page_title: South Whitehall Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: South Whitehall Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Main entrance to Dorney Park and Roller Coaster, scanned from 35mm slide taken about 1950
context_page_description: South Whitehall Township is a township in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is a suburb of Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley area of the state. The population of South Whitehall Township was 19,180 at the 2010 census. It is home to the Lehigh Valley interchange of the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and Dorney Park, as well it has the distinction of having the second highest tax rate of any township in Lehigh County.
context_section_description: The first settlers of the Lehigh Valley region were Germans who emigrated from earlier settlements along the Perkiomen Creek. The earliest settlers arrived in the region over a 20-year period beginning in about 1732. The immigration of the Germans and other European natives, including Swiss and Huguenots, was aided by William Penn and his friends. The land lying south of the South Mountain was given to William Penn in 1713 by the Lenni Lenape Indians. The land of Lehigh County lying between the Blue Mountain and the Lehigh Mountains was given to Penn's sons by the Lenni Lenapes in 1732. Emigrants sought the fertile, limestone valley flanking rivers and streams such as the Jordan Creek.
  One of the earliest tracts of land purchased in the Township was by Nicholas Kern who bought tracts of land on December 3, 1735 and October 28, 1737. Some of this was sold to Lorenz Guth on February 27, 1739. Guth continued to buy land in the area of the Reformed church property and also in the Guthsville area. By 1769 his holdings totaled 759 acres (3.07 km²). The Lorenz Guth house near Wehr's Dam still stands in excellent condition and is a fine example of colonial architecture.
  Much of the history of South Whitehall can be traced to the Walbert-Guthsville region, and especially the two Jordan churches. The first ministration to the Lutheran people in the township occurred in 1734 when Reverend John Casper Stoever baptized Margaret, the daughter of the John Lichtenwalners, on February 6. In 1736 a Reverend Schmidt preached occasionally to the Lutherans, and in 1739 Reverend John Justus Jacob Birkenstock became pastor of the Jordan Lutheran congregation. In 1845 it was noted that the centennial of the congregation was observed, which would indicate that the first building was erected in 1745. The first church building was of logs and stood near the north wall of the old burial ground. It was used jointly by the Lutheran and Reformed congregations until about 1752 when the Reformed erected a building half a mile to the east, within sight of the current municipal building. The Lutherans built the present church in 1842–1843 at a cost of $3,581.24 (equivalent to $98,000 in 2019). It was renovated in 1868, and in 1886 a fine, shapely, slate-covered steeple, 138 feet (42 m) high, was erected.
  Members of the Reformed (United Church of Christ) religion settled in the area as early as 1738, and baptisms of their children during the period of 1740 to 1752 are recorded in the Lutheran record book. In 1752 Lorenz Guth presented the Reformed with a 50-acre (20 ha) tract of land, and a log church was erected in six weeks. The second and present church building, with its 110-foot (34 m) steeple was built in 1808. It stands as one of the oldest church buildings in the country, and is a fine example of the architecture of that period.
  The early schools of the township were connected with the two Jordan churches for many years, possibly extending back to 1739. According to the Roberts history, the congregations were at first supplied not by pastors, but by teachers who used to read sermons on Sundays. Thus, it is possible that church-sponsored schools taught by the readers existed in the earliest days of the congregations.
  The original name "Whitehall" dates to 1740 and encompasses the land now found in North Whitehall, South Whitehall, and Whitehall Townships. Prior to the establishment of Northampton County in 1752, the area was part of Bucks County and the land currently occupied by South Whitehall was known as "the back part of Macungie" on the "Heidelberg District." The name Whitehall is thought to be derived from one of two sources: either a place in England, or for a white house erected as a hunting lodge near the Jordan and Cedar Creeks.
  South Whitehall Township was established in 1810 by a petition to the Northampton County Court to divide former Whitehall Township into two areas, North Whitehall and South Whitehall Townships. In 1812, Lehigh County was divided off from the original Northampton County, establishing South Whitehall Township within
caption: Main entrance to Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, in South Whitehall Township, 1950.
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