Allentown, A Frame Of Reference

I graduated Allen High in the mid 1960's.  Allentown was a prosperous city, with a large center city shopping district supporting three large department stores.  There were also three five and dimes,  six movie theaters and a hundred other stores.  In addition to Hamilton Street, the stores extended two blocks out on the number streets, between 5th and 10th.  On 7th Street, the stores extended out to the new Route 22.

The newspaper was family owned and produced two editions, both morning and evening. The streets were immaculate, keep swept by diligent homeowners.  Factories ran two and three shifts...you get the picture.

Yesterday on facebook a young man wrote that he is optimistic that Allentown is turning around for the better.  For someone my age, with my frame of reference, that is a challenging statement. Although I'm glad that he is optimistic,  and I can appreciate that being so is beneficial in 2018, it is an attitude which wasn't necessary in Allentown's past.

I produce this blog as the intersection of local history and politics. I do not purport to be a life coach.  Although I can analyze our current events through an historical prism,  those seeking attitude enhancement might do better looking elsewhere.

As Allentown Turns

Last Tuesday I started my As Allentown Turns posts... A weekly snippet of  events as seen through the eyes of a third generation local.  Although my grandfather brought his parents over,  it was my grandfather who decided to make Allentown the family home in 1893.

Air Products announced that they're returning their natural gas division to Trexlertown from a Reilly tower at the end of their five year lease next summer. Other office workers, whose employers were enticed by Reilly's subsidized rents, have told me that they preferred their previous suburban locations.

A gentleman was arrested in Allentown over the weekend for firing a gun out of his car window.  Turns out this formerly convicted felon wasn't legally allowed to own a gun. Furthermore, he was driving drunk with a suspended license.  I wouldn't be surprised if he also didn't work, but collected Social Security Disability.  That unfortunately is the profile of thousands of center city residents. If these comments and assumptions offend you,  please first pick up the litter he threw out his car window before you get mad at me.

Concerning yesterday's post on Marty Nothstein...  Allentown Republican Scott Armstrong had some interesting observations.  He wished that Nothstein had gotten in front of the story.  He expects the Morning Call headline to appear on Susan Wild's mailers.

Elsewhere, The King George Inn just over the border in South Whitehall, is deteriorating in spite of being that Township's first (and only) building under their historic designation.  The township commissioners have refused to add the historic Wehr's Dam to the list, even though their voters thought that they were saving it by referendum.   New commissioner Mark Pinsley, who wants to be a state senator,  doesn't even assert himself on township issues.  He did however join the protestors against his township's policeman involved in the recent shooting outside Dorney Park.

Hit Job By Morning Call

After a three month investigation by the Morning Call,  although The newspaper "could not determine what the complaint alleges, whether the investigation is open or if Nothstein has been cleared of wrongdoing", they still headlined the story of alleged sexual misconduct against Marty Nothstein. Although I have no horse in this political race, I can recognize dirty politics when I see it.. Nothstein described it as a hit job, and in that he is correct.

Nothstein followed up on the paper's hit job with a press conference Friday afternoon.  In that conference he and his lawyer maintain that the paper was not interested in seeing affidavits from the supposed victims.  They revealed that they had appealed to both Robert York and Terry Rang, to no avail, trying to prevent the meritless detrimental headline.

The headline is not unrelated to my recent post about the national editorials against Trump. Although I agree with those who find Trump's tongue too loose, newspapers are themselves loose and easy with journalism.  When I recently wrote that the Morning Cal is for sale and protects local sacred cows,  York contacted me about correcting the for sale portion,  but wasn't concerned about the sacred cows.

Although I found the headline very unfair,  I can only hope that it wasn't a conscious attempt to boost Nothstein's opponent at his expense.  The paper did highlight his claims of unfairness in Saturday's edition.  If Nothstein can manage to project himself as a media victim, and turn the sequence of articles into lemonade, remains to be seen.

The Butchers Of Allentown

photograph by Bob Wilt

A&B (Arbogast&Bastian), dominated the local meat packing industry for almost 100 years. At it's peak, they employed 700 people and could process 4,000 hogs a day. The huge plant was at the foot of Hamilton Street, at the Lehigh River. All that remains is their free standing office building, which has been incorporated into America on Wheels. Front and Hamilton was Allentown's meatpacking district. Within one block, two national Chicago meatpackers, Swift and Wilson, had distribution centers. Also in the area were several small independents, among them M. Feder and Allentown Meat Packing Company.

Allentown Meat Packing was owned by my father and uncle. The area was criss-crossed with tracks, owned by both LVRR and Jersey Central. All the plants had their own sidings. This is an era when commerce was measured in factories and production, not just relocated office workers.

Molovinsky On Allentown occasionally takes a break from the local political discourse to present local history.  My grandfather came to Allentown in 1893 and lived in the Ward on 2nd Street. By the time my father was born in 1917, they lived on the corner of Chew and Jordan Streets. 

Trump Protesters Speak Independently In Unison?

The editor of the Boston Globe opinion page, Majorie Pritchard,  about two weeks ago asked all papers across the country to join her on August 16th and let President Trump know that the press isn't the enemy of the people. In reality it was just an organized attack against Trump, which many papers have been doing separately for two years anyway.

