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Once swallowed by a scrapyard, 243-year-old Bethlehem site reopens as hub for history
April 30th, 2025 | In The News
The Grist Miller’s House was once swallowed by a scrapyard for ruined and abandoned cars. On Friday, the house’s lush back gardens were filled with local civic leaders ready to see the building reopened.
With the snip of scissors across a thin blue ribbon, the renovated site in Bethlehem’s Historic Colonial Industrial Quarter is now open to the public.
The house was constructed in 1782 as part of an area that provided around 50 crafts, trades and industries. An addition was built in 1832, and the house and continued as a mill as recently as the 1940s.
The Grist Miller’s House will hold the Ralph G. Schwarz Center for Colonial Trades and Industries. A World War II veteran, Schwarz was an important mover in preserving Bethlehem and Moravian heritage. He is responsible for advocating for restoration of the house, and for the Historic Bethlehem Museums and Sites organization.
Continuing Schwarz’s legacy, Jackie Armao, Colonial Industrial Quarter site manager, designed and setup the exhibits in the house, covering the walls in portals to our industrial and colonial past.
South Bethlehem architecture firm Artefact Inc. tackled the restoration, installing a wood shingle roof; the preservation, repair and painting of molding and wooden windows; painting doors; installing gutters and downspouts; installing building tie rods; and removing the old steel beams that held the building together.
Interior work includes stabilizing two levels of the original house; repairing beams on the first floor; and re-opening stairs from basement to first floor.
Crews also installed modern systems like new electrical; new plumbing and fixtures for the kitchen and restroom; a new HVAC system.
In 2021 Historic Bethlehem Museums and Sites was awarded a $753,397 grant, and then later a $500,000 grant from the state specifically to renovate the building.
Pennsylvania State Rep. Steve Samuelson and State Sen. Lisa Boscola worked to secure much of the necessary funding to make the restoration a success. The rest of the funding was provided by private donors and community efforts.
Plans moving forward include connecting the Grist Miller’s House with the nearby 1869 Luckenbach Mill with a walkway, as they were historically.
Read the article on LehighValleyLive.com.
