Bethlehem Pike

In December 1740, David Nitschmann and his party went to Bethlehem and Nazareth along the trail. A year later, in 1741, a second party joined the first, traversing the same pathway. Nicolaus Zinzendorf was included in the second party who visited the pioneers in the cabin along the banks of the Monocacy Creek. On Christmas Eve 1741, Zinzendorf celebrated a famous love feast service, during which the new settlement was named Bethlehem. After the founding of Bethlehem, a number of settlements began to rise along the route, causing a constant use of it and the highway to be called King's Road. The first trip made by George Klein was by stage wagon on September 10, 1763. He later made regular trips between Philadelphia and Bethlehem on a weekly basis. He started on Mondays from the Sun Inn in Bethlehem, and returned from the King of Prussia Inn in Philadelphia, on Thursdays. In the northern regions of Philadelphia, the pike intersected the Old York Road. According to a legend, Tamanend, the great Indian chief, presented all lands within the young Germans' vision. Following the gift they received from the natives, they concluded the ritual, the sun rose, and the men named the spot Rising Sun. During the American Revolutionary War, British officers gathered near the southern terminus of the modern day pike. They gathered in the days their army faced the Continental Army at Whitemarsh. Further north along the route in the Whitemarsh Valley is the site where George Washington held Howe at bay, thus becoming famous in history as Church Hill. Before heading to Valley Forge, Washington and his army encamped here on December 11, 1777. Tolls were voluntary only during morning hours. On March 11, 1834, Pennsylvania governor George Wolf signed a license authorizing the Bethlehem Turnpike Road Company to erect many of its gates. The turnpike was authorized to collect tolls from travelers on horses, cattle, and carriages.

In 1910, the Bethlehem Pike became a free road after it was tolled for a century. When Pennsylvania signed the Sproul Road Bill on May 31, 1911, the state began taking over the highways across the commonwealth. The bill defined the Bethlehem Pike as Legislative Route 297 (LR 297) in Northampton County and LR 153 in Lehigh County. The pike was defined as LR 153 through the counties of Bucks and Montgomery. In 1926, when the U. S. Numbered Highway System was established, each designated trail in the United States was given a number and the majority of the Bethlehem Pike was signed as U. S. Route 309 (US 309). During a three decade period after the system was created, the pike was designated as Pennsylvania Route 12 (PA 12) from Bethlehem to Center Valley. South of Center Valley, the route was known as US 309. By 1960, a portion of the road was designated as Pennsylvania Route 191, when it replaced the entire routing of PA 12. North of Philadelphia, US 309 was designated on the newly built Fort Washington Expressway, east of the original alignment on the Bethlehem Pike. Following the commission of the route, PA 309 was moved to a newly constructed freeway, bypassing Sellersville, and west of the Bethlehem Pike. Six years later, in 1976, Interstate 378 was deleted and PA 191 was truncated, and their former alignments were designated as Pennsylvania Route 378.

In the 21st century, Bethlehem Pike is mostly designated as Pennsylvania Route 309 in the Lehigh and Delaware Valleys. In Philadelphia, the road is signed as SR 4017, with a daily traffic of 15,000 vehicles. In Sellersville, the pike is signed as SR 4013, In the Quakertown area, the PA 309 segment of the pike averages a daily traffic of 18,000 vehicles.