Allentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown is a city located on the
Lehigh River, in
Lehigh County,
Pennsylvania, in the
United States. After
Philadelphia and
Pittsburgh, it is Pennsylvania's third most populous city. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 106,632. It is the
county seat of Lehigh County.
Allentown is the largest of three adjacent cities that comprise an area of eastern Pennsylvania known as the
Lehigh Valley, with the cities of
Bethlehem and
Easton surrounding. Allentown is 60 miles (95 km) north of
Philadelphia, the fifth largest city in the United States, and 90 miles (145 km) west of
New York City, the largest city.
Allentown is the home of
Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom, a highly popular amusement park. Two four-year colleges,
Muhlenberg College and
Cedar Crest College, are based in Allentown. Air transport to and from the city is available through
Lehigh Valley International Airport.
Allentown was founded in 1762 by
William Allen, a leading figure in the
American Revolutionary War and one of the first Mayors of Philadelphia. Allen originally called the city Northamptontown. However, the town quickly became known informally as "Allen's Town." In 1838 (58 years after Allen's death), the city's name was formally changed to Allentown in Allen's honor.
Allentown holds historical significance as the location where the
Liberty Bell was hidden by the
Second Continental Congress during a portion of the American Revolutionary War. As the British were attempting to seize Philadelphia in 1777, the Liberty Bell was moved north and hidden successfully by the colonies in the basement of the Old Zion Reformed Church, in center city Allentown. Today, a shrine in the church's basement marks the exact spot where the Liberty Bell was hidden. It features a full-size official replica of the Liberty Bell, flanked by the flags of the original thirteen colonies, and is the only replica of its type.
Allentown is also home to Trout Hall, built in 1770 as the summer residence of James Allen, William Allen's son. Still standing, it is the city's oldest building structure.
The city has a strong tradition in the
brewing of
beer and was home to several notable
breweries, including the Horlacher Brewery (founded 1897, closed 1978), the Neuweiler Brewery (founded 1875, closed 1968) and Schmidts, brewed by
Pabst. Pabst's last standing brewery was located in Allentown before its brewing was contracted to
Miller Brewing in 2001.
Allentown's national reputation as a rugged
blue collar city has resulted in several references to the city in popular culture, including:
Billy Joel's "Allentown"
The city is globally known for a popular
Billy Joel song, "
Allentown," which was originally released on Joel's
The Nylon Curtain album in 1982. The song subsequently appeared on Joel's
"Greatest Hits: Volume II" (1985),
2000 Years: The Millennium Concert (2000), and
The Essential Billy Joel (2001) discs.
The song depicts the resolve of Allentonians, amidst the rough and hardened life that characterizes this East Coast, industrial city. "Allentown" also references nearby Bethlehem, home of the then-declining (and now defunct)
Bethlehem Steel Corporation.
In "Allentown," representing the challenges associated with the demise of traditional American industry for Allentonians, Joel sings:
"They never taught us what was real. Iron and coke. And chromium steel. And we're waiting here in Allentown."42nd Street
Allentown features prominently in the famous
Broadway musical
42nd Street. In the musical, up-and-coming chorus girl Peggy Sawyer hails from Allentown. As the plot unfolds, the talented singer and dancer yearns to leave Broadway and return to her native Allentown, but her director, Julian Marsh, tries to persuade her to stay.
In an effort to convince Sawyer not to return to Allentown, Marsh sings to Sawyer some of the most famous lyrics in the history of Broadway:
"Come on along and listen to the lullaby of Broadway...." Sawyer decides not to return to Allentown, and Marsh's Broadway production, starring Sawyer, goes on to roaring success.
Bye Bye Birdie
In the
Broadway musical
Bye Bye Birdie, the character of Rose ("Rosie") Alvarez (played in the original cast by
Chita Rivera) hails from Allentown. In the 1963 film adaptation, the character was portrayed by
Janet Leigh.
Forensic Files
The
Forensic Files television series (previously known as
Medical Detectives) is filmed on location in Allentown. "Medical Detectives" aired on
TLC from 1995 to 2002, and "Forensic Files" began airing on
Court TV in 2000. On both shows, the production company utilizes local Allentown actors and locations for dramatic recreations of various crimes.
X-Files
Allentown was the plot setting for two
X-Files episodes, broadcast on
Fox Television: "Nisei" (Season # 3, episode # 9; Original airdate: November 24, 1995) and "Memento Mori" (Season # 4, episode # 15; Original airdate: February 9, 1997). Neither episode, however, was actually filmed in the city.
