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s. In the Nazareth area, this was caused by the completion of the nearby Pennsylvania Route 33, which ran north and south, thereby connecting Interstate 78, U.S Route 22, and Interstate 80 (all of which ran east-west), and the completion of the Interstate 78 southern Lehigh Valley corridor high speed interstate, which connected the Lehigh Valley to New Jersey and New York to the east, and Harrisburg
and Pittsburgh to the west.
The Nazareth Historic District
was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
of 2000, there were 6,023 people, 2,560 households, and 1,515 families residing in the borough. The population density
was 3,603.8 people per square mile (1,392.5/km²). There were 2,658 housing units at an average density of 1,590.4 per square mile (614.5/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 98.46% White, 0.55% African American, 0.08% Native American, 0.40% Asian, 0.28% from other races
, and 0.23% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.95% of the population.
There were 2,560 households out of which 25.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.1% were married couples
living together, 8.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.8% were non-families. 35.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.22 and the average family size was 2.89.
Nazareth's population is spread out with 20.2% under the age of 18, 6.7% from 18 to 24, 28.7% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 24.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 85.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.7 males.
As of the 2000 census, the median income for a household in the borough was $39,038, and the median income for a family was $50,298. Males had a median income of $35,642 versus $24,900 for females. The per capita income
for the borough was $21,292. About 4.2% of families and 8.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.3% of those under age 18 and 11.4% of those age 65 or over.
In 1900, 2,304 people lived there, and in 1910, 3,978 inhabitants existed; 5,721 people lived in Nazareth in 1940. Its population was 6,023 at the 2000 census.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the borough has a total area of 1.7 square miles (4.4 km²), all of it land.
Nazareth's climate is similar to the rest of the Lehigh Valley, with four distinct seasons, humid summers, cold winters, and very short and mild springs and falls. Nazareth's topography can best be described as hilly, as the town itself sits atop a local outcropping underground of one of the richest veins of limestone
in the U.S. Farmland surrounding Nazareth is quickly being devoured and turned into close sitting lots of suburban housing.
, which also comprises the surrounding Townships of Bushkill
, Upper Nazareth
and Lower Nazareth
, and the boroughs of Tatamy
and Stockertown
.
The district's schools include:
and The Express-Times
, newspapers. Local shoppers, such as The Key and US newspapers provide Nazareth with a source for local advertising and news on community events.
, a one mile tri-oval paved track of Indy and USAC racing fame. Nazareth is also home to racing champions Mario Andretti
, Michael Andretti
, Marco Andretti
. The track has now been knocked down, and no announcements have been made about what the land will be used for.
companies surrounded the Nazareth borough area, Essroc (formally Coplay Cement), Hercules Cement, and Penn-Dixie Cement Companies. The Coplay plant on the southside has undergone company ownership changes through the years (and was also known as the Nazareth Cement Company, among other names). Hundreds of union laborers of the United Gypsum, Lime and Cement Unions worked in each plant around the town from the early 1900s. Every summer, lucky college students were hired for well paying labor jobs as summer help.
Stories of the hard pre-union days at the cement plants are replete with the description of twelve hour days for survival wages, poor working and health conditions, and many dangerous incidents and accidents causing loss of life and or limb without medical plans or benefits to survivors. Since the 1980s, however, the automation of the plants and eventual reselling of them to foreign firms has brought about the loss of most of the high-paying union cement jobs, presenting a blow to the Lehigh Valley economy. The impact on the local economy of these lost cement jobs was intensified by the ultimate closing of neighboring Bethlehem Steel
in 2003. In the case of Bethlehem Steel, it was not automation and modernization that downsized the workforce, but failure to modernize the mills, overloaded management, and a laissez-faire management attitude about foreign competition and cheap foreign steel production.
Thomas Franzak, contemporary Christian composer, songwriter, recording artist, (associated with the Oregon Catholic Press)
Borough (Pennsylvania)
In the U.S. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a borough is a self-governing municipal entity that is usually smaller than a city. There are 958 boroughs in Pennsylvania. All municipalities in Pennsylvania are classified as either cities, boroughs, or townships...
in Northampton County
Northampton County, Pennsylvania
As of the 2010 census, the county was 86.3% White, 5.0% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American or Alaskan Native, 2.4% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian, 2.2% were two or more races, and 3.8% were some other race. 10.5% of the population were of Hispanic or Latino ancestry.As of the census of...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, in the United States. The population was 6,023 at the 2000 census.