Apparently, Ms. Pritchard sees no contradiction between protecting an independent press, and all the newspapers printing essentially the same thing at the same time.

Even though the Morning Call is between editors, they couldn't resist participating.  Never mind the local sacred cows that they routinely protect.  Here in the local blogosphere, Bernie O'Hare's Lehigh Valley Schadenfreude joined the chorus of Trump protesters.

ADDENDUM: O'Hare had a problem with me calling his blog schadenfreude.  Last night in his comment section he wrote.... appears regularly on Molovinsky's blog, where the racists congregate. That distortion is his attempt to marginalize this blog. In reality,  O'Hare does promote schadenfreude by taunting favorite targets, and then submitting them to anonymous comments. His news is tailored to compliment those (politicians) he likes, and bash their opponents.

Allentown's Misguided Train Plans

Up through the 1960's, Allentown's train system remained much in tack. In it's heyday, there were two passenger stations, and three commercial branch lines with dozens of individual business sidings. The WestEnd Branch ran along Sumner Ave, crossed Tilghman Street, headed west till 17th Street, and then looped back east  to 12 St. The Quarry Barber Branch ran along the Little Lehigh Creek, crossing Lehigh Street and running under the 8th Street Bridge. After crossing S. 10th Street, it proceeded west till it reached Hawk Flour Mill, where it turned north heading to Union Terrace. It crossed Hamilton Street by the current Hamilton Family Diner, and ended at the park department building, across from Birney Crum Stadium. Both these branches have been totally removed, not a track nor railroad tie remain. The third branch, which was the Old LVRR main, as opposed to the New Main, ran along the Lehigh River and crossed Front Street on a diagonal at Linden St. This branch line, although unused, still exists. One of it's main customers was Lehigh Structural Steel, under the Tilghman Street Bridge. Lehigh Structural had it's own engine to shuttle material on it's own tracks within their complex.  Although the steel fabricator closed, the parcel still has industrial tenants. Currently in Allentown there are two simultaneous plans which would misuse our railroad assets. The AEDC, headed by Scott Unger, wants to use a government grant to restore the Quarry Barber Branch to an empty building on S. 10th Street. The former plant operator never cited lack of train service as a factor in it's closing. To restore the line would cost untold millions of dollars, and require miles of track.  This is a folly which only seasoned bureaucrats could entertain. On the other hand, there is another plan by another group, to abandon the potential of the last remaining intact former branch line. The NIZ now controls the riverfront and the former Structural Steel property. Their plan is to vacate the industrial tenants, including Air Products, and convert the property into residential and light commercial, such as restaurants and gift shops. All these plans are driven by federal and state grants and tax incentives, which do not factor in Allentown's particular existing assets and long term interests. In a short sighted grab for some quick tax dollars, we would build one track to nothing, while ignoring another track and vacating an existing viable industrial site.

The photograph is from the Mark Rabenold Collection, and shows the Union Street crossing. 

above reprinted from October of 2012

ADDENDUM August 15, 2018: I'm afraid that taxpayer-grant and train-wise, things have gotten much worse since I wrote the post above in 2012. The Old Main Line along the river was removed, and the last railcar client in Allentown was displaced. Scott Unger and the Allentown Economic Development Grant Siphon is receiving $millions of our dollars to rehab the old Metalworks factory on S. 10th St., and still wants to reinstall the rail spur-line, although the chances of a future tenant needing rail service is one in a million.

As Allentown Turns

Early this morning I was imagining J. B. Reilly's reaction to Don Cunningham's column identifying the boroughs surrounding Allentown as the new haunt of the millennials.  He wrote about a packed old tavern in Hellertown  serving craft beers, with a food truck instead of a kitchen.  While J. B.'s spending $millions of our tax dollars building designer palaces in center city Allentown,  Donny says that the target audience is starting to hang in places like Emmaus.

Hopefully, J.B. will forgive both Donny for writing the article, and his tenant, The Morning Call, for publishing the piece.  The Call is between publisher/editors right now,  with Robert York having been transferred to the Daily News by Tronc, the current outside media giant owning the paper.

Before York left,  he told me that my agenda seems to be taking the paper to task. While I had always fancied this blog as the intersection of local politics and history,  I'm willing to also accept York's description of this site as an additional mission.

A Morning Call Omission

I've been wrestling with something over a week now,  but Bill White made the answer much easier yesterday.  In his column he writes about the contributions of Wally Ely, both to the valley in general and to him in particular.  He mentions that Ely's last contribution to the paper concerned the Philly's,  his favorite team.  Actually, that was the last contribution they used,  but not his only recent piece.  His previous piece, submitted to the paper only weeks before, was a protest against the weed walls in the Allentown park system.

Ely was too much of a gentleman to make a big deal out of the paper ignoring his submission, but he was passionate enough about the topic to contact me about it...I even alluded to it in a previous post,  but didn't identify him.  Likewise, because he passed away,  I wasn't planning on using his name.  However, since White has chosen to enumerate Ely's contributions,  I decided to come forward.

If White really wants to pay tribute to Mr. Ely,  they should print his letter about the park system.