Allentown is the birthplace of several famous Americans, including:
*
Michaela Conlin, actress
*
Charlie Dent, member of
Congress*
Keith Dorney, former professional football player,
Detroit Lions*
Peter Gruner,
professional wrestler known as Billy Kidman
*
Lee Iacocca, former chairman of
Chrysler Corporation
*
Keith Jarrett, musician
*
Michael Johns, health care executive and former
White House speechwriter
*
John Kline, member of
Congress*
Lara Jill Miller, actress
*
Andre Reed, former professional football player,
Buffalo Bills*
Amanda Seyfried, actress and model
*
Dana Snyder, voice actor
*
Christine Taylor, actress and wife of actor
Ben Stiller*
Lauren Weisberger, author,
The Devil Wears Prada*
Cindy Werley, former Olympic field hockey player
Allentown is located at 40°36'6" North, 75°28'38" West (40.601697, -75.477328).
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 46.5
km² (18.0
mi²). 45.9 km² (17.7 mi²) of it is land and 0.6 km² (0.2 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 1.34% water.
Population
In the past, the population of Allentown rose at a sprightly rate, reaching 25,288 in
1890; 35,416 in
1900; 51,913 in
1910; 73,502 in
1920; and 96,904 in
1940.
As of the
census of 2000, there were 106,632 people, 42,032 households, and 25,135 families residing in the city. The
population density was 2,320.8/km² (6,011.5/mi²). There were 45,960 housing units at an average density of 1,000.3/km² (2,591.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 72.55%
White, 7.85%
African American, 0.33%
Native American, 2.27%
Asian, 0.07%
Pacific Islander, 13.37% from
other races, and 3.55% from two or more races. 24.44% of the population were
Hispanic or
Latino of any race.
One of the primary reasons for Allentown's population increase is from significant immigration and many migrants from
New Jersey and New York City.
There are 42,032 households in the city, of which 28.8% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.4% were
married couples living together, 15.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.2% were non-families. 33.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The city's average household size is 2.42 and the average family size was 3.09.
In the city, the population was spread out with 24.8% under the age of 18, 11.2% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 19.1% from 45 to 64, and 15.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there are 91.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.7 males.
Median household income
The median income for a household in the city was $32,016, and the median income for a family was $37,356. Males had a median income of $30,426 versus $23,882 for females. The
per capita income for the city was $16,282. 18.5% of the population and 14.6% of families were below the
poverty line. 29.4% of those under the age of 18 and 10.3 percent of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
Crime statistics
In 2003, the known criminal offenses in Allentown, as reported to the United States
Federal Bureau of Investigation, included 641 violent crimes and 5,654 property crimes. With the exception of aggravated assault, Allentown exceeded national averages in all criminal categories. Cases of arson were nearly double the national average[
1].
The total reported violent crimes in Allentown exceeded the 2003 national average by 1.01 times. Individual violent crime rates per capita compared to U.S. national averages were: robbery (1.54 times avg.), murder (1.47 times avg.), forcible rape (1.32 times avg.), and aggravated assault (0.57 times avg.).
The total reported property crimes in Allentown exceeded the 2003 national average by 1.21 times. Individual property crime rates per capita compared to the U.S. national average were: arson (1.71 times avg.), burglary (1.23 times avg.), larcency/theft (1.22 times avg.), and automobile theft (1.08 times avg.).
The city's crime statistics have been heightened over the past decade by extensive and growing
gang-related crime and gang rival violence. The city also has seen a growth in
drug trafficking and
prostitution.
Air transit
In addition to the city's primary airport,
Lehigh Valley International Airport (
IATA: ABE), located three miles northeast of Allentown in
Hanover Township, Allentown is served regionally by four of the country's largest and busiest airports:
Newark Liberty International Airport,
Philadelphia International Airport and New York City's two primary airports,
John F. Kennedy International Airport and
LaGuardia Airport.
Public bus transportation is available from Allentown to LVIA, and private bus service is available to the other airports.
Bus transit
Public transportation services provided within the City of Allentown are provided by
LANTA [
2], a public bus system serving both
Lehigh County and
Northampton County.
Several private bus lines provide nearly round-the-clock roundtrip daily bus service to New York City's
Port Authority Bus Terminal, Philadelphia,
Atlantic City, and other regional locations.
