The Lehigh Valley At War

If you lived in the Lehigh Valley during either World War, you knew that those victories required an enormous amount of equipment. Mack Truck was under control of the War Department during both conflicts, starting in 1915 and then again in 1942. The Queen City Airport on Lehigh Street is a vestige of the second war. Mack Truck and Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft joined forces to produce planes and plane parts. Mack's biggest contribution was its trucks during WW1, establishing their reputation for durability. The naval gun shop at Bethlehem Steel was one of the largest in the world when built. With barrels up to 14 inches, it was capable of providing up to 30 guns a day.

Mack Trucks for War Department 1918

above reprinted from January 2013

UPDATE May 2, 2018: Mack Defense, a division of Mack Truck in Macungie, was just awarded a Defense Department contract for $82 million to produce trucks through 2023.

Cloning Yuppies For Allentown

When molovinsky on allentown began almost five years ago, I used to say that It's good to be Butz, I must now add, but it's better to be J.B. Reilly. In today's Morning Call we learn that "under Allentown's arena block master development agreement, if City Center determines a hotel is not feasible, it could build apartments or offices instead."  That is news to me, and as a blogging naysayer I'm more informed than most. All state taxes in the 130 acre NIZ will be going to pay for the arena complex. Reilly will own from the second floor up on two portions of the complex, one on Hamilton Street, the other on 7th Street. Lehigh Valley Hospital will the the tenant on the Hamilton portion, while the 7th Street side may well now be apartments instead of a hotel. Reilly is also building apartments on the other side of 7th Street, at the Linden Street corner. Although I have no background in office development, I do know the apartment market. No upscale apartment development in center-city has ever met it's target demographic without substantial subsidy, and then only with limited units. There are not enough Yuppies in Allentown to occupy the current supply of loft apartments, much less without Reilly's new apartments. Perhaps he can use his influence with Lehigh Valley Hospital for a clandestine Yuppie cloning laboratory.

reprinted from January 2013 

ADDENDUM FEBRUARY 7, 2024:Although the hospital never did clone millennials for Reilly, it's my understanding that they do steer their interns his way. Blocks of other units are supposedly tied to office leases. Whatever his true occupancy figure, what is obvious is the continued lack of vitality in town on evenings and weekends.

Best By Test

Growing up in Little Lehigh Parkway, now called Little Lehigh Manor by the Realtors, the milkman was an early morning fixture.  Almost every house had the insulated aluminum milkbox.  The milk trucks were distinctive, and the drivers wore a uniform, indicative of their responsibility.  Freeman's milk was the best by test, or so the slogan said.  Their trucks were red and immaculate.  The dairy building  still stands, a quarter block north of 13th and Tilghman Streets.  They competed with a giant, Lehigh Valley Co-Operative Farmers.  That dairy, on the Allentown/Whitehall border, just north of the Sumner Avenue Bridge on 7th Street, even sported an ice cream parlor.  Milk, up to the mid 50's, came in a bottle.  The milkman would take the empties away when delivering your fresh order.  In addition to white and chocolate,  they produced strawberry milk  in the summer.  About once a week the milkman would knock on the door to settle up;  times have changed.






Occasionally the bottle, and later the cartons, would feature themes and advertisements.  A picture of Hopalong Cassidy would entertain young boys as they poured milk into their Corn Flakes.  Earlier, during the War, (Second World) bottles would encourage customers to do their part;  buy a bond or scrap some metal for the war effort.

reprinted from 2009

The Tracks Of Allentown

Up to the early 1950's, you pretty much drove over tracks wherever you went in Allentown. While the trolleys moved the people, the Lehigh Valley Railroad freight cars moved the materials in and out of our factories. Shown above, the Lehigh Valley Transit trolley moves across the former steel Hamilton Street Bridge. The huge UGI gas tank can be seen on Union Street. While the trolleys gave way to buses by 1953, the freight rail spurs would tarry on for two more decades. 

 reprinted from January of 2013

Retiring In Allentown

U.S. News and World Report tells us that Allentown is the fifth best place to retire in the United States. Expect local real estate to explode as herds of gray haired migrate from Florida and Arizona to the Strata complexes in culturally rich center city. 

Local political genius County Executive Phillips Armstrong cited our metrics, like transportation. Expect to see more cappuccino and croissants at the Lanta Detention Center.

I can only hope that the magazine's news is more accurate than their retirement recommendations. However, if you disagree with me and find their retirement survey valid, there is great news. The best rated place in the country to retire isn't far away, Harrisburg! Please take Phil Armstrong with you.

Shapiro As Deaf, Dumb and Blind

First off, allow me to clarify that when I refer to dumb, I'm not referencing the inability to speak, but rather not being blessed with intelligence.  I first made that observation when he appointed Pat Browne as Revenue Director.  Browne's NIZ is an unlimited private subsidy on the back of taxpayers. For Shapiro to cite Lehigh Valley as a showcase of success, testifies as to his cluelessness.

Shapiro's team handed out little gift bags with slogans printed on them.  Assorted useless bureaucrats praised his plans, which supposedly will not raise taxes :)

Meanwhile, back at the pump, Pennsylvanians enjoy one of the highest gasoline taxes in the country.  I wonder if the Governor noticed that Rt. 22 has never been widened through the valley, thanks to his Pat Browne instead wanting a new exit for a developer's warehouse park.

I'd like Josh to prove me wrong, but in the meantime I'm not hopeful.