Coverage Allentown, Pennsylvania

Founded in 1762 and located on the Lehigh River, a 109-mile-long (175 km) tributary of the Delaware River, it is the largest of three adjacent cities, including Bethlehem and Easton in Lehigh and Northampton counties, in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania.^[13] Allentown is located 48 miles (77 km) north of Philadelphia and 78 miles (126 km) west of New York City. Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch: Allenschteddel, Allenschtadt, or Ellsdaun) is a city in and the county seat of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, United States.^[9] It is the third-largest city in Pennsylvania with a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 census and the largest city in the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th-most populous metropolitan area in the United States as of 2020.^[10][11][12]

About Allentown, Pennsylvania

In the early 1700s, the area that is now Allentown was a wilderness of scrub oak where Lenape Indian American tribes fished for trout and hunted for deer, grouse, and other game. In 1736, a large area north of Philadelphia was deeded by 23 chiefs of the Five Civilized Tribes to three sons of William Penn: John Penn, Thomas Penn, and Richard Penn. The price for this tract included shoes and buckles, hats, shirts, knives, scissors, combs, needles, looking glasses, rum, and pipes. The land was later part of a 5,000-acre (20 km2) plot that William Allen purchased on September 10, 1735, from his business partner Joseph Turner, who was assigned the land's warrant by Thomas Penn on May 18, 1732. The land was surveyed on November 23, 1736, and again in 1753 as part of an effort to develop a road from Easton to Reading. The 1753 survey reported the presence of a log house owned by Allen that was built around 1740 and was located near the western banks of Jordan Creek in the city. The house was used primarily as a hunting and fishing lodge, but Allen also used it to entertain prominent guests, including James Hamilton, who was his brother-in-law, and John Penn, who was then governor of the Province of Pennsylvania. The geographic area that includes present-day Center City Allentown was acquired in the 1737 Walking Purchase and initially organized, established, and named in 1762 by William Allen, a wealthy shipping merchant who served as a mayor of Philadelphia and chief justice of the Province of Pennsylvania during the colonial era. It is likely that rivalry among the Penns prompted Allen to decide to start the city in 1762. A decade earlier, in 1752, Northampton and Berks counties were formed; Easton was named the county seat of Northampton County, and Reading the county seat of Berks County. In 1763, a year after Allentown's founding, an effort was made by William Allen and others to move the county seat from Easton to Allentown, but the Penns' influence prevailed and the county seat remained in Easton. The town's original plan, which is detailed in archives now housed at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, included 42 city blocks and 756 lots, most 60 feet (18 m) in width and 230 feet (70 m) in depth. The city was located initially between present-day Fourth and Tenth Streets and Union and Liberty Streets and was initially named Northampton Towne. Many streets on the original plan were named for Allen's children, including Margaret (present-day Fifth Street), William (now Sixth Street), James (now Eighth Street), Ann (now Ninth Street), and John (now Walnut Street). Allen Street (now Seventh Street), the city's main thoroughfare, was named for Allen himself. Hamilton Street was named for James Hamilton, deputy governor of colonial-era Pennsylvania from 1748 to 1754. Gordon Street was named for Patrick Gordon, an earlier deputy governor of colonial Pennsylvania. Chew Street was named for Benjamin Chew, and Turner Street was named for Allen's business partner Joseph Turner. Allen hoped that the city would displace Easton as the seat of Northampton County and become a commercial center due to its location along the Lehigh River and proximity to Philadelphia. Allen gave the property to his son James in 1767. On March 18, 1811, the city was formally incorporated as a borough. The following year, on March 6, 1812, Lehigh County was established from the western half of Northampton County. Northampton Towne was selected as the county seat of Lehigh County, and present-day Allentown was formally incorporated as a city on March 12, 1867. On April 16, 1838, the city was officially renamed Allentown after years of popular usage by that name. Some of the first Patriot resistance to British colonialism, which led ultimately to the Revolutionary War, began in and around present-day Allentown. On December 21, 1774, a Committee of Observation for the Allentown area was formed by local patriots. Immediately following the Declaration of Independence's signing, the Colonial British government in Allentown began to break down and patriot militias took control. They pressured Tories out of the Allentown area, and patriot militias were expanded. The burden of supplying a military force logistically fell on the people, and requisitions for food, grain, cattle, horses, and cloth were common. During the Revolutionary War, Hessian prisoners of war were kept in Allentown in the vicinity of present-day Seventh and Gordon Streets. Allentown also housed four hospital structures, including one at Zion Reformed Church and one on the grounds of the present-day Farr Building, that were used in treating wounded Continental Army soldiers. In 1777, a factory manufacturing paper