In 1946, 14-year-old Earl J. Rohn considered himself fortunate to have secured a landscaping job on the Archibald S. Johnston estate. Everyone knew the powerful and wealthy Johnston, the first mayor of Bethlehem. For 38 years, he was the right-hand man for Charles M. Schwab and Eugene Grace at the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. They counted on him to take care of the difficult projects and Johnston always got it done in his usual efficient and calm manner.

Rohn encountered Johnston several times through his work on the estate. Although the teenager was only a laborer, Johnston, in a commanding, rumbling voice, would ask him about his work. Although Rohn was in awe of the man and was anxious not to displease his boss, he remembered that Johnston always spoke to him in a polite manner.

The amazing Johnston estate was shaped by an army of men with pick axes, shovels and horse-pulled tractors. Johnston engaged at least 50 people to build his vision and in addition he employed maids and caretakers for the house staff. Johnston died only two years after Rohn was hired, however the teenager saw the estate at its prime.

"It was as beautiful as Longwood Gardens," says Rohn today. Before Johnston retired from Bethlehem Steel in 1927, he had bought up 900 acres of local farms. The farms of Ritter, Grube, Paulis and many more were purchased and combined to form a huge estate, infused with cold springs, streams, rolling hills, and the Santee Mill, the oldest gristmill in Pennsylvania. Johnston's three-story mansion was built in 1923, located on a ridge above the Monocacy Creek.

No where in the Lehigh Valley could one find such magnificent grounds.

Today, hidden by decay and an overgrowth of weeds, a trained eye can still find the foundations of manmade waterfalls, landscaped gardens, tennis courts, a dairy farm (the largest in the county by the 1940s), and a horse farm. A boathouse was constructed for storage of canoes. An underwater concrete platform allowed the servants to wash Johnston's cars with creek water. There were three pools; the largest one was 12 feet deep with a cabana. Each pool used spring water, cleaned by a filtration system and heated. The path to the largest pool from the main house was nicknamed "Lovers Lane."

Horse trails and car roads weaved through the property. There was a large picnic grove with a portable band shell. Through the 1930s, Johnston gave huge clam bake picnics for Bethlehem Steel executives and the leaders of Bethlehem. A family story tells of one party when Archibald's young granddaughter, Janet Housnick, informed Charles Schwab that he was not permitted to sit in her special chair. At the time, little Janet may have been the only person in the Bethlehem area to tell Charles Schwab where he could sit.

Also on the property, Johnston built mansions for his children, Archibald Jr. and Elizabeth Prime. Archibald Jr.'s wife, Jean Hale, was an avid bird watcher and drove her Cadillac all over the property to spot birds.

Rohn, born in 1932 in Lower Tatamy, decided to move on to a grounds maintenance position at Northampton Community College, when the Johnston property was divided between the grandchildren. He always was available, however, to the Johnston clan for special jobs, such as building a fireplace in the Amanda Johnston Leckonby barn.

Johnston granddaughters, Janet Housnick and Elizabeth Prime, expressed the desire to preserve their grandfather's memory, through their properties, in their bequests in their wills. Janet Housenick, donated 36 acres of the Johnston estate to Northampton County as the Archibald Johnston Conservation Area in 1986. After her tragic death in a house fire in 2005, Housenick willed another 55 acres including Archibald Johnston's house, located on the property, to Bethlehem Township to create a park. She also left to the township almost $2 million to maintain the property.

Elizabeth Prime donated to the Central Moravian Church of Bethlehem, $25,000, the Archibald Johnston Jr. mansion plus 30 acres to create a spiritual and natural retreat. Her back-up plan, if the church did not want to follow her wishes, was to give the mansion and property to the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental action group.

Archibald Johnston's great-grandchildren and granddaughter Amanda Leckoby's children (John A. Zapf II, Elizabeth Teckla Culpepper and J. Lindsey Taylor) are now selling their 30 acres, which borders the Archibald Johnston Conservation Area. Now, is the ideal time to create something that our great-grandchildren will cherish ... a 150-acre park, where over 90 different species of birds have been documented and the Monocacy Creek could be protected from further development.

This can only be accomplished if Northampton County, Bethlehem Township and the Moravian Church can agree that the protection of this land is vital. As the Bethlehem area becomes more and more developed with homes, strip malls, and big box stores, such as CVS and Walmart, it is miraculous that there is still an open space area of 150 acres in our backyard.