Nazareth is located seven miles (11 km) northwest of Easton
Easton, Pennsylvania
Easton is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 26,800 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Northampton County....
, four miles north of Bethlehem
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem is a city in Lehigh and Northampton Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 74,982, making it the seventh largest city in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie,...
and twelve miles northeast of Allentown
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown is a city located in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is Pennsylvania's third most populous city, after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and the 215th largest city in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 118,032 and is currently...
. It is located in the center of Northampton County
Northampton County, Pennsylvania
As of the 2010 census, the county was 86.3% White, 5.0% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American or Alaskan Native, 2.4% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian, 2.2% were two or more races, and 3.8% were some other race. 10.5% of the population were of Hispanic or Latino ancestry.As of the census of...
, and is part of Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley
Lehigh Valley
The Lehigh Valley, known officially by the United States Census Bureau as the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ metropolitan area and referred to locally as The Valley and A-B-E, is a metropolitan region consisting of Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, and Carbon counties in eastern Pennsylvania and...
region.
Origins of Name
The borough is named for the Biblical town of NazarethNazareth
Nazareth is the largest city in the North District of Israel. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," the population is made up predominantly of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel...
, where Jesus Christ resided in his youth. The names of other places in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania are similarly inspired, including Bethlehem
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem is a city in Lehigh and Northampton Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 74,982, making it the seventh largest city in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie,...
, Emmaus
Emmaus, Pennsylvania
Emmaus is a borough in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is located five miles southwest of Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the state.The population of Emmaus was 11,313 at the 2000 census...
, Egypt
Egypt, Pennsylvania
Egypt is an unincorporated community in Whitehall Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, United States, about north of Allentown and west of Cementon. Egypt is located on Pennsylvania Route 329, just west of its intersection with Pennsylvania Route 145 at Eagle Point.The population of Egypt is...
, and Allentown
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown is a city located in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is Pennsylvania's third most populous city, after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and the 215th largest city in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 118,032 and is currently...
's Jordan Creek.
Moravian History
Nazareth was founded in 1740 by immigrants from Germany of the protestant faith. Their leader was George WhitefieldGeorge Whitefield
George Whitefield , also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican priest who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the British North American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally...
. Initially, Nazareth was specifically Moravian by charter. Outside faiths were not allowed to purchase property within Nazareth, a basically all German protestant community. Nazareth remained basically all German derivative in population until 1980 at the completion of connecting superhighways to the New York City area. (Interstate routes 78, 33, 80)
In 1735 a small group of the Moravian missionaries had begun work in the newly settled community of Savannah, Georgia
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
. Their intent was to evangelize the native American tribes and minister to the settlers. Governor Oglethorpe, founder of Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, and John and Charles Wesley, founders of the Methodist Church and deeply interested in Moravian ideals, came along on the same boat. The Brethren settled along the Savannah River
Savannah River
The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. Two tributaries of the Savannah, the Tugaloo River and the Chattooga River, form the northernmost part of the border...
in Georgia. Like the Quakers, the Brethren refused to take part in the war with the Spanish and, as a result, they were evicted from Georgia in 1739.
George Whitefield, a widely known itinerant preacher who had served for a time as chaplain of Savannah, brought the group of evicted Georgia Brethren north to Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
in his sloop. Whitefield had grandiose plans, and one of them was for a school for Negro children to be established on his tract of 5000 acres (20.2 km²) called the Barony of Nazareth. He invited the Brethren who accompanied him to Philadelphia to settle at this location for the time being and hired them to build his school. By the end of June, 1739, the first log dwelling was erected.
The workers struggled, the weather did not cooperate, and winter soon arrived. They quickly erected a second log house. After its completion, word came that Whitefield had returned to Pennsylvania, bristling and angered by theological disputes with certain Moravians, particularly on the issue of predestination
Predestination
Predestination, in theology is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God. John Calvin interpreted biblical predestination to mean that God willed eternal damnation for some people and salvation for others...
