Allentown, Pennsylvania This article is about the town/city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.
Allentown, Pennsylvania .
Allentown, Pennsylvania City of Allentown Flag of Allentown, Pennsylvania Flag Official seal of Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown is positioned in Pennsylvania Allentown - Allentown Secondary Airport Allentown Queen City Municipal Airport- XLL (Minor) Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch: Allenschteddel) is a town/city located in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, United States.
It is Pennsylvania's third most crowded city and the 224th biggest city in the United States.
As of the 2010 census, the town/city had a total populace of 118,032 and is presently the quickest burgeoning city in all of Pennsylvania. It is the biggest city in the urbane region known as the Lehigh Valley, which had a populace of 821,623 inhabitants as of 2010.
Allentown constitutes a portion of the New York City Metropolitan Area and is the governmental center of county of Lehigh County. In 2012, the town/city jubilated the 250th anniversary of its beginning in 1762. Located on the Lehigh River, Allentown is the biggest of three adjoining cities, in Northampton and Lehigh counties, that make up a region of easterly Pennsylvania known as the Lehigh Valley.
Allentown is 50 miles (80 km) north-northwest of Philadelphia, the fifth most crowded city in the United States, 90 miles (140 km) east-northeast of Harrisburg, the state capital, and 90 miles (140 km) west of New York City, the nation's biggest city.
The Norfolk Southern Railway's Lehigh Line (formerly the chief line of the Lehigh Valley Railroad using former Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad chief line trackage), runs through Allentown heading east athwart the Delaware River.
The Norfolk Southern Railway's Reading Line runs through Allentown heading west to Reading, Pennsylvania.
13 Sister metros/cities and twin metros/cities In the early 1700s, the territory now occupied by the town/city of Allentown and Lehigh County was a wilderness of scrub oak where neighboring tribes of Native Americans fished for trout and hunted for deer, grouse, and other game.
In 1736, a large region to the north of Philadelphia, embracing the present site of Allentown and what is now Lehigh County, was deeded by 23 chiefs of the five great Native American nations to John, Thomas, and Richard Penn, sons of William Penn.
The region that is today the center of Allentown was laid out as Northampton Town in 1762 by William Allen, a wealthy shipping merchant, former mayor of the town/city of Philadelphia and then-Chief Justice of the Province of Pennsylvania.
Trout Hall, assembled in 1770 by James Allen (son of Allentown founder William Allen), is the earliest home in Allentown.
It is recorded that, in 1763, the very year after the beginning of Allentown, an accomplishment was made to have the governmental center of county moved from Easton to the new town.
The initial plan for the town, now in the archives of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, comprised forty-two town/city blocks and consisted of 756 lots, mostly 60 feet (18 m) in width and 230 feet (70 m) in depth.
Allen hoped that Northampton Town would displace Easton as the seat of Northampton County and also turn into a commercial center due to its locale along the Lehigh River and its adjacency to Philadelphia.
On March 6, 1812, Lehigh County was formed from the half of Northampton County, and Northampton Town was chose as the county seat.
Allentown was formally incorporated as a town/city on March 12, 1867. 1926 tablet placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution at the Old Allentown Cemetery, Tenth and Linden Street, honoring American Revolutionary War patriots from Allentown.
Haurer claimed that General George Washington, with his staff, not long after the battle of Trenton, passed through Allentown, up Water Street, which is now Lehigh Street.
The government found it necessary to remove their cartridge manufacturing to a safer place, and the town of Northampton (Allentown) was chose for repairing arms and bayonets and the manufacturing of saddles.
Reproduction of a watercolor by Davis Gray of the arrival of the Liberty Bell at Zions Church, in Northampton Town, Pennsylvania on 24 September 1777 (holdings of the Lehigh County Historical Society.) Allentown holds historical significance as the locale where the Liberty Bell (then known as the Pennsylvania State House bell) was successfully hidden from the British amid the American Revolutionary War.
The bells were transported by John Snyder and Heinrich Bartholomew, two small-town inhabitants assigned to the task by the Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council, north to Northampton-Towne, and hidden in the basement of the Old Zion Reformed Church, in what is now center town/city Allentown.
