Between 1969 and 1972, Bethlehem Steel, the second largest steel company in America, spent $18.5 million to build a monument to itself. Led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Edmund F. Martin, the building of the 21-story skyscraper commenced after the groundbreaking ceremony Aug. 25, 1969.

Bethlehem architects Coston and Wallace helped to design the building with Haines, Lundberg and Wehler of New York. George A. Fuller Construction Company, from New York, constructed the building. Over 15,894 tons of structural steel were employed in the construction. The exterior of the tower was faced with approximately 1,500 panels of porcelainized-steel plate, each painted gray and beige.

No expense was spared for the 332-foot-tall Goliath. Martin knew as he oversaw its construction that the building would be named for him. A vote by the directors in 1968 assured it. The building served as central headquarters from 1972 to 2001.

The finished building, the tallest in the Lehigh Valley, featured amenities not seen before or since in the area. New York decorators were hired to appoint the offices of the top executives with ornate woodwork, wooden furniture, brass doorknobs with the company logo, hand-woven carpets and marble bathrooms.

The cruciform design of the building allowed for the optimum number of corner and windowed offices for the executives. Conference tables were made of mahogany and the walls were covered with valuable original paintings. Twenty elevators ushered the 3,000 employees between the underground parking garage, full-service auto repair garage, 312-seat auditorium, restaurant, barbershop and convenience store.

Since the 1950s, Bethlehem Steel had hired escorts, well-groomed, pretty young women, to shepherd visitors to the location they sought. The service was transferred to the new office building, only now the “elevator girls” perched on heated seats.

Martin Tower now stands on seven acres. Originally, Bethlehem Steel owned the surrounding 53 acres, purchased in 1957. The company did not have a long-range plan for the land at the time. In piecemeal fashion, they built a printery (1959), heating plant (1959) and the North Office Building (1962). Martin Tower was attached to the southwest side of the North Office Building.

A glass-paneled entrance way led to an expansive first floor lobby and the entrance to the two-story Schwab Memorial Library. The wooden lobby reception desk was in the shape of the I beam. The 21st floor was reserved for the upper echelon of management only. Their floor contained private dining rooms, commercial grade kitchens and a theater/lecture room. Their meals were prepared by four-star chefs and served on silver platters. Seven of the highest paid executives in the United States, during the 1970s, had offices there.

After the dedication ceremony Jan. 27, 1973, the building was opened for tours during weekends in February and March. Over 21,000 employees and local residents took the tours. However, only four years later, “Black Friday” arrived when 2,500 white-collar workers lost their jobs. As the monumental skyscraper was being built on Eighth Street, Bethlehem Steel was already beginning its decline. The corporation lost the contract to build the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City in the 1970s to small subcontractors who used cheaper imported steel.

A combination of factors led to the end of this great American company. The competition came from non-union domestic mills and foreign steel producers who grabbed 56 percent of the U.S. steel market with their lower prices. Bethlehem Steel filed for bankruptcy in 2001.

On April 6, 2010, the Pa. Bureau for Historic Preservation voted to nominate Martin Tower to the National Register of Historic Places. An historic property listed on the National Register is considered significant in American history and worthy of federal assistance. According to the National Registration of Historic Places form, Martin Tower was nominated because of the exceptional nature of its historic significance as the corporate symbol of the Bethlehem Steel Company.