. In no uncertain terms he ordered the Moravian Brethren off his land at once.
While evicted from the Barony, Moravian leaders in England were negotiating to buy the entire Barony. When Whitefield's business manager suddenly died, Whitefield discovered that his finances, shaky on more than one occasion, would not allow him to proceed with his Nazareth plan. He was forced to sell the whole tract. On July 16, 1741, it officially became Moravian property.
Nazareth was originally planned as a central English-speaking church village. But in October 1742, its 18 English inhabitants departed for Philadelphia. Meanwhile, the Nazareth tract was largely in the hand of Captain John, a Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
chieftain who (along with his followers) stubbornly refused to leave, even though they no longer owned the land. In December 1742, Count Zinzendorf made a settlement with Captain John, and his tribe moved back into the hinterland. A letter on the settlement was agreed upon, and is available here:http://bdhp.moravian.edu/community_records/bethlehem_diary/731742source.html
During 1743, the still unfinished Whitefield House was put in readiness for 32 young married couples who were to arrive from Europe. On the second day of the new year, 1744, the couples went overland to Nazareth to settle in the nearly completed Whitefield House.
The result was that Nazareth began to grow rapidly. So many visitors were attracted to the town that the Rose Inn was built in 1752 on an additional tract to the north. Finally, in 1754, Nazareth Hall was built in hopes that Count Zinzendorf would return from Europe and settle in Nazareth permanently, but he never returned to the U.S. However, in 1759 Nazareth Hall
Nazareth Hall
Nazareth Hall was a school in Nazareth, PA. It was built in 1754 in hopes that Count Nikolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf would return from Europe and settle permanently in the community; he never came back to America...
became the central boarding school for sons of Moravian parents. Later it attained wide fame as a "classical academy." This eventually led to the founding, in 1807, of Moravian College
Moravian College
Moravian College a private liberal arts college, and the associated Moravian Theological Seminary are located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, in the Lehigh Valley region.-History:...
and Theological Seminary, now located in Bethlehem. The Nazareth Hall Tract
Nazareth Hall Tract
Nazareth Hall Tract is a historic Moravian school complex located at Nazareth, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. It consists of the manor house Nazareth Hall, the 1840 Moravian Church, the "First Room" Building , the Principal's House, the Single Sister's House, and a monument. In 1759, it became...
was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1980.
Pennsylvania Dutch settlements
Up until the mid 1900s, a large part of the native population was of GermanGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
origin, better known as the Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch refers to immigrants and their descendants from southwestern Germany and Switzerland who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries...
. "Dutch" was a corruption of the word "Deutsch", which is the original German word for the English word "German." The Pennsylvania Dutch were spread throughout many counties of southern and central Pennsylvania. In addition to Pennsylvania Dutch from Germany, many also came from Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and the Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
, which is now part of France. Thus Pennsylvania Dutch, the term, includes residents which historically lived near the "German" origin Pennsylvania Dutch of Germany, in both France and Switzerland, whose borders over time had been traded around to be included in one country and then another, and the Pennsylvania Dutch were not then technically JUST from Germany, although they did share common bloodlines and ancestries, living in close locale. Pennsylvania Dutch might more properly include one area of European origin, rather than one specific country of Europe, as the borders were given to vary over the centuries.
Religious diversity of 1900s
Nazareth's residents' religion reflected a largely German background in evangelical churches of fairly large sizes for such a small town, divided among the Moravian, Lutheran, Reformed (now part of the United Church of ChristUnited Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination primarily in the Reformed tradition but also historically influenced by Lutheranism. The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches united in 1957 to form the UCC...
), and Roman Catholic worship centers of the town. The town also hosted a fairly sizable Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
and Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
population, which largely attended the Catholic Church in the area. Strong religious partisanship was largely a reflection of the seriousness with which the Pennsylvania Dutch took their faith, while only differing in seemingly minor points from each other, at least compared to a more worldwide view of religions and their differences. The churches of Nazareth polarized the town's people with varying interpretations of scripture in ritual and practice.