It also shows Dam Number 7 on the Lehigh River, now known as the Hamilton Street Dam (holdings of the Lehigh County Historical Society).
In 1792, the territory to the north of the Lehigh Valley was purchased by the Lehigh Coal Mine Company.
After reaching a populace of over 700 inhabitants in the 1810 United States Census, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania gave Northampton Town a legal existence on 18 March 1811 by incorporating it as the Borough of Northampton, in Northampton County.
In 1812, Lehigh County was formed by partitioning a section of Northampton County, and Northampton was designated as its county seat. In the early 1800s, Allen's town, or Allentown, as the borough began to be called since it was no longer a part of Northampton County, continued to expanded primarily as a court and market town.
Was chartered in July 1814 and it stood at the northeast corner of Center Square, where the Allentown National Bank Building stands today.
However, amid the 1850s, the town/city recovered economically with a new bridge athwart the Lehigh, brick buildings replacing the wooden ones burned down on Hamilton Street, and in 1852, the first Allentown Fair was held. Worried about the burgeoning tensions between America's North and South, inhabitants of the counties of Lehigh and Northampton in Pennsylvania "called a enhance meeting at Easton 'to consider the posture of affairs and to take measures for the support of the National Government,'" as stated to Alfred Mathews and Austin N.
Hungerford, authors of History of the Counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. At this meeting on April 13, 1861, these people voted to establish and equip a new military unit, the 1st Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and placed Tilghman H.
Good, commander of the Pennsylvania National Guard's 4th Regiment at the time, had previously served as captain of the Allen Rifles, a Lehigh County militia established in 1849, and later went on to turn into a three-time mayor of Allentown.
During their three months' service, which lasted until July 23, 1861, these Allentonians primarily performed guard duty and, as one of the first five militia units sent by Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C., the Allen Infantry helped to deter the Confederate States from carrying out any plans they had to capture the city.
Companies B, G, I, and K of the 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry were recruited in Allentown, Company F in Catasauqua, Companies A and E in Easton, Company C in Sunbury, and Companies D and H in Perry County.
The only Pennsylvania regiment to fight in the Union Army's 1864 Red River Campaign athwart Louisiana, the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers also participated in the Union Army's capture of Saint John's Bluff, Florida (October 1 3, 1862), the Battle of Pocotaligo, South Carolina (October 21 23, 1862), and General Sheridan's 1864 Shenandoah Valley campaign, including the Battles of Berryville, Opequan, Fisher's Hill, and Cedar Creek in Virginia, and also helped to defend the nation's capital following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Other known Civil War units from Allentown were the 5th, 41st, 128th, and 176th Pennsylvania Infantry. On October 19, 1899, the town/city erected and dedicated the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, which still stands on Allentown's center square, with respect to Union soldiers from Allentown and small-town Lehigh Valley suburbs and boroughs who died in the Civil War. The opening of the Lehigh Canal caused a fundamental change in the nature of Allentown and the Lehigh Valley, as it transformed both from a non-urban agricultural region dominated by German-speaking citizens into an urbanized industrialized area.
By 1814 the list of industrialized plants in the town/city included flour mills, saw mills, two saddle manufacturers, a tannery and tan yard, a woolen mill, a card weaving plant, two gunsmiths, two tobacconists, two clock-makers, and two printers. In 1855, the first barns s reached Allentown.
The Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad ordered four locomotives and stations were erected at Easton, Allentown and Mauch Chunk.
In addition to Leh's boot and shoe industry, amid the Civil War, eight brick yards, a saw mill, the Allentown Paint factory, two shoe factories, a piano factory, flour mills, breweries and distilleries had opened in the city. Beds of iron ore had been identified in the hills around Allentown in the 1840s, and a furnace was constructed in 1846 for the manufacturing of pig iron by the Allentown Iron Company.
The Allentown Rolling Mill Company was a consolidation of a several small companies in 1860 and became the most momentous iron business in the city.