cartridges for musket use in the Revolutionary War was relocated to Allentown from nearby Bethlehem. The same year, a shop of 16 armourers was established along Little Lehigh Creek that was used in repairing weapons and manufacturing saddles and scabbards. After crossing the Delaware and prevailing in the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776, General George Washington and his Continental Army staff passed through Allentown, proceeding up present-day Lehigh Street, then called Water Street, where they stopped at the foot of the street at a large spring on what is now the property occupied by Wire Mill. There, Washington and his troops rested and watered their horses, then went their way to their post of duty. Allentown holds historical significance as the location where the Liberty Bell, then known as the State House Bell, was successfully hidden for nine months by American patriots to avoid its capture by the British Army after the fall of Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War. After George Washington's defeat at the Battle of Brandywine in Chadds Ford Township, Pennsylvania on September 11, 1777, the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia was left defenseless and American patriots began preparing for what they saw as an imminent British attack on the city. Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council ordered that 11 bells, including the State House Bell and bells from Philadelphia's Christ Church and St. Peter's Church, be taken down and moved out of Philadelphia to protect them from the British Army, which would melt the bells down to cast into munitions. The bells were transported north to Northampton Towne (present-day Allentown) by two farmers and wagon masters, John Snyder and Henry Bartholomew, and hidden under floorboards in the basement of Zion Reformed Church in present-day Center City Allentown, just prior to Philadelphia's September 1777 fall to the British. A shrine and museum in the church's basement at 622 West Hamilton Street in Allentown, the Liberty Bell Museum, marks and celebrates the precise Allentown location where the Liberty Bell was successfully hidden from September 1777 until its June 18, 1778 return to Philadelphia following the British departure from Philadelphia. Following the Revolutionary War, Northampton Towne began to slowly grow as both a hub for commerce and ultimately industrialization and as a colonial era population center. Prior to American Revolution, there were 54 homes in Northampton Towne and approximately 330 residents. In 1782, there were 59 houses and over 100 cows were stabled in the town. The town was described by a visitor in 1783, "One gets a glimpse of many good stone houses, many of them very neat, and everything about the premises shows good order and attention. The people are mainly German who speak bad English and distressing German." In 1795, the U.S. Gazetteer described Allentown as: In 1792, land north of Allentown was purchased by Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company for mining, but it initially proved difficult to transport the region's high quality anthracite coal over the primitive trail system that then existed. Very little anthracite was mined until 1818 when the company began constructing the Lehigh Canal to transport coal from Mauch Chunk, later renamed Jim Thorpe, down the Lehigh River to its confluence with the Delaware River in Easton. In 1829, Lehigh Canal, a 46.6 miles (75.0 km)-long canal on the Lehigh River's east side, was completed for both ascending and descending navigation. Its construction was the most important factor in making anthracite coal, one of the nation's most important domestic and industrial fuels, available to the nation's largest industrial markets in New York City, Philadelphia, and elsewhere. In 1855, the first railroad was built on the Lehigh River's west side, and rail soon began to surpass river transport as the means for transporting anthracite through the city. Until 1803, residents of Northampton Towne received their mail in Bethlehem. That year, however, a post office was established inside Compass and Square Hotel at what today is Penn National Bank building on Hamilton Street. After reaching a population of over 700 residents in the 1810 U.S. census, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania granted Northampton Towne legal standing on March 18, 1811, incorporating it initially as the Borough of Northampton in what then was Northampton County. The new borough's government first undertaking was ordering that the city's cows be moved from public streets and into pastures, which proved unpopular. The following year, the city became part of Lehigh County, which was partitioned from a western section of Northampton County to establish the new county. In the early 1800s, the city grew primarily as a court and market town. Northampton Bank, the city's first bank located at the northeast corner of Center Square, was chartered in July 1814, and the first Hamilton Street Bridge, a 530 feet (160 m)-long chain structure, was constructed over the Lehigh River. The bridge featured two suspended lanes, one for east and one for westbound traffic, and a toll house at the bridge's western end. In 1838, the city's name was officially changed to Allentown. The 1840s were challenging to Allentown; in 1841, a flood swept away Hamilton Street Bridge and inflicted substantial damage on areas of the city near the Lehigh River. Two years later, in 1843, Northampton Bank failed as a result of the bank's excessive speculation, resulting in financial ruin for many bank customers. Five years