108-110 Union Street

When the illustrated map of Allentown shown above was marketed in 1879, 108-110 Union Street were already long standing twin houses. Behind the houses was the western channel of the Lehigh River, which went around Jeter's Island. Years later the island would be called Kline's, and become the city sewage plant. In the mid 1960's, that portion of the river would be filled in and no longer exists. While maps now indicate that the Little Lehigh joins the Lehigh at the southern end of the former island, previously it joined the channel on the western side of the island.

When the map was produced, 108 was owned by William Goetz, and 110 was owned by the Remaley family. Over the years the two sides appear to have been occupied by a number of families,  as both owners and tenants.

In 1921, both houses were purchased by H.H. Steinmetz, a former meat manager for Swift Packing. Steinmetz built a modern 10,000 ft. addition, opening his meat packing plant in 1922. Steinmetz Meat Packing supplied the chain of Economy corner markets with meat and provisions.

In 1941, the packing house was purchased by the Molovinsky family, and renamed Allentown Packing Company. While wholesale operations ceased in 1949, the business continued as a retail meat market until 1970. The plant was demolished several years later to provide parking for A&B Meats. The vacant parcel was then purchased by the neighboring commercial property.

reprinted from April of 2020

Zooming In On Allentown's Past

Today I assigned our aging staff photographer to document the demolition of the 1st National Bank building. He only took two photographs, complaining that there was no water spray to control the dust. For a building supposedly encumbered with asbestos, one would think that the pedestrians of Allentown deserved better treatment, but of course the upscale people have yet to arrive. Regular readers have been hearing about Lehigh Structural Steel on this blog. If you click on and enlarge this closeup, you can clearly see Lehigh Structural Steel Allentown is stenciled on this main beam. Imagine a time when an Allentown centered bank used steel beams made in Allentown for its headquarters in center square. We will be lucky if the beams used in the new building are made in the U.S.A.

UPDATE: A Morning Call video shows water being sprayed during the demolition. The spray person may have been on lunch break yesterday when I visited the site. 

reprinted from October of 2012

Morning Call Has New Dance Partner

I have had a continuous subscription to the Morning Call for over 50 years.  Over the weekend the paper changed hands once again.  The new owner, Alden Capital MediaNews Group, has had a major share in the paper even under Tribune's management. Although Alden is known for cost cutting, there is not much left to cut at our local paper.  The reduced staff work from home, the paper is formatted in Chicago and printed in Jersey City. 

While as a local advocate and blogger I take the paper to task on some specific issues, such as Wehr's Dam and the NIZ,  they do a very good job with the local news. Excellent reporters keep the public informed on a timely basis. Considering that there is no newsroom from which to direct operations, the publisher/editor Mike Miorelli, does a masterful job getting the paper out every day. 

There apparently is some interest by others to acquire the Morning Call from Alden. Whether this happens or not, we're fortunate to still have our local paper.

South Whitehall Determined To Destroy Wehr's Dam

It's been almost a year since the voters of South Whitehall Township told the Commissioners and Administration that they wanted to keep Wehr's Dam,  even if it took a few of their tax dollars.  However,  the Commissioners and Randy Cope, the park director,  still wanted to accommodate the Wildlands Conservancy, and demolish the dam.  Randy Cope has multiple ties to the Conservancy.  In addition to his father being a director of that organization,  he has commissioned it to implement the township Greenway Project along the Jordan Creek. In the last 11 months since the referendum passed, the township hasn't said one word about the dam, giving no confirmation that they would abide by the voters' wishes.

The large tree trunk seen above has sat on top of the middle of the dam most of the summer.  The tree has a branch stuck in the silt behind the dam.  It should have been pulled away from the back of the dam months ago, taken to shore and disposed of.  Randy Cope is now Director of Township Operations.  A tree contractor is being hired to bring in a backhoe below the dam, and pull the two ton trunk over the dam with chains, even though it is caught up behind the dam.   Randy Cope must be hoping that the process smashes the dam, or at least destroys the cement buttress and platform below it.

Although, the dam has survived for over a century, and was supposed to be saved by the voters' referendum,  the forces waged against it remain very real.  The Wildlands Conservancy/Conspiracy has undermined the dam with contrived accusations questioning its structural integrity with the state. The township administrators and commissioners have done nothing to defend the dam against those accusations. Although, I have documented the correspondence between Conservancy/State/Township, The Morning Call has refused to print my exposé about these sacred cows and their scheme.  This blog serves as the last line of defense for the historic structure. 

reprinted from October of 2017

ADDENDUM May25,2021:The tree trunk was removed without apparent damage to the dam. Perhaps at the time this posting influenced how the trunk was removed.

The Morning Call Couldn't Sell Morgan

Although the Morning Call editor tried, and tried hard, he couldn't sell Christine "Tori" Morgan for a fourth term to the voters of South Whitehall.  Morgan had served the sacred cows of South Whitehall well.  The Wildlands Conservancy now firmly dictates park policy in the township, and oversees the $multi-million-dollar Greenway Project.  The voters' wishes by referendum were repressed, while the Wildlands continues to chisel away at Wehr's Dam with the state in Harrisburg. 

While candidates are normally allowed two recommending letters, the editor placed five for Morgan, strategically spaced several days apart up to the election.

While he writes editorials on what great public service the paper performs,  he censors the truth on certain topics, and promotes myths on others.

Molovinsky And Morning Call Tumble Over Wehr's Dam

The Morning Call has declined to print the following letter, and a longer version of it.

