Allentown's Park Plans

Allentown's park plans can best be described as schizophrenic. What made our parks so iconic was the visual contrasts between the woods, open spaces and the water. We are now getting the worse of everything. The streams will be hidden by plants, called riparian buffers. The open spaces will be either planted with tree's or occupied by some recreational venue. Although the beauty of the park system had more less survived for 80 years, it's glory days, like Allentown itself, will soon be but a memory.

In the 1950's my father's uncle worked for the park department. He would drive a tractor with a large gang mower behind, and cut large portions of Lehigh Parkway in a single day. Today, witness Cedar Beach area, all the open spaces have been planted with trees. Park workers must toil with riding mowers in and out and around each tree. The remaining open area will soon be occupied with the Destination Playground.


The open area between the creek and Honochick Drive on the west side of Ott Street will be occupied by three additional paved paths. Access and view of the water will be cut off by bushes.

The environmentalists are appeased by the riparian buffer and being allowed to plant more and more trees; they remain silent about all the paving. The recreationalists are appeased by paved paths and remain silent about losing the park's viewshed. The viewshed is what we see and what made our park system nationally known. The parks cannot be everything to everybody. Those who may have protected the parks in the past have become politicized. I find our parks too precious not to speak up.

Trexler Smiles, Landing Revealed

I believe that today, for the first time in decades, General Trexler had something to smile about. Most people never understood why three steps were near the lower entrance of Lehigh Parkway; they seemed to lead nowhere. This morning eight people joined a grass root effort to unveil, for the first time in decades, the structure I called the Boat Landing.

Buried under the dirt and grass were several more steps leading to a landing. Chris Casey was the first to arrive and cleared these steps and the first landing himself. A second set of steps led from the landing to the main landing on the creek. These second steps had a foot or so of ground and plants.

The quality and condition of the stonework is excellent, as was all our WPA icons. I will be polite and say only that it was a crime to have let this neglect occur. On the main landing the accumulated earth was two and half feet thick. The crew dug out the curving retaining wall several yards in each direction, and cleared off the top of the wall.

Eight people working four hours managed to reveal about one third of the landing at the bottom of the steps. It was a thrill to realize we were standing at creek's edge as the WPA architects had envisioned. I stood there often as a boy. There still remains a large portion of dirt to remove at the steps base, but you can now experience the Boat Landing.

The retaining wall and the landing continue for fifty feet or so in both directions. Unfortunately a huge tree has grown on the landing to the right, but the left appears reclaimable.

We who worked there today, hope to return and clear off the remainder of the dirt at the bottom of the steps.

Perhaps others will be motivated to clear off the remaining portion of the landing to the left. Now that might even be an idea for the City; imagine restoring an irreplaceable icon instead of buying something from a catalogue. I'm most grateful to all those who helped today, and will reveal their names with their permission.




ADDENDUM:Michael –

I just wanted to thank you for organizing today’s cleanup at the “Boat Landing” in the Lehigh Parkway. It’s not often that one gets to help unearth a treasure while barely leaving home, but that’s exactly what happened today.

It was truly impressive what big difference a small group of people can make. I can’t even estimate the amount of dirt that was moved with nothing more than a few shovels and a lot of hard work.

We can only hope that the City and the Trexler Trust will become aware of this location and start giving all the great structures in the Parkway the care they deserve.

However, the best part of the story for me came after we all left. I got home and my daughter Lucy (age 7) wanted to know how things went. We hopped in the car and soon we were walking up to the stairs leading to the landing. The sun was shining, and the sunlight trickled through the trees and onto the freshly-exposed stairway.

Lucy asked if she could go down to the landing by the water and next thing I knew we were both there at the waters edge, standing on what had been buried only a few hours earlier and marveling at the beauty of the location.

We spent a few moments there - a father and daughter both enjoying something completely “new” to us (even though the landing is over 70 years old). We talked briefly about what was – and more importantly what could be again.

Thank you for making that moment possible, and I hope many others take the opportunity to visit the landing in the near future.


Mike Schware


P.S. – After visiting the landing, Lucy and I walked further upstream and saw the remnants of the bridge to the island (near the water fountain). The remaining supports of the bridge confirmed what you had told me earlier about the island being much smaller years ago.

Lehigh Parkway, Allentown, Pa.

This was the scene which was chosen to represent Allentown's parks during the golden era of picture postcards, circa late 1940's. The card is captioned simply, Lehigh Parkway, Allentown, Pa.. Shown at the park entrance, it was called the lower entrance, was the magnificent Boat Landing.* Lehigh Parkway is still there, while Christmas lights provide a gaudy distraction, the WPA treasures deteriorate under debris. Please join Chris Casey, myself and others tomorrow morning, as we attempt to clear and reveal a portion of our proud past.

* Boat Landing is my term for structure, lower entrance near Regency Tower, meeting at 10:00 am, Saturday Oct. 10th.

Allentown's Love Canal

The phone rang at midnight last night, it was Dan Mest, neighborhood activist in the St. Paul's area. Dan's one of those guys you don't hear that much about, but if you live in center city, your life's better because of him. The Jackson Street Playground is just one result of his efforts. Back to last night; seems that City Council suspended their rules and bought the parcel from the Atiyeh family along Martin Luther King Drive. Council didn't see fit to suspend the rules about the Cedar Beach Project, but that's my spilled milk. Last time I heard about this property was when the Rev. Afaf Atiyeh Darcy was complaining to Council last month that her rights were being violated. Seems that no operation meet the approval of Zoning or Code, even as a tree nursery. Here's Dan's concern; that property had previously been a fertilizer and chemical plant, and is only a half mile from our water plant intake pipe. He's afraid we purchased a huge liability with no due diligence. Consider this post be to printed in pencil. I didn't attend the meeting last evening. I don't know where we are getting the money. I assume it will be an extension of the Park System, although there is no money in the budget for the WPA restorations. I do know that the land lies level with the creek and is very much in a floodplain. I do know that Dan's concerns about chemical contamination are probable. More to follow.....

ADDENDUM: LAST EVENING CITY COUNCIL APPROVED A RESOLUTION, AUTHORIZING THE CITY TO PURSUE NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE OWNER FOR PURCHASE. MOST OF THE PROPERTY LIES IN SALISBURY TOWNSHIP, AND ANY PURCHASE WOULD BE IN TANDEM WITH THE TOWNSHIP. ACTUAL PURCHASE WOULD AGAIN REQUIRE COUNCIL'S APPROVAL.

Second Job

Advertising revenues have been down here at molovinsky on allentown, so I've taken a temporary second job at The Lehigh Valley Political Blog. How long they will keep me on there remains to be seen. At any rate, you're welcome to visit me there anytime.

Heavyweight Championship of the World

On March 21, 1941, my mother's cousin Abe Simon, son a of Jewish egg and butter salesman, fought Joe Louis for the title in Detroit. Lasting 13 rounds, he earned another title shot against the Brown Bomber a year later in Madison Square Garden. After retiring he acted in several movies, including On The Waterfront and Requiem For A Heavyweight.

REPRINTED FROM MARCH 8, 2008
Administrator's note: I'm reprinting these photo's and captions in a much tighter time frame then originally posted, to give the viewers more of a feel for this period in Simon's career.