Construction boom
During a great immigration to the eastern Pennsylvania counties of the late 1900s from New Jersey and New York, the population expanded significantly. Developers from the New Jersey area were responding to tighter controls and regulations on new construction in the state of New Jersey by moving their enterprises to Pennsylvania.This new expansion and housing boom was enabled by the local completion of the interstate system of highways, first begun by former U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s. In the Nazareth area, this was caused by the completion of the nearby Pennsylvania Route 33, which ran north and south, thereby connecting Interstate 78, U.S Route 22, and Interstate 80 (all of which ran east-west), and the completion of the Interstate 78 southern Lehigh Valley corridor high speed interstate, which connected the Lehigh Valley to New Jersey and New York to the east, and Harrisburg
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania...
and Pittsburgh to the west.
The Nazareth Historic District
Nazareth Historic District
Nazareth Historic District is a national historic district located at Nazareth, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. The district includes 503 contributing buildings and 1 contributing site in a mostly residential area of Nazareth. Most of the buildings were built in the mid-19th to early-20th...
was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 6,023 people, 2,560 households, and 1,515 families residing in the borough. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 3,603.8 people per square mile (1,392.5/km²). There were 2,658 housing units at an average density of 1,590.4 per square mile (614.5/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 98.46% White, 0.55% African American, 0.08% Native American, 0.40% Asian, 0.28% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 0.23% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.95% of the population.
There were 2,560 households out of which 25.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.1% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 8.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.8% were non-families. 35.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.22 and the average family size was 2.89.
Nazareth's population is spread out with 20.2% under the age of 18, 6.7% from 18 to 24, 28.7% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 24.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 85.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.7 males.
As of the 2000 census, the median income for a household in the borough was $39,038, and the median income for a family was $50,298. Males had a median income of $35,642 versus $24,900 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the borough was $21,292. About 4.2% of families and 8.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.3% of those under age 18 and 11.4% of those age 65 or over.
In 1900, 2,304 people lived there, and in 1910, 3,978 inhabitants existed; 5,721 people lived in Nazareth in 1940. Its population was 6,023 at the 2000 census.
Geography
Nazareth is located at 40°44′24"N 75°18′40"W (40.739993, -75.311214).According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the borough has a total area of 1.7 square miles (4.4 km²), all of it land.
Nazareth's climate is similar to the rest of the Lehigh Valley, with four distinct seasons, humid summers, cold winters, and very short and mild springs and falls. Nazareth's topography can best be described as hilly, as the town itself sits atop a local outcropping underground of one of the richest veins of limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
in the U.S. Farmland surrounding Nazareth is quickly being devoured and turned into close sitting lots of suburban housing.
Public education
Nazareth Borough is served by the Nazareth Area School DistrictNazareth Area School District
Nazareth Area School District is a school district located in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It serves the boroughs of Nazareth, Stockertown, and Tatamy; as well as Bushkill, Lower Nazareth, and Upper Nazareth Townships. District enrollment for the 2010-2011 school year...
, which also comprises the surrounding Townships of Bushkill
Bushkill Township, Pennsylvania
Bushkill Township is a township in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. Bushkill Township is located in the Lehigh Valley region of the state.The population of Bushkill Township was 6,982 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
, Upper Nazareth
Upper Nazareth Township, Pennsylvania
Upper Nazareth Township is a township in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. Upper Nazareth Township is located in the Lehigh Valley region of the state.The population of Upper Nazareth Township was 4,426 at the 2000 census....
and Lower Nazareth
Lower Nazareth Township, Pennsylvania
Lower Nazareth Township is a township in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. Lower Nazareth Township is located in the Lehigh Valley region of the state.The population of Lower Nazareth Township was 5,259 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
, and the boroughs of Tatamy
Tatamy, Pennsylvania
Tatamy is a borough in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. Tatamy is located in the Lehigh Valley region of the state. It is named for Moses Tunda Tatamy.The population of Tatamy was 930 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
and Stockertown
Stockertown, Pennsylvania
Stockertown is a borough in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the Lehigh Valley region of the state.The small borough contains large industries, such as, Hercules Cement, Polymer Products, and Praxair. The Borough is located within a 2-mile radius and provides...