In addition to the iron and barns industries, Allentown also had a strong tradition in the brewing of beer and was home to a several notable breweries, including the Horlacher Brewery (founded 1897, closed 1978), the Neuweiler Brewery (founded 1875, closed 1968) and Schaefer Beer, whose brewery was later owned by Pabst Brewing Company and Guinness but is now owned by the Boston Beer Company, manufacturer of Samuel Adams. Bricks were the first products shipped outside of the Allentown region by rail and were sold nationwide. Food refining started with the early bakers, who came into the town/city with the first settlers.
With the industrialized industry, Allentown became a primary banking and finance center.
Through his trade and assistance the following industries were established: The Iowa Barb Wire Co., which was later combined by the American Steel and Wire Co.; The Pioneer Silk Factory, The Palace Silk Mill, and the Allentown Spinning Company. Convincing the Phoenix Manufacturing Company to open a silk foundry in Allentown was the first primary success of that accomplishment.
The success of its Adelaide foundry at Race and Court Streets prompted the opening of the Pioneer silk foundry in 1886 and the town/city was established as a silk manufacturing center.
Jack and Gus Mack moved their motor car plant to Allentown from Brooklyn, NY in 1905; taking over the foundries of the former Weaver-Hirsh business on South 10th Street.
Max Hess came to Allentown in 1896 on a company trip and envisioned a department store serving the area.
Opening in 1926, the Zollinger-Harned Company became Allentown's third primary department store in the Central Business District. By the mid-20th Century, Allentown had turn into a primary retailing and entertainment center separate from Philadelphia and New York City.
Increasing taxes in the town/city and the inability to grew the city's legal limits led to a migration of the baby boom generation to live outside of the town/city limits.
Allentown began to be drained of its next generation of working class, who began to migrate to the newer, less expensive housing in suburbs which also offered lower taxes, greenspace, less crime, and newer schools.
With these demographic shifts that began in the 1970s and continued into the 1980s and 1990s, Allentown's town/city government and school precinct were left with severaler resources.
The financial shortcomings of the town/city increased the amount of working-class families leaving Allentown because of the Allentown School District's shortcomings as well as the sea change in demographics in the city's neighborhoods, especially those in center city.
With the departure of many working-class families from older center town/city neighborhoods, many homes were sold to landlords which converted them into inexpensive multi-family apartements which became government subsidized because of lax zoning enforcement and permissive town/city codes.
The subsidized housing thriving new immigrants to the region from New York and Philadelphia, looking for a better life in the more affordable Allentown area, but started a poverty lured with many of these inhabitants requiring civil services which the town/city could not afford easily.
1974 image of the Hamilton Mall, a redevelopment of the Central Business District of Allentown.
This was an attempt by the town/city to compete with the suburban shopping centers that had opened outside of the town/city and bring shoppers back to the Central Business District.
While the neighborhoods and school fitness continued to decline, Allentown, like many other cities, concentrated all of its consideration and resources on Hamilton Street Retail and the Central Business District, ignoring the neighborhoods around them.
Ten years later in 1976, the larger Lehigh Valley Mall was assembled north of the Lehigh Valley Thruway (US Route 22).
The third, Hess's was sold to The Bon-Ton in 1994, which later closed in 1996. The closure of Hess's and the fate in 1993 of the Corporate Center, the city's new flagship market seat on North Seventh Street, fell victim to a large sinkhole which caused its condemnation and ultimate demolition.
PPL Center assembly in downtown Allentown in 2013.
In the 2000s and 2010s, Allentown's economy, like most of Pennsylvania's, has been based in the service industries with some manufacturing.
In addition, the Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ) was created by the Pennsylvania State Legislature in 2009 to encourage evolution and revitalization in Allentown.
The NIZ consists of approximately 128 acres (52 hectares) in downtown Allentown and the new Riverfront precinct (the side of the Lehigh River).
As a result, the Central Business District has been redeveloped with Allentown's new PPL Center arena, a full-service Renaissance Hotel and redeveloped office buildings. In addition to the Central Business District, the Lehigh River waterfront region is being redeveloped with a mixed-use evolution of apartment and office buildings. There is also an accomplishment underway to bring suburban inhabitants back into the city.
