A panoramic view of the Bethlehem Iron Works from across the Lehigh River, 1896.


 Panorama view of the Bethlehem Steel Plant from across the Lehigh River, in 1896, with the iron furnaces. Lehigh Canal is in the foreground.
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When William Rau took this panoramic photograph in 1896, the Bethlehem Iron and Steel Works was already a leading manufacturer of hardened steel plate for the U. S. Navy. After former U.S. Steel president Charles Schwab reincorporated it as the Bethlehem Steel Company in 1904,Bethlehem doubled its workforce in just six years. By 1916, people representing more than 30 nationalities were working in the mills and living in South Bethlehem.