.
The district's schools include:
- Lower Nazareth Elementary
- Floyd R. Shafer Elementary
- Bushkill Elementary
- Nazareth Area Intermediate School
- Nazareth Area Middle School
- Nazareth Area High SchoolNazareth Area High SchoolNazareth High School is a public high school located in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is the only high school in the Nazareth Area School District and serves grades 9 through 12. Its mascot is the Blue Eagle and school colors are blue and white. Student enrollment for the...
Communication and media
News about the Nazareth community is reported regularly in regional newspapers The Morning CallThe Morning Call
The Morning Call is a daily newspaper based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The newspaper is owned by the Tribune Company, whose other publications include the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and Baltimore Sun....
and The Express-Times
The Express-Times
The Express-Times is a daily newspaper published in Easton, Pennsylvania, with an emphasis on local news. It has won awards in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania.-Ownership:...
, newspapers. Local shoppers, such as The Key and US newspapers provide Nazareth with a source for local advertising and news on community events.
Nazareth Speedway
Nazareth was home to the Nazareth SpeedwayNazareth Speedway
Nazareth Speedway was an auto racing track in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania which operated from 1910 to 2004. The track is often associated with local drivers Mario and Michael Andretti. It was associated with Frankie Schneider in its earlier dirt track history....
, a one mile tri-oval paved track of Indy and USAC racing fame. Nazareth is also home to racing champions Mario Andretti
Mario Andretti
Mario Gabriele Andretti is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR...
, Michael Andretti
Michael Andretti
Michael Mario Andretti is a retired American CART and Formula One driver and owner of the Andretti Autosport team in the IndyCar Series. Andretti is the son of Mario Andretti. His son is Marco Andretti.-Early career:...
, Marco Andretti
Marco Andretti
Marco Michael Andretti is an Italian American auto racing driver who drives the #26 car for Andretti Autosport in the IndyCar Series. He is the son of 1991 IndyCar World Series champion Michael Andretti and the grandson of racing legend Mario Andretti...
. The track has now been knocked down, and no announcements have been made about what the land will be used for.
Martin Guitar
Nazareth is the global headquarters for C.F. Martin & Company, which manufactures Martin guitars. Martin guitars are handmade instruments that once were made by artisans who apprenticed for years to learn their trade. Now, Martin Guitars are made largely on an assembly line monitored and assisted by workers, computers, and lasers. Assembly lines at Martin were instituted to lower costs, improve speed of production, and compete with foreign manufacturers, without which efforts it is said that the company would have ceased to survive.Cement manufacturing
In the 1960s, at least three large cementCement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
companies surrounded the Nazareth borough area, Essroc (formally Coplay Cement), Hercules Cement, and Penn-Dixie Cement Companies. The Coplay plant on the southside has undergone company ownership changes through the years (and was also known as the Nazareth Cement Company, among other names). Hundreds of union laborers of the United Gypsum, Lime and Cement Unions worked in each plant around the town from the early 1900s. Every summer, lucky college students were hired for well paying labor jobs as summer help.
Stories of the hard pre-union days at the cement plants are replete with the description of twelve hour days for survival wages, poor working and health conditions, and many dangerous incidents and accidents causing loss of life and or limb without medical plans or benefits to survivors. Since the 1980s, however, the automation of the plants and eventual reselling of them to foreign firms has brought about the loss of most of the high-paying union cement jobs, presenting a blow to the Lehigh Valley economy. The impact on the local economy of these lost cement jobs was intensified by the ultimate closing of neighboring Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem Steel
The Bethlehem Steel Corporation , based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was once the second-largest steel producer in the United States, after Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based U.S. Steel. After a decline in the U.S...
in 2003. In the case of Bethlehem Steel, it was not automation and modernization that downsized the workforce, but failure to modernize the mills, overloaded management, and a laissez-faire management attitude about foreign competition and cheap foreign steel production.