Bodies of water include the Jordan Creek and its tributary, the Little Lehigh Creek, which join inside the town/city limits and empty into the Lehigh River.
The town/city sits inside the Lehigh Valley, a geographic region bounded by Blue Mountain, a ridge of the Appalachian mountain range, which varies from 1,000 to 1,600 feet (490 m) in height about 17 miles (27 km) north of the city, and South Mountain, a ridge of 500 to 1,000 feet (300 m) in height that borders the southern edge of the city.
The town/city is the governmental center of county of Lehigh County.
The adjoining counties are Carbon County to the north; Northampton County to the northeast and east; Bucks County to the southeast; Montgomery County to the south; and Berks County and Schuylkill County to the west.
Main articles: List of Allentown neighborhoods and Center City, Allentown, Pennsylvania Center City, which includes the downtown region and the 7th Street retail and residentiary corridor, is the city's central company precinct and the site of various city, county and federal government centers.
To the east of Center City are "The Wards," residentiary areas that advanced during the city's industrialized boom of the late 19th century and early 20th century.
South of Center City, and athwart the Little Lehigh Creek, are the city's South Side neighborhoods, which border Emmaus.
The West End of Allentown, with its mix of commercial corridors, cultural centers, and larger single-family residences, begins approximately west of 15th Street.
The Allentown Art Museum, Allentown Symphony Hall, the former site of Hess's Department Stores' initial and flagship store, Baum School of Art, Lehigh County Historical Society and Heritage Museum, and The Liberty Bell Museum are all known landmarks in Center City.
The Central Business District has a several office buildings (One City Center, the Dime Savings and Trust Company building, Two City Center, and a several the rest are planned), a 8,641-seat indoor arena (the PPL Center) which opened in August 2014, cost $177.1 million to build, the Americus Hotel and a Marriott Hotel which is scheduled to open in January 2015, Plans for a primary redevelopment of the Central Business District of Allentown were announced in late 2009 as a result of Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ) legislation passed by the Pennsylvania legislature. Focused on the 7th and Hamilton Streets area, a 5-acre (2.0-hectare) one square block was acquired in 2011 in which a several new structures are prepared or have already been erected: The universal has generated some concern centered on the huge cost of the endeavor from funding the plan. The estimated cost of the universal is presently $277 million.
Main article: Buildings and architecture of Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown Symphony Hall, positioned on Allentown's North Sixth Street, was originally assembled in the late 19th century as a market.
The City of Allentown is characterized by a large stock of historic homes, commercial structures and century-old industrialized buildings. Allentown's Center City neighborhoods mainly consist of a range of Victorian and Federal rowhomes.
The stately homes around West Park are mostly Victorian and Craftsman-style. The homes on the city's tree-lined streets in the West End were mostly assembled in the 1920s and 1940s.
Wallace Harrison came to Allentown to design the building, which was a prototype for the Art Deco architecture of Rockefeller Center in New York City.
One of the city's older surviving structures, Miller Symphony Hall, at 23 North Sixth Street, dates from 1896 and originally homed the city's enhance market.
Originally known as the Lyric Theater, it is the premier performing arts facility in Allentown, home of the Allentown Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Pennsylvania Sinfonia, Community Concerts of Allentown, Allentown Band and Community Music School of the Lehigh Valley.
There are three historic districts in Allentown: Old Allentown, the Old Fairgrounds and the West Park neighborhoods.
Old Allentown and Old Fairgrounds are Center City neighborhoods that hold a joint home tour organized by the Old Allentown Preservation Association (OAPA) once a year in September.
Main article: List of town/city parks of Allentown, Pennsylvania Inspired by the City Beautiful boss in the early 20th century, Trexler helped problematic West Park, a 6.59-acre (26,700 m2) park in what was then a improve trash pit and sandlot baseball field in an upscale region of the city.
The park, which opened in 1909, features a bandshell, designed by noted Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer, which has long been home to the Allentown Band and other improve bands. Trexler also facilitated the evolution of Trexler Park, Cedar Parkway, Allentown Municipal Golf Course and the Trout Nursery in Lehigh Parkway.
