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 March of 2016

A Former Factory And Neighborhood Of Allentown, Pa.

The Wire Mill was a sprawling industrial plant along 13 acres of the Little Lehigh Creek, just east of Lehigh Street, near the current Martin Luther King Drive.  An 1899 map of Allentown contains the footprint of various industries of the time, and the Wire Mill was the most prominent.  The Lehigh Valley RailRoad constructed two bridges over the Little Lehigh, to bring its Barber Quarry spur line into and out of the plant. Began in 1886, it produced wire and nails until 1943, and then sat abandoned for another twenty years. During WW1, it employed up to 1,200 men around the clock, producing barbed wire for the trench warfare in Europe. The factory sat on the south side of the former Wire Street, which housed narrow row houses on the other side of the street, and the neighborhood above it.



That entire neighborhood was demolished in the early 1970's, as Allentown embraced the modern urban renewal models of the time. The old, modest neighborhood of small row houses, between Lawrence and Union Streets, and on both sides of Lehigh Street, between 4th and 8th Street, were bulldozed away.  It was, in a large part, home to Allentown's black community. How ironic that we destroyed the cohesion of a neighborhood, but renamed Lawrence Street after Martin Luther King. The only remnant of that community and neighborhood still there is the St. James A.M.E. and Zion Church. A former vibrant neighborhood was replaced by a sterile bank call center, sitting alone on a large vacant hill. That building is now the new Building 21 city operated charter school. I would have complained about that urban renewal plan if I was blogging back then. Now, 50 years later, I still consider that plan a failure. Hopefully, future bloggers will have something better to say about Allentown's current revitalization.

The Wire Mill was at the bottom of the Lehigh Street hill, shown above

reprinted from March 2016 

ADDENDUM NOVEMBER 21, 2017: Mayor Pawlowski recently announced that the Lehigh Street bridge(Wire Mill Bridge) over the Little Lehigh Creek will be closed for repairs. Over the years I have written numerous posts about this historic section of Allentown. In subsequent years I combined some of these posts and reprinted them. In the next several days, current events permitting, this blog will revisit that section of our city.

Barbarians Sack Allentown

As Mayor Pawlowski stood last week across Hamilton Street from the former buildings, now reduced to rubble, I thought of the barbarians sacking Rome. The Knerr Building, constructed in 1892 at 707 Hamilton Street, had withstood many changes in the last 120 years. Built for John Knerr to sell groceries and confections, it's four floors served various businesses over the century. Although this past New Year's eve, the Mayor spoke of Allentown's 250th anniversary, it's a history for which he has limited knowledge and less appreciation. As a student of Allentown's architecture and past, I was offended to hear him and the other mayors boast about the 40 temporary demolition jobs. The wrecking contractor was astute enough to remove the monumental and historic Knerr facade ornamentation, before knocking the building down. He will sell it in some other city, where history is respected and valued.

photo of mayors/The Morning Call/Donna Fisher

photo of facade from former Knerr Building/ molovinsky

reprinted from February of 2012

ADDENDUM: The above post is reprinted from 2012. Although I accept the arena and NIZ as the new reality, there are uninformed progressives who believe  the demolition of that square block of Allentown was of no consequence. I know better; We lost some significant architecture and much history. One must wonder if the new structures will last 120 years.

A Former Proud Block In Allentown

When the north side of the 700 block of Hamilton Street was demolished in early 2012, this lone blogger was there early in the mornings and weekends to document the end of an era. Although Hess's ruled Hamilton Street in the 60's and 70's, the 700 block had the classic mercantile history and facades.

The new arena monstrosity looks pretty much like the renderings did, except those middle class people pictured in the illustration never materialized. I'm referring to the west end housewives with their baby strollers and disposable income. The apologists say wait, it takes time. It's only half done, wait until they build the mega towers on the south side of the street. The suburban housewives will still have no interest or motivation to come downtown.

 Reilly will build the towers. As long as Pennsylvania taxes are being used for his debt service, why wouldn't he?   Never mind that the state is so broke that they may have to put slot machines in elementary school cafeterias to harvest junior's lunch money.