Notable people
- Kailyn "Kail" Lowry, reality TV personality documented on MTVMTVMTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom 2Teen Mom 2Teen Mom 2 is an American reality television series that premiered on MTV on January 11, 2011. The series is a spin-off of 16 and Pregnant, and sister show to the original Teen Mom. The show chronicles the lives of four girls from the second season of 16 and Pregnant as they navigate their first...
in an effort to educate young people on the effects of teen pregnancy. - Jonathan "Jo" Rivera, reality TV personality documented on MTVMTVMTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom 2Teen Mom 2Teen Mom 2 is an American reality television series that premiered on MTV on January 11, 2011. The series is a spin-off of 16 and Pregnant, and sister show to the original Teen Mom. The show chronicles the lives of four girls from the second season of 16 and Pregnant as they navigate their first...
in an effort to educate young people on the effects of teen pregnancy. Aspiring Musician. - Mario AndrettiMario AndrettiMario Gabriele Andretti is a retired Italian American world champion racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR...
, former professional race car driver and owner - Michael AndrettiMichael AndrettiMichael Mario Andretti is a retired American CART and Formula One driver and owner of the Andretti Autosport team in the IndyCar Series. Andretti is the son of Mario Andretti. His son is Marco Andretti.-Early career:...
, former professional race car driver and owner - Marco AndrettiMarco AndrettiMarco Michael Andretti is an Italian American auto racing driver who drives the #26 car for Andretti Autosport in the IndyCar Series. He is the son of 1991 IndyCar World Series champion Michael Andretti and the grandson of racing legend Mario Andretti...
, professional race car driver - Christian Frederick MartinChristian Frederick MartinChristian Frederick Martin, Sr. was a luthier who specialized in guitars.Born in Markneukirchen, Germany to a family of cabinet makers, Martin became an apprentice of the guitar maker Johann Georg Stauffer of Vienna, Austria....
, founder of C. F. Martin & CompanyC. F. Martin & CompanyC.F. Martin & Company is a US guitar manufacturer established in 1833 by Christian Frederick Martin. Martin is highly regarded for its steel-string guitars, and is a leading mass manufacturer of flattop acoustics with models that retail for thousands of dollars and vintage instruments that often...
(Martin Guitars)
Thomas Franzak, contemporary Christian composer, songwriter, recording artist, (associated with the Oregon Catholic Press)
- Kate MicucciKate MicucciKate Micucci born March 31, 1980) is an American actress, comedian and singer-songwriter, whose first major television exposure was as Stephanie Gooch in Scrubs, and later as Shelly in Raising Hope...
, actress, comedian, artist, and singer-songwriter - Jordan WhiteJordan White (musician)Jordan White is an American rock musician and singer-songwriter from Pennsylvania.-Early life and education:Born in Cranford, New Jersey, White was raised in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, part of the Lehigh Valley region of the state, where he learned to play guitar and classical piano...
, rock musician - No Cash, notable punk rock band formed in 1999
Nazareth in popular music
- "The WeightThe Weight"The Weight" is a song written by Robbie Robertson. It was released by The Band as Capitol Records single 2269 in 1968, and appeared one week later on the group's debut album Music from Big Pink. The song is listed as #41 on Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Songs of All Time published in 2004, and...
", a song by The BandThe BandThe Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
, features a traveler arriving in Nazareth, and describing all of the characters that he meets there, including the DevilDevilThe Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
. The heavy metal group NazarethNazareth (band)Nazareth is a Scottish hard rock band, founded in 1968, that had several hits in the UK in the early 1970s, and established an international audience with their 1975 album Hair of the Dog. Perhaps their best-known hit single was a cover of the ballad "Love Hurts", in 1975...
later drew their name from the lyric.
External links
- Nazareth, Pennsylvania news at Lehigh Valley Live.
- Nazareth, Pennsylvania Official Web Site
- Nazareth Chamber of Commerce Web Site
- Nazareth Memorial Library
- C.F. Martin & Company Web Site, manufacturer of Martin Guitars, located in Nazareth
- Weird Nazareth: Your guide to the strange and unusual in Nazareth PA
- Nazareth Daily News: Serving Nazareth, PA and it's surrounding communities
- http://www.freewebs.com/nazarethcenterforthearts/.