City parks in Allentown include Bicentennial Park (4,600 seat mini-stadium assembled for sporting affairs), Cedar Creek Parkway (127 acres, including Lake Muhlenberg, Cedar Beach and the Malcolm W.
Gross Memorial Rose Garden), East Side Reservoir (15 acres), Irving Street Park, Kimmets Lock Park (5 acres), Lehigh Canal Park (55 acres), Lehigh Parkway (999 acres), Old Allentown Cemetery (4 acres), Jordan Park, South Mountain Reservoir (157 acres), Trexler Memorial Park (134 acres), Trout Creek Parkway (100 acres), Joe Daddona Park (19 acres) and West Park (6.59 acres). Main article: Climate of Allentown, Pennsylvania Climate data for Allentown, Pennsylvania (Lehigh Valley Int'l), 1981 2010 normals, extremes 1922 present Main article: Demographics of Allentown, Pennsylvania The unemployment rate for the entire Lehigh Valley region is 9.8% as of February 2010, with Allentown's unemployment rate estimated at over 10%. See also: Economy of Allentown, Pennsylvania and List of shopping malls in the Lehigh Valley The town/city serves as the locale of corporate command posts for a several large, global companies, including Air Products & Chemicals, PPL, and others. The biggest employer in Allentown is Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network, with more than 7,800 employees. Center City region along Hamilton Street between 5th and 10th Streets used to be the major shopping precinct in Allentown.
Instead of Allentown downtown being a shopping mecca, the use of it has turned into office buildings and became a center-city ground for county government workers, along with those of PPL.
Further information: Lehigh Valley Transit Company and Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority Hamilton Street in downtown Allentown, 2007.
Four expressways run through the Allentown area, with associated exits to the city: Interstate 78, which runs from Harrisburg in the west to New York City's Holland Tunnel in the east; the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, (which is part of I-476), runs from Plymouth Meeting outside Philadelphia in the south to Interstate 81 at Clarks Summit in the north; Pennsylvania Route 309, which runs from Philadelphia in the south to the Wyoming Valley in the north; and U.S.
Public parking inside Allentown is managed by the Allentown Parking Authority.
There are nine primary inbound roads to Allentown: Airport Road, Cedar Crest Boulevard, Fullerton Avenue, Hamilton Boulevard, Lehigh Street, Mauch Chunk Road, Pennsylvania Route 145 (Mac - Arthur Road), Tilghman Street, and Union Boulevard.
Public buses inside Allentown are provided by LANTA, a enhance bus fitness serving Lehigh and Northampton Counties.
See also: Rail Service in Allentown Pennsylvania Until the 1950s, the Lehigh Valley Railroad offered 2 hour and 15 minute direct train service to Pennsylvania Station in New York City.
Allentown was once a passenger rail hub, served by the Central Railroad of New Jersey (using the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad), Lehigh and New England Railroad, Lehigh Valley Railroad, the Reading Railroad, the Lehigh Valley Transit Company and later, Conrail.
Routes served Wilkes-Barre and Scranton to the north, Buffalo and Williamsport to the northwest, Reading and Harrisburg to the west, Jersey City and New York City to the east, and Philadelphia to the south. Today the Norfolk Southern Railway's Lehigh Line (formerly the chief line of the Lehigh Valley Railroad using Central Railroad of New Jersey leased trackage in Allentown that was owned by the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad), runs through the town/city heading east athwart the Delaware River.
The Norfolk Southern Railway's Reading Line runs through Allentown heading west to Reading, Pennsylvania.
In November 2008, the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC), along with both Lehigh and Northampton Counties, commissioned a study to explore restoring part of the Black Diamond service (which ran until 1961) by extending the New Jersey Transit's Raritan Valley Line to Allentown. Allentown is a county-wide center for commercial freight rail traffic.
Lehigh Valley International Airport is three miles (5 km) northeast of Allentown.