Roads
Allentown's road network does not run on any grid system, and it is infamously confusing for out-of-town motorists. Roads frequently change name or direction without warning, or stop and continue elsewhere without additional information. The naming scheme in most areas of the city appears to be named street and numbered street one after another. However, this plan is not always consistent. The downtown center city area is arranged in a grid, with numbered streets running north-south and named streets running east-west. In the portion of Allentown which lies east of the Lehigh River (the "east side"), the streets follow a more understandable naming convention. Roads that run north-south are arranged in approximate alphabetical order as one travels east, away from the river. Alphabetical order by first letter is maintained throughout the east side, although streets which bear the same first letter are not necessarily alphabetized (e.g., as one heads east from Irving St., one would encounter Jerome St., then Jay St., Kiowa St., etc.). Most roads in the city are two-lane highways, even though passing is usually prohibited on them.
Major inbound roads to Allentown including Airport Road,
Cedar Crest Boulevard, Hamilton Boulevard, Lehigh Street, MacArthur Road, and Tilghman Street.
Major highways
Four expressways run through the Allentown area, with associated exits to the city:
Interstate 78, the
Pennsylvania Turnpike,
Pennsylvania State Route 309, and
U.S. Route 22.
US 22 is an expressway throughout the entire city, running parallel to Interstate 78. The highway is co-signed with I-78 just west of the Interstate 476/Pennsylvania Turnpike interchange. PA 309 is co-signed with I-78 east of Hamilton Boulevard and west of Emaus Avenue, and has small expressway spurts where the highway leads off of I-78.
Commercial railroads
Allentown is a major national center of commercial rail traffic. Currently,
Norfolk Southern's primary
hump classification yards are located within the city. The city is also served by R.J. Corman Railroad. Historically, Allentown has been served by
Central Railroad of New Jersey,
Conrail,
Lehigh and New England Railroad,
Lehigh Valley Railroad, and
Reading Railroad. While Allentown currently has no passenger rail service, several of the Allentown-area stations used historically for passenger service have been preserved through commercial use.
While many of Allentown's major industrial businesses have disappeared over the past two decades as a result of foreign competition and other factors, Allentown continues to be a corporate headquarters for several large, global companies, including
Agere Systems,
Air Products & Chemicals,
Mack Trucks,
Olympus Corporation USA,
Pennsylvania Power & Light (PPL) and others.
With 6,500 employees, the largest employer in the city, as of 2006, is
Lehigh Valley Hospital.
Baseball
Allentown plans to unveil a $34 million, 8,000-seat
Minor League Baseball stadium in
2008, located in the eastern section of the city, to be used for a yet unannounced AAA-level minor league baseball team.
While no official announcement has yet been made, the
Philadelphia Phillies are expected to part ways with their AAA affiliate of the past 18 seasons, the
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, in an effort to move their AAA affiliate to Allentown. The
Ottawa franchise of the
International League is expected to sign a Player Development Contract with the Phillies at this time in anticipation of a possible move to Allentown for the 2008 season. The perceived benefit of this move is that it would bring the Phillies' AAA team much closer to its Philadelphia and eastern Pennsylvania fan base.
Football
The
Philadelphia Eagles of the
National Football League hold their pre-season training camp each summer at the football facilities of Lehigh University, in neighboring Bethlehem. The camp has become one of the NFL's most heavily attended pre-season training camps.
The
Lehigh Valley Outlawz, an indoor football team that plays in the
Great Lakes Indoor Football League, also play their home games in neighboring Bethlehem, at the indoor
Stabler Arena.
There are two four-year colleges within the City of Allentown:
Cedar Crest College and
Muhlenberg College. Colleges in suburban Allentown include:
DeSales University (formerly Allentown College of St. Francis de Sales, located in Center Valley),
Lafayette College (located in Easton), and
Lehigh University and
Moravian College (both located in Bethlehem).
Two community colleges are located in nearby Allentown suburbs: Lehigh Carbon Community College (in Schnecksville) and
Lehigh Valley College (in Center Valley).
Penn State University also maintains a satelite campus,
Penn State Lehigh Valley (in Fogelsville).
Most of the City of Allentown is served by the Allentown School District, which is the third largest
school district in Pennsylvania, with over 17,000 students.
Public high schools
Allentown is served by two public high schools for grades 9 through 12,
William Allen High School and
Louis E. Dieruff High School. Three large Allentown suburban high schools,
Emmaus High School,
Parkland High School and Whitehall High School, also draw students from Allentown.
