The first Episcopal service officiated by a cleric in South Bethlehem was held in Robert Sayre's parlor on June 16, 1861, by the Rev.

From September 7, 1862, services have been held regularly, with Holy Communion being celebrated for the first time in South Bethlehem on October 19, 1962, with the Rev.

Trinity Church's first services were held in 1872, and by 1873 was accepted in union with the then Diocese of Central Pennsylvania.

Due to the advent of the automobile and changing demographics, by 1942 the last services were held in St. Mary's Chapel and the property and building were sold by the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in 1945.

An influx of workers to the iron works in South Bethlehem inspired members of the Church of the Nativity to plant a Sunday school near the No.

Thus, in November 1882, St. Joseph's Chapel began under the direction of William Wharton Thurston who was then president of the iron works.

By 1914 an influx of immigrants from Greece meant that the beginning of the congregation that would become St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church started using the building, and in 1917 The [Episcopal] Pro-Cathedral Church of the Nativity sold the property to St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox congregation.

1865 When Philadelphia music publisher Charles Augustus Fiot died in 1866, the Manor House mansion and grounds he had built in the early 1850s on the old Hoffert farm and called "Fontainebleau" in Fountain Hill came up for sale.

William Bacon Stevens (Bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania) committed themselves to establishing a "young ladies' academy of the highest character".

By 1868 the Bishopthorpe School for Girls had begun, with the property rented, and then purchased by the Vestry of The Church of the Nativity.

It utilized the old Manor House as a seminary (i.e. finishing school) for girls born to the wealthy families of the burgeoning industrial class.

Tinsley Jeter was the first President of the Board and the school operated under the auspices of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania.

By 1902 the school had fallen on hard times and closed temporarily, until it was purchased by Claude I. Wyant in 1906.

1871 1882 1907 1920 1985 2009 New York architect Edward Tuckerman Potter designed the first church building in and English Gothic Revival style.

The debt was paid off by the following year and it was consecrated by Assistant Bishop of Central Pennsylvania, the Rt.

& R. Lamb Studios as a thank offering for the recent birth of his son Robert Packer Linderman Jr.

Under Dean Foust, then, the parish rented then purchased a home on Seneca Street in Fountain to be a Rectory.

Currently the first floor of the Deanery is home to ShareCare Faith-in-Action, the Cathedral History Room (archives), and the Sexton's Office.