The city's major airport, Lehigh Valley International Airport, is positioned three miles (5 km) northeast of Allentown in Hanover Township and is directed by the Lehigh Northampton Airport Authority.
The region is also served by Allentown Queen City Municipal Airport, a two-runway facility positioned in South Allentown used dominantly for private aviation.
Electricity in Allentown is provided by Pennsylvania Power and Light (PP&L).
Two cable companies, RCN Corporation (originally Twin County Cable) and Service Electric, have served the town/city since the 1960s. The area's only landfill, IESI Bethlehem, is positioned in close-by Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Water and sewage, before to 2013, were controlled by the town/city and are now under the operation of Lehigh County authority as the result of a 50-year lease agreement.
See also: List of mayors of Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown operates as a Pennsylvania third-class town/city with the "strong-mayor" version of the mayor-council form of government since 1970 wherein the mayor serves as chief executive and administrative officer for the municipality and City Council serves as the legislative and supervision body providing checks and balances on the system. Elected "at-large", the mayor serves a four-year term under the city's home rule charter. The current town/city mayor is Democrat Ed Pawlowski, who replaced Roy C.
The legislative branch, the Allentown City Council, consists of seven council members propel at large for four-year staggered terms. City Council holds regular enhance meetings in order to enact legislation in the form of ordinances and resolutions.
The current president of the City Council is Julio Guridy. The City Controller, who is responsible for the supervision of the city's finances, is also propel and serves a four-year term. Federally, Allentown is part of Pennsylvania's 15th congressional district, represented by Republican Charlie Dent since in 2004.
For 2010, crime is down in the City of Allentown for the fourth consecutive year. Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, 2008.
Allentown is home to a several hospitals and community networks, including St.
Formerly, the town/city was home to the Allentown State Hospital, a psychiatric hospital which closed in 2010.
The Allentown Fire Department (AFD) was established in 1870 and today operates out of 6 fire stations, positioned throughout the city.
The Allentown Fire Department also operates a fire apparatus fleet of 7 Engines(including 1 Quint), 2 Trucks, 1 Haz-Mat.
Main article: Allentown School District The City of Allentown is served by the Allentown School District, which is the fourth biggest school precinct in Pennsylvania, with 18,118 students (based on 2005 2006 enrollment data). A small portion of the town/city located near Trexler Park is serviced by the Parkland School District.
In 2013, the district's enrollment had declined to 16,966 pupils. In July 2012, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) released a report identifying seventeen Allentown School District schools as among the lowest achieving schools for reading and mathematics in 2011 and 2012.
William Allen High School, one of two enhance high schools in Allentown.
The town/city maintains two enhance high schools for grades 9 12, William Allen High School, which serves students from the southern and parts of the city, and Louis E.
Each of these Allentown region high schools competes athletically in the Lehigh Valley Conference.
Students may also attend Newcomer Academy at Midway Manor or the Allentown School District Virtual Academy (grades 8 12).
Allentown School District's four middle schools, for grades 6 8, include: Francis D.
The Allentown School District is presently comprehensive a 10-year, $120 million facilities enhancement plan.
Allentown has two enhance charter schools: the Roberto Clemente Charter School, positioned at 4th and Walnut Streets in Allentown, is a Title I charter school which provides educational services to mainly Hispanic students in grades 6 through 12 and the Lincoln Leadership Academy Charter School provides a K-12th program and is positioned at 1414 E.
Allentown has two parochial high schools, Allentown Central Catholic High School and Lehigh Valley Christian High School, though both schools draw students from both Allentown and the city's suburbs.
Other Allentown-based parochial schools (serving grades K-8) include: Saint John Vianney Regional School, Holy Spirit School, Lehigh Christian Academy, Mercy Special Learning Center, Our Lady Help of Christians School, Sacred Heart School, and Saint Thomas More School.
The Roman Catholic-affiliated parochial schools in Allentown are directed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown.
Lastly, Allentown has one autonomous day school, The Swain School.
The Baum School of Art in Center City Allentown.
Two four-year universities are positioned in Allentown: Cedar Crest College and Muhlenberg College.
