The Union Terrace Train

The Conrail engine backs across Walnut Street, as it delivers a flatbed of large granite slaps and blocks to the Wentz Memorial Company, by 20th and Hamilton Streets. Years earlier, the spur route extended across Hamilton Street and terminated at the building across from school district stadium, now occupied by the park department. On it's run to Wentz's, it went through the auto junkyard, continued on past the now closed Allentown Metal Works, and crossed the trestle in Lehigh Parkway. At Union Terrace the track was next to the former ice skating pond, behind the WPA Amphitheater Stage Mound. This photograph was taken by Dave Latshaw in the 1979, and is part of the Mark Rabenold collection. Rabenold is a local train historian, specializing in Allentown's former branch lines.

reprinted from September 2011

Seminar For Allentown's Little People

Various Allentown agencies announced that they're going to have workshops for Allentown's little people at the Renaissance Hotel, where the little people could never afford to stay. Let me clarify that the little people aren't midgets, but Allentown's underclass. While in reality the have-nots will not be there, it gives various administrators of various useless organizations an opportunity to put something on their proposal for next years' grants, justifying their useless taxpayer funded positions. Over the years there have been dozens of these dog and pony shows. In years past I even attended some of the meetings. And who says that the NIZ doesn't have any community benefit?

Bonus train post below.


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The Train of Lehigh Parkway

This holiday season, as people drive over  Schreibers stone arch bridge to get in line for Lights in the Parkway, few will be aware of the industrial past surrounding them.  The Barber Quarry railroad branch line crossed the road, just beyond the bridge.  On the left was the Union Carbine's Linde plant,  the concrete loading dock is still visible.  Although the last train ran in the early 1980's,  the wooden railroad trestle is still there, to the west and south of the bridge.  The area is now used as part of the disc golf course.  The photograph was taken by Dave Latshaw in 1976, and is part of the Mark Rabenold Collection.

reprinted from 2010

More Silliness From Allentown's Improvement Fathers.

In a move to improve it's image, the NIZ Board is moving out of City Hall. They're moving to the AEDC building at S.10th and Harrison Street, which is an old Mack Truck Factory. According to The Morning Call, Ken Heffentrager, a local landlord slayer and activist, isn't happy, because it makes attending meetings more inconvenient. Bob Lovett, board member, counters that it's easier parking there and no meters! Bob and Sy Traub could accommodate their desire to put some distance between themselves and Pawlowski, and satisify Heffentraugher at the same time. They could simply ask the lord and master for an office. Supposedly, CityCenter Development has about a 25% vacancy factor,  and J.B. Reilly could give some space with no pain. I suppose such an arrangement would have a conflict appearance, but who are they kidding anyway?

Today, readers will find a second post below this one.  It is my intention to reprint some previous railroad posts, to accommodate those who couldn't attend Molovinsky University last week. Until the railroad series is complete,  two post will be necessary on days when silly political shenanigans take top billing.

 molovinsky on allentown will be shortly changing the comment policy. Anonymous comments, per se, will no longer be hosted. Commenters will be using or creating a Google/Blogger/Open ID. The identity need not be your real name, pseudonyms are permitted. The registration is with Google or such, and I have no access to the information provided.  It is my hope that regular contributors to this blog get such a registered handle, to both help elevate the dialogue here, and protect the integrity of their input.

Junkyard Train

Today, once again we ride a freight train of Allentown's great industrial past. In the early 1970's, the Redevelopment Authority tore down the neighborhood on either side of the Lehigh Street hill. At that time they had persuaded Conrail to move the the Barber's Quarry Branch line exclusively to the southern side of the Little Lehigh. The branch had crossed over and back to service the great Wire Mill. After crossing Lehigh Street, the train would proceed along the creek passing under the 8th Street Bridge. At the 10th Street crossing it would service another great industrial giant, Traylor Engineering.
In 2009 President Obama visited a successor, Allentown Manufacturing, which has since closed. The line would continue along the creek until it turned north along Cedar Creek to Union Terrace. After crossing Hamilton Street by the current Hamilton Family Diner, it would end at the current park department building. Nothing remains of the line, the tracks were removed. The Allentown Economic Development Corporation recently received a grant to rebuild the line to 10th Street, even though the plant Obama visited has closed. The neighboring former Mack Plant now houses a go cart track. How the money will be squandered remains to be seen. The top photograph was taken by local train historian Mark Rabenold in 1989. It shows the later relocated section of the track that was just east of the Lehigh Street crossing.

