A Wild Card For Lehigh Valley

Susan Wild joined 13 other Democratic congressional members in voting against the new $3 Trillion aid package.  Conventional analysis is that these house members are in somewhat conservative districts, and their support of such unbridled spending would hurt them come November. In the recent coverage of Trump's visit to the local mask company,  one couldn't help but notice all the Trump supporters.  Charlie Dent's longevity, in both Harrisburg and Washington,  had been strategically attributed to his reputation as a centrist.

As a registered independent, politically I'm naive about such maneuvers.  However, as a registered pessimist and blogger, I take very little at face value.

Face value in the Lehigh Valley means very little. Outside journalists look at all the construction downtown, and think that the area is prospering. Little do they realize that all the new buildings belong to one man, and that the new commercial tenants are simply poached from surrounding suburban office parks. Peter is being robbed to pay Paul, at taxpayer expense.

I've previously complimented Wild on her accessibility.  I could have phoned her for comment on this post, but the Morning Call published her reasons last week.  As an independent blogger,  I think that it was a call better not made.  Between now and November, I may well have a question more important to both me and the district.

A Kosher Block In Allentown

Up through the mid 1960's, you could buy kosher meat in Allentown's 6th Ward.  Over the years there were no less than four different kosher meat markets and two synagogues in the 600 block of 2nd Street.

The larger orange brick building on the right was Agudas Achim Synagogue (1893), which remained open until the mid 1990's.  It was established by the Russian Jewish immigrants to the city, including my family.

Across the street, now behind the wall of the former Grossman scrap metal yard, was an old meat market.  Over the years until 1965, that shop was operated by four different butchers, including my father's uncle, and then his cousin.

No other neighborhood encapsulates both the history and ethnic diversity of Allentown, even now, 150 years later.

Lesson At Dieruff

A Dieruff High School social studies teacher would not have to take his class very far for a lesson in Allentown's history. Although never elected, East Side activist Dennis Pearson has been complaining for thirty years that the East Side always get short changed in Public Works. Such was the case in the mid 1930's, during the WPA work in Allentown. Roosevelt's New Deal program built the elaborate walls in the south side's Lehigh Parkway. Central Allentown received the magnificent Lawrence Street stairwell. The culturally elite of west Allentown received the Union Terrace Amphitheater, envisioned for Shakespeare. Pearson's east side got a few scattered steps to nowhere. The steps remained, and thirty years later Allentown built Dieruff High School. With expansions and renovations, some of the steps now adjoin the school. Flash ahead to the summers of 2009 and 2010.




I lobbied Allentown City Council members to appropriate some of the $millions of dollars in Cedar Park plans to begin preserving the irreplaceable WPA structures, starting to crumble throughout our park system. East Side elected councilman, Michael D'Amore, assured me that he only signed off on the Administrations plan, with the stipulation that the steps in Irving Park-Dieruff area would be restored at the same time. The work in Cedar Park was completed last year, including $millions of dollars with of recreation equipment from catalogs. The deterioration of the steps around Dieruff continues. Now there's a lesson in government!
photos courtesy of Mark Thomas

reprinted from September of 2011 

UPDATE MAY 14, 2020: My campaign to save the WPA and other historical structures throughout our park system has been ongoing since 2009. Although I managed to get some funds designated for that purpose, they usually end up reassigned for some recreational use. While the intrinsic value of these park features appear irreplaceable to me, unfortunately, those who govern us don't share my sentiments.

Covid-19 In Urban Lehigh Valley

Recently a gentleman was arrested for firing his gun in the air near 9th & Allen Streets.  What got my attention about the incident wasn't the gun,  but that it occurred at what was described as a crowded street celebration.  What is it about Covid-19 that those celebrators don't understand?  It's not that they got tired of obeying the social distancing protocol and rebelled, they never started.

While some minority leaders complain of being of disproportionately infected with the virus, they ignore the lack of safety practiced in their community.