later, on June 1, 1848, a large fire burned down most of Allentown's central business district between 7th and 8th Streets on Hamilton Street. During the 1850s, however, the city began recovering. A new bridge was built across the Lehigh River, and brick buildings were constructed to replace wooden ones that were burned in the 1848 fire. In 1852, the first Allentown Fair, now one of the nation's longest continual annual fairs, was held. On April 13, 1861, with tensions between the nation's North and South intensifying following the South's secession and its attack on Fort Sumter, residents of Lehigh and Northampton County called a public meeting in Easton to take steps to support the federal government. At the meeting, citizens voted to establish and equip the 1st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, a new military unit, and placed Captain Samuel Yohe of Easton and Thomas W. Lynn in charge, awarding them the respective ranks of colonel and major. Tilghman H. Good of South Whitehall Township, previously captain of the Allentown militia known as the Allen Rifles and commander of the 4th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, was placed in charge of the 1st Pennsylvania's Company I, which included his former Allen Rifles subordinates and members of the Jordan Artillerist, another Allentown-based militia. In April 1861, these Allentown units were deployed in response to President Lincoln's call for 75,000 volunteers to defend the nation's capital of Washington, D.C., from the Confederate Army following the bombardment of Fort Sumter. After the Civil War's end, many of these soldiers were named Pennsylvania First Defenders in recognition of being among the first five units to answer Lincoln's call for volunteers to defend the national capital. After protecting Washington, D.C., from April to July 1861, they were honorably discharged and returned home. However, a significant number of them opted to reenlist to defend the nation as the Civil War escalated. On August 5, 1861, Andrew Gregg Curtin, Pennsylvania's Civil War-era governor, granted Tilghman H. Good authority to create the 47th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, a new unit commonly known as the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Good secured help from William H. Gausler of Allentown, who was commissioned as a major with the regiment's central command staff, and John Peter Shindel Gobin, a senior officer with the Sunbury Guards in Northumberland County, who was repeatedly cited for valor and was promoted to colonel and ultimately commanding officer of the regiment. Companies A and E of the regiment were recruited primarily from Easton and Northampton County; Companies B, G, I, and K were largely recruited from Allentown; Company C was recruited from Northumberland and Juniata counties; Company F was primarily composed of men from Catasaqua; and Companies D and H were recruited from Perry County. The 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers achieved Union victories at the Battle of St. Johns Bluff in Florida (October 1–3, 1862) before suffering a costly defeat in the Second Battle of Pocotaligo in South Carolina (October 21–23, 1862). They were the only Pennsylvania regiment to fight in the Union Army's 1864 Red River campaign across Louisiana. While sustaining numerous casualties during the Red River campaign in the spring of 1864, the 47th Pennsylvania helped turn the Civil War in the Union's favor with victories in General Sheridan's 1864 Shenandoah Valley campaign across Virginia, including in the Battles of Berryville, Opequan, Fisher's Hill, and Cedar Creek and then again contributing to the defense of the nation's capital following Lincoln's assassination on April 15, 1865. Other known Union Army units from Allentown included the 5th, 41st, 128th, and 176th Pennsylvania Infantries. On October 19, 1899, Allentown erected and dedicated the Soldiers and Sailors Monument at 7th and Hamilton Streets in the city's central square, where it still stands, in honor of these Union soldiers from Allentown and local Lehigh Valley towns and boroughs who were killed in defense of the Union's preservation during the Civil War. The opening of Lehigh Canal in 1818 quickly transformed Allentown and the surrounding Lehigh Valley from a rural agricultural area dominated by German-speaking people into one of America's first urbanized industrialized areas and expanded the city's commercial and industrial capacity. With this, Allentown underwent significant industrialization, ultimately becoming a major center for heavy industry and manufacturing. Allentown's industrial development accelerated in the late 18th century. David Deshler, Allentown's first shopkeeper, opened a sawmill in the city in 1782. By 1814, industrial plants in Allentown included flour mills, sawmills, two saddle makers, a tannery and tan yard, a woolen mill, a card weaving plant, two gunsmiths, two tobacconists, two clockmakers, and two printers. In 1855, the first railroads to reach Allentown were opened, presenting the Lehigh Canal with direct competition for coal transport. Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad ordered four locomotives, and train stations were built in Allentown, Easton, and Mauch Chunk. In September 1855, the railroad became operational with the Central Railroad of New Jersey providing transport between Allentown and New York City. Transport between Allentown and Philadelphia was made available through Perkiomen Railroad, which operated between Norristown and Freemansburg. In the 1840s, iron ore beds were discovered in hills around Allentown, and a furnace was constructed in 1846 by Allentown Iron Core Company for production of pig iron, a vital component used in the manufacturing of steel. The furnace opened in 1847 under supervision of Samuel Lewis, an expert in iron production, and was followed by the opening of other Allentown plants for production of a wide variety of metal products. In 1860, several smaller iron companies merged to create the Allentown Rolling Mill Company, which became Allentown's largest iron company and contributed to the city and the greater Lehigh Valley region's emergence as a major source for iron ore. In 1850, Leh's, a shoe and ready-to-wear clothing store, was opened in the city by Henry Leh. By 1861, with the Civil War commencing, Leh's emerged as a major source of military boots for the Union Army. In addition to Leh's, eight brick yards, a saw mill, a paint factory, two additional shoe factories, a piano factory, flour mills, breweries, and distilleries all opened in Allentown during the Civil War era. In 1883, Allentown Boiler Works was founded in Allentown by Charles Collum. Collum and his partner John D. Knouse built a large facility at 3rd and Gordon Streets in Allentown's First Ward near the Lehigh Valley Railroad yard near what later became Kline's Island. The company manufactured iron products, some of which were used in the construction of high-profile construction projects, including the building of the White House in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The company's boilers and kilns were used for the production of iron products sold nationally and internationally, including to customers in Canada, Cuba, and the Philippines. Brickworks flourished in Allentown through the end of World War I. The clay unearthed in various sections of Allentown and the city's suburbs proved suitable in manufacturing building brick and fire brick. Bricks were the first Allentown products shipped by rail and sold nationally. A vibrant food processing industry began emerging in Allentown following the arrival of predominantly German immigrant bakers, who were among Allentown's first settlers. In 1887, Wilson Arbogast and Morris C. Bastian formed Arbogast and Bastian, which provided large scale commercial slaughtering. With industrialization, Allentown emerged as a major regional and national center for banking and finance. In 1860, William H. Ainey founded Allentown Savings and served as its first president. In 1864, Second National Bank of Allentown was formed, and Ainey was elected its first president, a position he held until his death. Ainey contributed to Allentown's industrial and retail growth, helping finance Iowa Barb Wire Company, which was later absorbed by American Steel & Wire, Pioneer Silk Factory, Palace Silk Mill, and Allentown Spinning Company. In the late 1870s, Allentown's iron industry collapsed, leaving the city economically depressed. Efforts were made to diversify the city's industrial base, including convincing Phoenix Manufacturing Company to open a silk mill in Allentown. Adelaide Mill at Race and Court Streets prompted the opening of Pioneer Silk Mill in 1886, and the city quickly emerged as a national leader in silk manufacturing. The silk industry grew to ultimately become Allentown's largest industry in the late 19th century and remained the city's largest industry through the end of the 20th century. In 1914, there were 26 silk mills in the city. By 1928, after the introduction of rayon, the number of Allentown silk mills grew to 85, and over 10,000 people were employed in the Allentown silk industry at the industry's height in the 1940s. In 1896, Max Hess, a retailer from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, visited Allentown and set about developing Allentown's first department store. He his brother Charles opened Hess Brothers at 9th and Hamilton Streets. Hess's developed a reputation for flamboyance, offering the latest European fashion apparel. The opening of Hess's was following by the opening of a second major department store in the city, the Zollinger-Harned Company, located in the Zollinger-Harned Company Building on Hamilton Street. In the late 19th century, Allentown also began emerging as a major center for the beer brewing industry. Notable Allentown breweries included Horlacher Brewery (founded 1897, closed 1978), Neuweiler Brewery (founded 1875, closed 1968), and Schaefer Beer, whose brewery was later acquired by Pabst and Guinness and is now owned by Boston Beer Company, brewer of Samuel Adams beer. In 1905, Jack and Gus Mack moved Mack Trucks, their motor company, from Brooklyn to Allentown, taking over the foundries of Weaver-Hirsh on South 10th Street. By 1914, Mack Trucks developed a global reputation for manufacturing sturdy and reliable trucks and vehicles. Many were sent to Western Front battlefields in France prior to the U.S. formally entering World War I in 1917. The British nicknamed Mack AC's five and seven-ton trucks the "Bulldog". Mack eventually grew to have eight manufacturing plants in Allentown and adopted the bulldog as it corporate brand. Like several other regions in Pennsylvania, Allentown residents continued speaking Pennsylvania German well into the early 20th century. Pennsylvania Guide, compiled by the Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration, described the Pennsylvania Dutch community's impact on Allentown's linguistic landscape, reporting in 1940 that:.