A satellite ground of Lehigh Carbon Community College (LCCC), a elected community college which offers two- and four-year degree programs, closing education and trade training, is positioned in Center City Allentown. Pennsylvania State University's Lehigh Valley ground is positioned in Center Valley, approximately nine miles away from the city.
Headquartered in Center City Allentown, The Morning Call is among the 100 biggest circulation newspapers in the United States. See also: List of newspapers in Pennsylvania, List of airways broadcasts in Pennsylvania, and List of tv stations in Pennsylvania Allentown has the 68th biggest radio market in the United States by Arbitron. Stations licensed to Allentown include WAEB-AM (talk, news and sports), WAEB-FM (Top 40 music), WDIY (NPR and enhance radio), WHOL (tropical music), WLEV (adult intact music), WMUH (Muhlenberg College ground radio), WSAN (Fox Sports Radio and Philadelphia Phillies broadcasts), WZZO (hard modern music) and others.
In addition, many New York City and Philadelphia stations can be received in Allentown.
Allentown is part of the Philadelphia's tv Media market. The primary Philadelphia-based network stations serving Allentown include: KYW-TV (CBS), WCAU (NBC), WPVI-TV (ABC) and WTXF-TV (Fox).
Radio stations in the Allentown Bethlehem, Pennsylvania market Main article: Culture of Allentown, Pennsylvania The Allentown Art Museum, positioned on North Fifth Street in Center City Allentown.
The Allentown Symphony Orchestra performs at Allentown Symphony Hall, retitled Miller Symphony Hall, positioned on North Sixth Street in center city.
The town/city also has a musical tradition of civilian concert bands, and is home to the Allentown Band, the earliest civilian concert band in the United States. The Allentown Band, Marine Band of Allentown, Municipal Band of Allentown and the Pioneer Band of Allentown all regularly perform at the bandshell in the city's West Park.
Nineteenth Street Theater in Allentown.
The Allentown Art Museum, positioned on North Fifth Street in Center City, is home to a compilation of more than 13,000 pieces of art, along with an associated library.
The Baum School of Art, positioned in downtown Allentown at 5th and Linden Streets, offers credit and non-credit classes in painting, drawing, ceramics, fashion design, jewelry making and more.
Civic also operates the Lehigh Valley's only full-time cinema exclusively showing art, autonomous and foreign films and a theater school that has been served the Valley's youth for more than 50 years.
Main articles: Historical and Notable Sites in Allentown, Pennsylvania; List of town/city parks and recreation facilities of Allentown, Pennsylvania; and National Register of Historic Places listings in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania The town/city of Allentown, Pennsylvania was established in 1762 and is one of the earliest primary cities in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the United States.
Over its 250-year history of the town/city various buildings, bridges, parks and other locations in the town/city have come and gone, but many remain, with no less than thirteen of them being on the National Register of Historic Places.
A cafe on 19th Street, in Allentown's West End, 2007.
Main article: Cuisine of Allentown, Pennsylvania See also: Diners of Allentown, Pennsylvania Vestiges of Allentown's Pennsylvania German tradition remain present in its cuisine, and foodstuffs such as scrapple, chow-chow, Lebanon bologna, cole slaw and apple butter are often found offered in small-town diners and the Allentown Farmer's Market.
As the populace of the town/city has increased, many nationwide restaurant and fast food chains have established a existence in the city.
Main article: Sports in Allentown, Pennsylvania See also: History of baseball in Allentown, Pennsylvania Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, home of the Lehigh Valley Iron - Pigs.
Today the town/city hosts the Philadelphia Phillies' AAA-level Minor League baseball team, the Lehigh Valley Iron - Pigs.
Allentown hosted the Allentown Jets, an Eastern Professional Basketball League team, from 1958 to 1981.
The team's home games were played in Rockne Hall at Allentown Central Catholic High School.
In 2014, the PPL Center, an 8,500-seat Ice hockey arena opened as the home of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the American Hockey League partner of the Philadelphia Flyers.
The arena is positioned in downtown Allentown, taking up the entire block between 7th and 8th Streets and Hamilton and Linden Streets.