The devastation at the nursing homes is a combination of low paid workers from cultures too casual about safety procedures, and the barring of family member visits.  While the visitor ban was well intended,  it deprived the patients of much essential care, and more importantly, ongoing monitoring of a deteriorating situation.

photocredit: WFMZ

A Jewish Butcher

When my great grandfather died in 1915, the Morning Call obituary said,  Morris Molivionsky, the retired Jewish butcher at No. 639 Grant street, died on Sunday.  Although they weren't too concerned about the correct spelling of his name,  the fact that he was Jewish was apparently noteworthy then.

At that time the Jewish community was centered in the Ward, mostly on 2nd and Grant Streets.  There were kosher butchers and two synagogues on 2nd Street.

One of Morris's sons, my grandfather Aaron, moved west across the Jordan Creek, to Jordan and Chew Streets.  He operated a butchering business there behind his house, on Jute Street.

By the time my father and his brother opened Allentown Packing on Union Street,  other extended family also operated Feder Meats on Front Street, and Becker Meats on Tilghman Street.

grand opening ad from December 2, 1949

An Old Book Mystery

Readers of this blog know that I have an affinity for both local and family history.  In around 1956  I acquired a very neat book when my father was cleaning out my grandmother's house.  The book sat on a shelf until I cleaned out my parents' house in 1996.  It then sat on a shelf in my house until last week.  It's a travel guide for Germany and Europe,  given out to passengers on the North German Lloyd Lines.

This particular book was signed by the traveler, Eleanor L. Lewis, on August 7th, 1900. She was crossing the Atlantic on the SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, which was the steamer company's newest boat, gone into service at the end of 1897.  Billed as the largest and most elegant steamer afloat, it sailed between Bremen, Germany and New York.

I suspect that Eleanor was a first class passenger who left the book behind on the boat. There was a debutante of the same name in Philadelphia at the time.

I know it wasn't from my grandfather's trip, because that occurred in 1891.  Perhaps a relative of mine found it discarded on the boat, during his steerage passage to America on the return trip. Family lore had my grandfather bringing over numerous family members as he got established in Allentown. Of course none of that generation, or even the next, is still around.

Because of these posts, and my sharing of them on Allentown Chronicles,  people occasionally ask me for help learning about a person or place.

I wish that I had inquired about that book.  There were many years during which my father and uncles could have provided an answer.

The book shown above was the edition given to first class passengers on the New York run.  The book cover from my grandparents'  house looks identical, but says "through Italy and Central Europe" on the cover.

Wildlands' Handmaiden Stymies Good Government

The Wildlands Conservancy has built-in staff in South Whitehall Township.  Foremost of course is Randy Cope.  The Wildlands installed him as park director in 2012, and he has since, through attrition, became Director of Public Works.

On the commission dais they have their handmaiden, Tori Morgan.  Randy and Tori have been responsible for allowing the Wildlands to subvert the wishes of the residents, and conspire against Wehr's Dam.

During the last meeting* Randy pushed for a grant and township funded project concerning the playground in Covered Bridge Park.  Randy of course doesn't seek grants or funds for Wehr's Dam, because he and his Wildlands want it demolished.  When two of the new commissioners questioned the necessity of this playground project, in this time of fiscal uncertainty, Morgan scolded him.

"To put him on the hot seat to make a decision that we as a board make is unfair."

Morgan knew that the new commissioners were somewhat docile when they chose her as president, after being on the commission way too long already.  Now she feels empowered to paper train them.

In reality the new commissioners were doing exactly what they were elected to do, question the administration plans on behalf of the tax payers.

meeting covered for WFMZ by Jeff Ward

photo of Wehr's Dam by Gregg Obst

Depot At Overlook Park

Old timers have noticed that the contractor's building on Hanover Avenue transformed into a community center for Overlook Park. But only the oldest, or train buffs, realized that the building was the freight depot and office for the Lehigh & New England Railroad. Lehigh & New England was formed in 1895, primarily as a coal carrier. The line ran from Allentown to Maybrook, New York.

In 1904 it was acquired by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. The line ceased operation in 1961. Among it's infrastructure were impressive bridges across both the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers, both of which were dismantled. Ironic that a remnant of our industrial era is being utilized by the successor of a public housing project.

reprinted from February of 2014