Treasures Lost On Hamilton Street

                                                   click photograph to enlarge

The merchants who built Hamilton Street counted on architecture to attract shoppers into their emporiums. Large neon signs wouldn't appear for another fifty years. The soffit and fascia shown above, halfway between 7th and 8th on Hamilton, is one of the most elaborate facades in Allentown. One thing you can say about Allentown City Hall, they never let culture, art, or history get into the way of their plans. As successful cities come to value and profit from their history more and more, Allentown keeps using the standard catalog of proven failures. I know from other projects on Hamilton Street that Pawlowski isn't big on history. The Cityline Building in the 800 Block was permitted to stucco over beautiful brickwork. Sad that the puppies, who are directors at the Art Museum and Historical Society, remain silent on the planned destruction. It's hard to describe the magnificence of the skylight shown below, also in the targeted block. It's very large in three sections, in pristine condition. Should be quite a snack for Pawlowski's bulldozer.
The bulldozer prevailed, and the former architectural treasures of our mercantile history were not preserved, save for this blog's archives. Above is reprinted from May 2011

ADDENDUM:   This past weekend, a member of Old Allentown Preservation Association, and an active local Democrat, bragged on facebook about how he had recycled an old second floor office door from the demolished buildings in the arena zone. In truth, Old Allentown also turned a self serving, callous eye to the destruction noted in the above post. Although I'm glad the door was recycled, allow this post to note the irony and hypocrisy of the Association.

reprinted from January of 2015


UPDATE NOVEMBER 16, 2017: Although there's always some group bestowing some award on any new development, the Allentown NIZ is certainly no architectural destination.  Although I've taken hundreds of photographs in Allentown, including the ones shown here,  I have yet to buy film for any new building in the NIZ.

It's Raining Candy Sprinkles In Allentown

If you picked up the Morning Call on an airplane seat in Atlanta,  and were never here,  you would think that Allentown is the jewel of the northeast.  After all,  its new district with a $Billion dollars worth of new buildings just won a  Global Award of Excellence.  However,  if you decided to detour your trip to a real paradise to instead visit Allentown, you would be in for a rude awakening.  Walking down Hamilton Street you would find virtually no stores,  much less anything upscale.  Your few fellow shoppers would resemble the urban poor in the most depressed cities.

The Lehigh Carbon Community College, now on Hamilton Street, will be moving into the Morning Call Building, which is now owned by J.B. Reilly, along with most of the new buildings in the NIZ.  I suppose the students can study journalism and intern with the paper.  However, like the paper, they will have to be very careful what they write about Reilly and the NIZ.  Maybe their professor would allow them to intern with a blogger?

An Invitation To Pawlowski

Students of this blog know that I supported Nat Hyman for mayor, and have been a long time critic of  Ed Pawlowski.  I have even been critical of those who supported him. I see no benefit of continuing to beat that drum.  I believe that you will see a shift in this blog that will appear more conciliatory.   He will certainly be submitted to enough public scrutiny when the trial begins in January.  I don't think that you will be reading much about that, if at all, on this page.  I don't operate as a reporter,  but rather a commentator on local politics and history.

That is not to say that I won't be critical of the administration in regard to policy.  I will always strive to improve the priorities,  especially in regard to the park system.  I'm inviting Mayor Pawlowski to take a tour with me of the WPA structures.

When Allentown High Was Pennsylvania Dutch

In 1950 when 16 year old  Jayne Lichtenwalner made this plate in art class,  Allentown for the most part had a Pennsylvania Dutch demographic.  Jayne's family lived at 642 Chew Street.  The principal of Allentown High was Clifford Bartholomew.  After Bartholomew retired from being principal,  he later would go on to become mayor.

Move ahead seventy years, and the Pennsylvania Dutch student is an endangered species in the Allentown School System, perhaps even extinct. The new superintendent of the system is from Detroit,  and the mayor is from Chicago.  The dominant demographic in center city is now Hispanic, and they just elected the Chicago mayor for a fourth term, even though he's indicted for corruption.

I grew up on the south side near the Mack Truck assembly plant. I graduated from Allen in the middle 1960's, and remember when Bartholomew was principal and then mayor. I worked in center city when the stores died and the neighborhoods changed.  This blog was designed to be the juncture of local history and politics.  Because I find the politics at the moment so distressing,  I'll be conducting  more history classes.