The only experienced soccer team remaining in the Lehigh Valley is the FC Sonic Lehigh Valley, based in close-by Bethlehem.
Lehigh County Historical Society and Lehigh Valley Heritage Center Museum, small-town history Mayfair Festival of the Arts, an arts and crafts festival established in 1986, is held each May at Cedar Beach Park. The Great Allentown Fair runs annually, in early September, on the grounds of the Allentown Fairgrounds, where it has been held since 1889.
The first Allentown Fair was held in 1852, and between 1852 and 1899 it was held at the "Old Allentown Fairgrounds," which was positioned north of Liberty Street between 5th and 6th streets.
Allentown is the place of birth of, or home to, a several notable Americans, including: Main article: Culture of Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown's reputation as a rugged blue collar town/city has led to many references to the town/city in prominent culture.
Joel's song uses Allentown as a metaphor for the resilience of working class Americans in distressed industrialized cities amid the recession of the early 1980s.
Allentown has three official sister metros/cities as designated by Sister Cities International: Official records for Allentown were kept at Allentown Gas Company from March 1922 to December 1943, and at Lehigh Valley Int'l since January 1944.
"'Cement City' Moniker Is A Mystery American Heritage Says Label Was Allentown's.".
"Queen City's origins as an Allentown nickname are obscure.
"Hamilton Street used to be thick with peanut shells ** And Allentown's Army Camp Crane once had a prominent commander.".
"Allentown's title as the Peanut City goes back to the late 19th and early 20th century when large amounts of them were eaten in the Lehigh Valley.
"Cement City' Moniker Is A Mystery American Heritage Says Label Was Allentown's.".
"Silk City for example, is a throwback to the late 19th and early 20th century, when Allentown was known for its many silk mills.
"City of Allentown - PA - Official Site".
Allentown PA Bicentennial Lehigh Country Sesquicentennial 1962 Commemorative Book Allentown, Pennsylvania: Lehigh County Historical Society (1st): 22 43.
Past, Present and Future of the City of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Allentown Board of Trade, 1886 a b c d e f g h i j k Allentown, 1762 1987, a 225 Year history, Volume II, 1921 1987, Lehigh County Historical Society, 1987.
A history of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, from the earliest settlements to the present time, including much valuable knowledge for the use of schools, families, libraries.
"Soldiers and Sailors Monument Saluting Lehigh County for over 100 years," WFMZ, July 12, 2011, retrieved January 10, 2016.
Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone (NIZ) "Two City Center the first to open in Allentown arena zone".
"National Penn Bank Moves Ahead With Allentown Relocation".
"Allentown Pa Arena block will cost $272 million".
"Renaissance Allentown Hotel".
"Allentown Arena Hotel to be a Marriott Renaissance".
"Allentown completes bond sales, receives funding for hockey arena project".
Old Allentown Web Site "West Park the iconic home for Allentown bands.".
"Allentown, PA Parks".
"Allentown (city) Quick - Facts from the US Enumeration Bureau".
"Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation Largest Lehigh Valley Employers" (PDF).
"100 Best Companies to Work for 2007: Lehigh Valley Hospital & Health Network".
"City of Allentown City Controller".
"City of Allentown City Council Members".
"City of Allentown City Controller".
Pennsylvania Department of Education, School Performance Profile Allentown School District, October 2013 Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Allentown council authorizes use of eminent domain for hockey arena if needed.
"Hanover Township rejects Allentown arena zone settlement offer".
Allentown's Involvement in the Civil War: Allen Infantry ("Allen Guards", April July 1861) Allentown's Involvement in the Civil War: Allen Rifles (from the unit's beginning as the "Lehigh Fencibles" in 1849 up to its 1870 reformation) Allentown's Involvement in the Civil War: Company I, 1st Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (April July 1861) Allentown's Involvement in the Civil War: 47th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (1861-1865)
Categories:
Allentown, Pennsylvania - Cities in Pennsylvania - County seats in Pennsylvania - Early American industrialized centers - Populated places established in 1735 - Populated places on the Lehigh River - Cities in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania - 1735 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies
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