Urban Renewal and These History Posts

Urban renewal projects are nothing new to Allentown. Every couple decades some Mayor thinks he has a brighter idea. In a previous post, I showed the historic Lehigh and Union Street neighborhood, totally destroyed by city planners. Today, an under used Bank calling center sits awkwardly alone on that Lehigh Street hill. The picture above shows another hill of merchants and residents, fed to a mayor's bulldozer. The picture is from 1953, and shows Hamilton Street, from Penn Street down toward the railroad stations. At that time we still had two stations, The Lehigh Valley Railroad and The New Jersey Central. The current closed bar and restaurant occupies the Jersey Central. Everything on Hamilton Street, west of the bridge over the Jordan creek, with the exception of the Post Office, was demolished up to Fifth Street. Government Center would be built on the north side of the street, and a new hotel on the south, to accommodate the many anticipated visitors. Recently we had to remove and replace the facade of the county courthouse, which leaked since it was constructed. The hotel is now a rooming house.

Unannounced plans are underway for a new hotel to service anticipated visitors to Pawlowski's Palace of Sports. It will be up to some future blogger to document how that hotel becomes a rooming house.

reprinted from March 2012                                                                                                         UPDATE:In the time since this blog was first written, we have learned that the new arena hotel may well end up being apartments instead, an option which even the arena students didn't know about.  To those who think that these history posts have no relevance to today's Allentown, or that our esteemed leadership is reinventing the wheel,  your blind support  is indeed appreciated at City Hall.

Allentown Post Office

In the 1930's, the "New Deal" was good to Allentown. As I noted on earlier posts, our park system was enriched by monumental stone construction under the WPA. We also received one of the architectural gems of our area, the magnificent art deco post office. Constructed during 1933-34, no detail was spared in making the lobby an ageless classic. The floor is adorned with handmade Mercer tiles from Doylestown. Muralist Gifford Reynolds Beal worked thru 1939 portraying the Valley's cultural and industrial history. This incredible 74 year old photograph is the contractor's documentation of the project's progress. The back of the photo states; Taken Sept 1 - 34 showing lobby, floor, screens, desks, completed & fixtures hung

The photograph will enlarge when clicked.

Reprinted for January is History Month

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.

Pawlowski's Press Pass

For someone of Polish descent, when it comes to the press, Pawlowski has the luck of the Irish. In his first campaign back in 2005, the Morning Call reporter thought he was the best thing since white bread. In 2009, his opponent was a case study in self-destruction. Since 2005, the city beat has been served by a succession of reporters, all of which have been new to Allentown. The current one, Emily Opilo, has been here about six months. She writes, When he took office seven years ago, Pawlowski said he promised to build a better Allentown, and Monday he said he had delivered on that promise. As an independent candidate for mayor in 2005, I sat next to Pawlowski on the campaign podium dozens of times; I can tell you what he really said. His campaign at that time was a promise to fix the pension problem, which would be created by the new police contract. He has failed completely in that promise, and now proposes to sell our water system as an act of desperation. Opilo's article today on Pawlowski's third campaign for mayor states that opposition is based on a fear that rates will increase, that's incorrect. Opposition is based on the fact that providing water is a primary city function, related to all the other city departments, and the park system. There is a contract between the city and it's citizens. The city provides service, and the citizens provide taxes and civility. Under Pawlowski, the contract has been broken. The city wishes out of the service, and civility has been replaced by crime and frustration. Although Pawlowski and The Morning Call refer to that enormous hole in the ground as a Transformation,  in reality it's a diversion from our real problems. As a candidate in 2005, I told it like it was; As a blogger in 2013, I will continue that tradition.

Flash From Past

Occasionally, some of the older boys in Lehigh Parkway would get saddled with taking me along to a Saturday matinee in downtown Allentown. We would get the trolley, in later years a bus, from in front of the basement church on Jefferson Street. It would take that congregation many years to afford completing the church building there today. The trolley or bus would go across the 8th Street Bridge, which was built to accommodate the trolleys operated by Lehigh Valley Transit Company. Downtown then sported no less than five movie theaters at any one time. Particularly matinee friendly was the Midway, in the 600 Block of Hamilton. Three cartoons and episode or two of Flash Gordon entertained our entourage, which ranged in age from five to eleven years old. We younger kids, although delighted by the likes of Bugs Bunny, were confused how the Clay People would emerge from the walls in the caves on Mars to capture Captain Gordon, but our chaperones couldn't wait till the next week to learn Flash's fate. Next on the itinerary was usually a banana split at Woolworth's. Hamilton Street had three 5 and 10's, with a million things for boys to marvel at. The price of the sundae was a game of chance, with the customer picking a balloon. Inside the balloon was your price, anywhere from a penny to the full price of fifty cents. The store had a full selection of Allentown souvenirs. Pictures of West Park on a plate, the Center Square Monument on a glass, pennants to hang on your wall, and picture postcards of all the attractions. Hamilton Street was mobbed, and even the side streets were crowded with busy stores. Taking younger kids along was a responsibility for the older brothers, the streets and stores were crowded, but predators were limited to the Clay People on the silver screen.

reprinted from April 11, 2011 reprinted from January 2012

Top Brass To Cash In Chips

molovinsky on allentown has learned that the top brass of the police department will cash in their chips this year. Chief Roger Maclean, Assistant Chief Joe Hanna, and assorted captains had deferred retirement under the previous lucrative contract, on the condition that those perks remained with them until retiring; They will all retire this year, under benefit of the previous contract. Because of the mass exodus in 2006, and now the pending retirement of the holdovers, we will virtually have a new police department and leadership. As the Palace of Sport and Private Wealth progresses, and the intercity violence increases, look for new idea's from our Mayor For Life. Check with The Morning Call in ten days to two week, for what will be just a longer version of my exclusive.

UPDATE: I wish to emphasize that I infer no resentment about their pending retirements.  On the contrary,  we are indebted that they graced the city with another eight plus years of service.

An Announcement, Two Shootings and A Stabbing

As reported previously by this blog, Pawlowski is announcing his candidacy, and he has no republican opposition. Today's Morning Call article even quotes Scott Armstrong, who frequently comments here. It's interesting because Scott does not currently hold any position within the local Republican party, although he is a republican and a school board member. The article said that some refer to Pawlowski as a visionary. Although I do not know about that, I do know that his announcement shares the paper with two shootings, and a stabbing; That's the vision most people really have about Allentown. I have taken the liberty of using The Morning Call's picture of Pawlowski, but with proper attribution.

photocredit:Denise Sanchez/The Morning Call