In our oldest "Olden Days" to date--by far--we examine an editorial published by an early Pocono newspaper in June 1840. Remarkably, the story is partly about an event that had occurred 27 years earlier in Hellertown, that being a celebration of Gen. William Henry Harrison's defeat of British forces at the Battle of the Thames during the War of 1812.
An article titled, "Daring Midnight Burglary Near Hellertown--An Entire Family Bound and Robbed" appeared on the front page of the June 2, 1897 edition of The Allentown Democrat newspaper. As far as we know, the mysterious gentleman robber who perpetrated the crime was never apprehended.
In 1897, it was big news that a new trolley line would connect Hellertown to South Bethlehem, effectively making it much easier to travel between the two communities.
If you think local officials are too strict about enforcing property maintenance codes today, perhaps you should consider traveling back in time...to Hellertown, in 1921.
Less than a year after the Armistice that ended World War I was signed the residents of Hellertown and Lower Saucon Township devoted a day to honoring the men who had recently returned home, along with five native sons who sadly didn't.
An article about an industrial accident that claimed a Hellertown resident's life appeared in the June 5, 1919 edition of The Morning Call newspaper.
The Jan. 4, 1918 edition of The Morning Call carried a story under the headline: "SCALDED TO DEATH IN HIS LOCOMOTIVE, Frightful Death of Stewart Mushlitz, of Hellertown, When Engine Upset."
In 1922, the borough of Hellertown was home to approximately 3,000 people, many of whom worked at the booming Bethlehem Steel Company. The Morning Call's profile of the town called it "prosperous" and filled with contented families living in "comfortable homes."
In 2021 many Americans are concerned about a preponderance of so-called "fake news." A news brief that appeared in the Aug. 30, 1912 edition of The Allentown Democrat, however, proves that misinformation of a newsy nature has been around for many years.
A visitor to Hellertown in 1885 found the town's windows in spring to be overflowing with flowers, with the sidewalks 'excellent and the streets...kept in apple pie order.'