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}In October 1945, following the end of World War II, Western Electric opened a plant on Union Boulevard in Allentown. Six years later, on October 1, 1951, the company manufactured and released the world's first transistor, which was produced at the Allentown-based plant, and the Allentown-based company emerged as a leader in the nation's post-war electronics revolution. By the mid-20th century, Allentown was a major retailing and entertainment center distinct and separate from Philadelphia and New York City. Hess's, Leh's, and Zollinger department stores led to retail sector growth in Allentown, and dozens of smaller retail stores, restaurants, hotels, banks, and professional offices in the city emerged in present-day Center City Allentown, which was then referred to as downtown Allentown. At least seven cinemas and stage theaters were developed along Hamilton Street between 5th and 10th Streets. By the mid-1960s, Allentown's economy had been booming for decades but the city's rising taxes and regulations prohibiting expansion of the city's geographic limits began leading many of the city's residents, especially those in the post-World War II baby boom generation, to flee Allentown for its suburbs. Salisbury, South Whitehall, and Whitehall townships each had large areas of farmland that were prime locations for residential real estate development. Much of Allentown's working class began migrating to these newer, less-expensive housing developments in Allentown's suburbs, which offered lower taxes, more green space, less crime, and newer schools. This demographic trend continued throughout the latter part of the 20th century, presenting a major challenge to Allentown's city government and the Allentown School District as it confronted greatly diminished resources. Allentown School District's financial challenges, in turn, further increased the working class flight to Allentown's suburbs, creating a sea change in the city's demographics. With the departure of many working-class families from older Center City Allentown neighborhoods, many homes were sold to landlords who converted them into inexpensive multifamily apartments, many of which became government-subsidized housing projects that were permitted under the city's lax zoning and city codes. With Allentown's neighborhoods and school system declining, the city focused on attempting to develop its Hamilton Street retail district, largely ignoring Allentown neighborhoods not located in Center City. This also exacerbated the flight of Allentown families to the city's suburbs, leading to the development of shopping centers and services being developed outside the city to accommodate the demand from Allentown's expanding suburban communities. In 1966, Whitehall Mall, the first closed shopping mall north of Philadelphia, opened. Ten years later, in 1976, the even larger Lehigh Valley Mall opened north of U.S. Route 22. Stores in Allentown's downtown shopping district began closing, replaced with stores whose customers were less affluent. Large areas of Allentown's downtown were subsequently razed and replaced with parking lots. The downtown business district was rebuilt in an attempt to compete with the newer suburban shopping locations. A multiblock row of stores known as Hamilton Mall was developed, featuring newly covered sidewalks and managed traffic patterns. But the effort was unsuccessful, and two of the city's major department stores, Leh's and Zollingers, were forced to close by 1990. The third, Hess's, was sold to The Bon-Ton in 1994, which closed its Hamilton Mall location two years later, in 1996. In 1993, the Corporate Center, the city's new flagship business center on North Seventh Street, fell victim to a large sinkhole, which led to its condemnation and ultimate demolition. Combined with challenges confronting Center City Allentown, the manufacturing economy of the Northeastern United States began suffering from deindustrialization associated with foreign competition, trade policies, and manufacturing costs. Many Allentown factories and corporations began closing or relocating. Responding to the late 20th century economic downturn, Allentown consciously sought to begin diversifying its economy in the early 21st century. In the 2000s and 2010s, Allentown's economy saw growth in its service, health care, transportation, warehousing, and some manufacturing industries. In 2009, the Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ), created by the Pennsylvania State Legislature, sought to address Allentown's economic challenges and encourage its development and revitalization. The NIZ includes approximately 128 acres (52 hectares) in Center City Allentown and the city's riverfront district on the Lehigh River's western side. In 2006, Agere Systems, formerly Western Electric, was acquired by LSI Corporation and relocated to San Jose, California. Mack Trucks relocated to Greensboro, North Carolina in 2009, and other Allentown-based factories downsized considerably or ceased operations entirely. With the city's manufacturing base eroded, once high-paying industrial jobs were replaced with lower-paying service sector jobs, and Allentown began being cited widely as one of the most prominent examples of a late 20th century Rust Belt city. In 2014, Center City Allentown underwent major restructuring, including constructing and opening PPL Center, a 10,500-capacity indoor arena that now hosts the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, a professional American Hockey League ice hockey team, and other sports, entertainment, and concert events. A full-service Renaissance Hotel also opened, and older office buildings were redeveloped. In its 2023 edition of "Best Places to Live", U.S. News & World Report ranked Allentown the ninth-best location in the nation to retire.