UPDATE: The County Commissioners recently denied a request by AEDC to grant KOZ status to the closed Metal Manufacturing building. Although the company never cited lack of rail service or property taxes as the reason for closing, the rail grant is still on the table. $Millions of $Dollars would be needed to lay bed and track from 3th and Union to S. 10th Street, to service an empty building; Truly, The Track To Nothing.

reprinted from December of 2013

Done With Meetings, Mostly

I'm generally done with meetings, after 30 years of jostling against the windmills. I noticed that Saucon approved removing a local dam, after a campaign by The Wildlands Conservancy. They got the Pa. Fish and Boat, Pa. Dept. of Environment, etc. to sign on. It's a grant sharing cabal, not unlike the politicians who used to share girls on the Monkey Business Yacht.  Now, if that anaology suggests comtempt for all the players, it was well chosen. I still get off the sofa for local history. Last week, I offered a short notice lesson on the LVRR branch lines at a local coffee shop. I will continue to defend the WPA structures in the Allentown park system. Annoyed by the corruption in Harrisburg, I might  even still throw my hat in the ring as an independent for the 183rd District.  However, for the most part, I'll let this blog speak for me.  molovinsky on allentown will be 9 years old this coming May, which is 63  in blog life.

molovinsky on allentown will be shortly changing the comment policy. Anonymous comments, per se, will no longer be hosted. Commenters will be using or creating a Google/Blogger/Open ID. The identity need not be your real name, pseudonyms are permitted. The registration is with Google or such, and I have no access to the information provided.  It is my hope that regular contributors to this blog get such a registered handle, to both help elevate the dialogue here, and protect the integrity of their input.

photocredit: Mary Ellen Mark

Allentown's First Waterfront

Although cheerleaders for the current waterfront NIZ think that they're inventing the Lehigh River, Allentonians already had a river port in the 1800's. As this section of the 1899 map shows, Wharf Street, which is still partically there, led to a man made river port, with two channels back to the river. The Lehigh Port was dug out in 1829, and was used in conjunction with the canal on the other side of the river. In the early 20th century, as the canal commerce was replaced by the railroads,  the port was filled in,  by an expanding Arbogast & Bastian Meat Packing.  Currently, a private boat club utilizes the river front near that location.  I exhibited the map at a recent session of Molovinsky University.

 molovinsky on allentown will be shortly changing the comment policy. Anonymous comments, per se, will no longer be hosted. Commenters will be using or creating a blogger/google/Open ID. The identity need not be your real name, pseudonyms are permitted. The registration is with google or such, and I have no access to the information provided.  It is my hope that regular contributors to this blog get such a registered handle, to both help elevate the dialogue here, and protect the integrity of their input.

The riverport was slightly north of the current America On Wheels Museum, by the Hamilton Street Bridge, going over the Lehigh River to East Allentown.

Nonsense News From Allentown

There has been some recent national news stories which state that Allentown is a desirable place to live, that's nonsense. These stories are written or researched by reporters, regurgitating misconceptions from previous erroneous articles, that appear in google searches. While a puff piece written last year by The Morning Call may praise downtown as a renaissance in motion, it doesn't mention a fraught school system. Articles about all the new jobs don't mention that they were hijacked from elsewhere in the valley.

For those who doubt the existence of nonsense articles, witness the report that Pawlowski does well in a matchup with Toomey. Never mind that the mayor hasn't been a candidate for eight months, or is implicated so far in three guilty pleas.

Pity the poor SOB moving to Allentown on the merits of such nonsense articles.

In a piece today, a study reveals that despite a $Billion dollar of revitalization, center city Allentown remains mired in poverty. It doesn't take a study to make that determination. Simply drive down Turner Street to 4th, turn north one block to Chew Street, and drive back west to 17th Street. Repeat the process on adjoining streets, and soon anybody not blind will realize that there is no revitalization.  What we have is one man, with a portfolio of new taxpayer financed buildings between 5th and 9th streets. While a few more men will add a few more buildings,  and the phenomena will be repeated in the 6th Ward by the river, revitalization only exists in the vocabulary of the newspaper, and a few optimists, most of whom have something to gain for their enthusiasm.

The reality is that Allentown is just another city in the rust belt, but with a bunch of new buildings. For millennials, who desire an urban experience, the unprecedented state subsidy is creating more dining and buzz than any real marketplace would have generated.

The optimists, needless to say, hate posts such as this.  Although, they will dismiss it as naysaying, they needn't worry.  Neither optimism or pessimism changes the facts.  With enough  money you can create an illusion that can last for a couple of decades, take Baltimore's Inner Harbor for example.  Eventually, reality catches up with such staged productions, but, by then our professional optimists can retire to Hilton Head.

photocredit:Harry Fisher/The Morning Call