The basis of the letter in question is centered on assumption of a result not yet known. We are declining to print the letter because it contains at worst faulty logic, at best an assumption. Please include this reasoning when you ‘go public.’   The Morning Call

The South Whitehall Commissioners never expected the voters to approve the referendum this past November to retain Wehr's Dam, especially when they had associated it with a possible tax increase. They thought that they could accommodate the Wildlands Conservancy in demolishing the dam, with no political consequence to themselves. In July of 2014, the Commissioners gave the Conservancy permission to conduct a study of the dam, which was intended to justify its demolition. The engineering firm for the Conservancy then claimed that the dam was leaking under itself, at one small spot. On February 13, 2015, the DEP wrote the township; "The Wildlands Conservancy has recently brought to our attention that there is some confusion relating to the current condition of the Wehr's Dam..." For the Commissioners to have granted the Wildlands Conservancy permission to interface with the state was improper. The dam is the historic property of the township residents, not an outside party. A subsequent study of the dam by another engineering firm could not confirm the above referenced leak. It is now necessary for the Commissioners to put aside their agenda of accommodating the Wildlands Conservancy, and honor the results of the referendum. They must change their Park Master Plan, which still calls for the dam's demolition. They must now advocate for the dam with the state DEP, and correct any misconceptions about its condition.
Michael Molovinsky

ADDENDUM: FEBRUARY 3, 2017. Although, The Morning Call has declined to print my letter(s), they claim that they will now inquire and report on the Township's intention in regard to the dam.

photocredit: molovinsky

ABOVE REPRINTED FROM FEBRUARY 2017

UPDATE JUNE 15, 2018: Although its been almost two years since the referendum, the township hasn't applied one dab of cement to the dam. On the contrary, last October they tried to breach the dam by having a contractor pull a tree trunk over it. The township has not said or written one word about the dam since the referendum. The new township magazine(summer 2018), which features capital projects in the park, doesn't show or mention the dam. The Morning Call never did make any inquiries or write one word about the dam since the referendum. The dam sits in a state of benign neglect, waiting for the state to accommodate the Wildlands Conservancy and condemn it. Only this blog defends the dam, its magic, and the voter's wishes.

UPDATE MAY 21, 2021: I have been fighting to save Wehr's Dam and the conspiracy against it since 2014.  This conspiracy was comprised of powerful components against it, including Commissioner Tori Morgan, The Wildlands Conservancy, and anti-dam sympathizers in Harrisburg's governing agencies. The Morning Call has declined to print my letters for five years.  The referendum was never intended to pass in the first place with inflated costs, it only did so because of the residents' love for their iconic dam. The Wildlands submitted the dam to absurd scrutiny, including a scuba diver in three inches of water. The state DEP accommodated the Wildlands, by ignoring their own previous low-hazard guidelines for the dam. The township public works never defended the structure with the state. 

Because of opposition to the Ridge Farms development,  the board of commissioners is becoming more transparent and responsive to the public.  A Morning Call reporter has reached out to me inquiring about the dam, I'm hopeful that an article may be finally coming.  Regardless, saving the dam remains a mission of this blog.

Stairway To Shame

In the mid 1930's, Allentown, and especially its park system, was endowed with magnificent stone edifices, courtesy of the WPA... Works Progress Administration.  This was a new deal program designed to provide employment during the aftermath of the depression.  Stone masons in this city built structures which are irreplaceable.  The walls and step structures in Lehigh Parkway, as the Union Terrace amphitheater, are legacies which must be protected.  Pictured above is the grand stairway from Lawrence Street (Martin Luther King Drive) up to Union Street, built in 1936.  The steps are in a state of disrepair.  They lead to the great Union Street Retaining Wall, thirty feet high and two blocks long, which was completed in 1937.  I call upon the Trexler Trust and Allentonians of memory,  to insist that these steps are re-pointed and preserved.  The current Administration knows nothing of our past, and really has no commitment to our future.  Save the things in Allentown that matter. 

above reprinted from September 18, 2008 

UPDATE MAY 20, 2021:Although it would take me many years, and along the way I inadvertently offended many people,  eventually I got the steps at Fountain Park and a few other structures repointed. However, much more needs to be done to maintain this irreplaceable legacy in Allentown. Just recently a corner of the stage wall at Union Terrace crumbled.  I will through this blog continue to advocate for these structures and the traditional park system.

Come November we will have a new mayor, but he will hear from me an old message.

Wildlands Conservancy Suffers Setback

Less than two months ago Tori Morgan was chosen as Lehigh Valley's 2021 Woman Of Influence.  What that really meant was that she was in her twelfth year of steering deals in well heeled South Whitehall. 

Traditionally, residents in wealthy bedroom communities don't get too involved in local government.  If the streets are kept clean,  their civic attention concerns only the quality of the school system. When the new Parkland High School was built, one contractor publicly noted that money was apparently no object in the township. 

Morgan allowed the park department to be taken over by the Wildlands Conservancy. They designed the new park masterplans (spending plans) and now administer the contracts.  Save but for me, there has been no public scrutiny of that scheme.  At least up to now, the Wildlands Conservancy has enjoyed sacred cow privilege with the Morning Call.  With Morgan's defeat in yesterday's primary, I believe that some of the shenanigans in South Whitehall will finally come to light.

What woke up the township's public is the massive development project coming at Walbert and Cedar Crest Blvds.  Concerned residents realized that their commissions were imbued with entrenched arrogance.  

Shown above is Wehr's Dam.  Although it was saved by voters' referendum,  dam removal is a Wildlands obsession. They continued back channel with the state to circumvent the referendum's intent. The township's public works, rather than defend the dam's structure,  is partner to their scheme.  I'm hopeful now that the iconic destination will survive for future generations.