Count Zinzendorf paid for the land the Moravians bought in 1741, but he couldn’t buy it in his own name because he wasn’t a naturalized citizen.

William Allen, who sold the original land to the Moravians, was the second largest landowner in Pennsylvania next to the William Penn family. He sided with the king during the Revolutionary War and died penniless.

Bethlehem built the first waterworks in America in 1762.

Bethlehem became the principal center in the New World for the Moravians, who eventually acquired nearly 4,000 acres of land in the Bethlehem area.

The Marquis de Lafayette was wounded during the American Revolutionary War, and was treated at the Sun Inn, which had become a wartime hospital.

Bethlehem is believed to be one of the largest final resting places of Revolutionary War soldiers, more than 500 of whom died of their wounds in local hospitals.

Bethlehem Steel was at one time America’s second-largest steel producer and largest shipbuilder. At the turn of the 20th century, it produced the first wide-flange structural shapes to be made in America, ushering in the age of the skyscraper.

1937 was the first year the term “Christmas City” was used for Bethlehem, and the first year the lighted star was used.

The city has the largest collection of 18th century Germanic-style buildings in the United States.

The city hosts the oldest Bach Choir in the world.

Sands donated approximately 10 acres of former Bethlehem Steel property to ArtsQuest, PBS-39 and the City of Bethlehem for an arts campus.

Christkindlmarkt is recognized as one of the best holiday markets in the U.S. by Travel + Leisure magazine.

Musikfest attracts between 850,000 and 1.1 million people annually (depending on weather). The festival offers 500 live music performances of all different genres, with an economic impact of some $30 million.

In its first eight months of operation in 2012, SteelStacks attracted more than 700,000 visitors. In 2013, that number climbed to more than 850,000.

The Sands Bethlehem is the only property in the company to end 2014 with a profit, doing better than Sands’ Vegas and Asia properties.

Just Born, founded in Bethlehem in 1923, now produces enough Peeps in one year to circle the earth twice. The privately owned company now wants to call Bethlehem the “Easter City.”

Bethlehem has just been designated a National Historic Landmark District, one of only eight in Pennsylvania and only about 200 in the entire United States.

Compiled by Carole Gorney