I've always dug that city.

Charming little burg.

Love the old buildings, but the corpse of Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces is a little odd to me. I'm a big believer in historic preservation, but if I lived there, I don't know if I'd want such a large reminder of economic tragedy looming on my city's skyline. I'd be too depressed by it.

Love the old buildings, but the corpse of Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces is a little odd to me. I'm a big believer in historic preservation, but if I lived there, I don't know if I'd want such a large reminder of economic tragedy looming on my city's skyline. I'd be too depressed by it.

 

It's definitely had a net positive effect on the psyche of everyone in the city, and a good chunk of the Lehigh Valley as a whole. Bethlehem was in a fortunate position of having the local economy and primary employers switch pretty rapidly to healthcare, logistics/trucking, and some tech. The downtown never really saw a decline like neighboring Allentown and Easton experienced when their respective industries died. Healthcare is the dominant employer in the Valley now and, I believe, one of the top ten employers in the state. Bethlehem Steel had also been dying for a very long time, so the end wasn't terribly sudden. Anyway, my point is that the steel plant wasn't necessarily more than just a visually depressing thing to see. There is still a huge hulking reminder a bit further from downtown called Martin Tower. This building was the final headquarters of the company and keeps proving too expensive to retrofit.

 

The reuse of the site was initially part of a much more aggressive scheme that was slowed by the 2008 bust (the apartments/condos/extensive retail have yet to manifest), but it's still on track and has continued to develop. They've recently opened a sort of elevated park that can be seen in some of the photos in front of the blast furnaces. I believe it connects the heart of the area to the Sands Casino at the eastern end of the site. The redevelopment of the property also kick-started a rapid revitalization of the South Side of the city. The main commercial streets always catered to Lehigh students, but they've really evolved and there's a much more cohesive feel to the North and South sides. There's also been spillover into Allentown and Easton, where there are also noticeably more aggressive redevelopment schemes happening in their downtown cores. The changes that occurred in Bethlehem during my four years of high school (2008-11) were pretty drastic (We got a new independent arthouse movie theater!) and now that I've been gone another five years I'm always impressed when I return to visit family.

 

The OP did a great job capturing Main and Broad Streets.

I still don't like it when health care is the #1 employer.