Public middle and elementary schools
Allentown School District's four middle schools, for grades six through eight, include: Francis D. Raub Middle School, Harrison-Morton Middle School, South Mountain Middle School and Trexler Middle School. The city is served by 17 elementary schools, for kindergarten through fifth grade, including: Central, Cleveland, Hiram W. Dodd, Jackson, Jefferson, Lehigh Parkway, McKinley, Mosser, Muhlenberg, Ritter, Roosevelt, Sheridan, Union Terrace and Washington. Several middle schools also house fifth graders.
Private primary schools
Within the city proper are also two parochial high schools,
Allentown Central Catholic High School and Lehigh Valley Christian High School. Both of these parochial high schools serve students residing outside of Allentown in addition to residents of the city. Other parochial schools in the city include: Cathedral of St. Catharine of Siena School, Holy Spirit School, Mercy Special Learning Center, Our Lady Help of Christians School, Sacred Heart School, Saint Francis of Assisi School, Saint Paul School and Saint Thomas More School. Parochial schools in Allentown are operated by the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown. The Swain School, a non-sectarian private school founded in 1929, is also located in Allentown.
Allentown is home to two shopping malls. The largest,
Lehigh Valley Mall, is located at US 22 & PA 145/MacArthur Road on Allentown's township border with
Whitehall. The other, the Salisbury Township South Mall, is located on Lehigh Street, south of I-78/PA-309, on Allentown's border with Salisbury Township near
Emmaus.
The upscale Hess's department store chain once had its flagship store located in the business district, but the defunct Hess's chain became part of The Bon-Ton chain in the mid-1990's and the flagship store was torn down in
2002. A new, multi-million dollar office building was built by PPL and placed onto the site of the old Hess's department store building. The building mainly is currently used for office space and is connected to the PPL tower. However, the main lobby is designed to potentially hold shops and restaurants.
City parks
Much of the city's park system can be attributed to the efforts of industrialist
General Harry C. Trexler. Inspired by the
City Beautiful movement in the early 1900s, Trexler worked to create West Park, a 6.59 acre park in a then-upscale area of the city. He also facilitated the development of Trexler Park, Cedar Parkway, the Allentown Municipal Golf Course and the Trout Nursery in Lehigh Parkway. Trexler was also responsible for the Trexler Trust, which to this day continues to provide private funding for the maintenance and development of Allentown's park system.
*Bicentennial Park (4,000 seat mini-stadium built for major sporting events and league activities)
*Cedar Creek Parkway (127 Acres; Includes
Lake Muhlenberg, Cedar Beach and the Rose Garden)
*East Side Reservoir (15 Acres)
*Kimmets Lock Park (5 Acres)
*Lehigh Canal Park (55 Acres)
*
Lehigh Parkway (999 Acres)
*Old Allentown Cemetery (4 Acres)
*South Mountain Reservoir (157 Acres)
*Trexler Memorial Park (134 Acres)
*Trout Creek Parkway (100 Acres)
*Union Terrace (19 Acres)
*West Park (6.59 Acres)
Recreation
*Allentown Municipal Golf Course
*Cedar Beach Pool
*Discovery Center
*
Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom*Fountain Pool
*Irving Pool
*Jordan Pool
*Lehigh Parkway
*Lehigh Valley Zoo
*Mack Pool
*Allentown Post Office (contains murals by Gifford Reynolds Beal)
*
William F. Curtis Arboretum*
Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom*The Farmer's Market, Agricultural Hall and Allentown Fairgrounds
*
Hess's Department Store (closed in 1996 and demolished in 2000)
*Old Zion Reformed Church (temporary home of the
Liberty Bell in
1777)
*Portland Place (built in 1902, former headquarters of Lehigh Portland Cement Company)
*
PPL Building (designed by architect Harvey Corbett, with exterior
bas reliefs by
Alexander Porfiryevich Archipenko)
*The Ritz
*Trout Hall
*Yocco's Hot Dogs
*
Allentown Art Museum (founded by
Walter Emerson Baum, the museum's north wing was designed by Edgar Tafel, a student of
Frank Lloyd Wright)
*
The Allentown Band (founded in 1828, it is the oldest civilian concert band in the United States)
*Allentown Symphony Orchestra
*Civic Little Theatre
*Da Vinci Discovery Center of Science and Technology[
3]
*Lenni Lenape Historical Society Museum of Indian Culture
*Marine Band of Allentown
*MunOpCo Music Theatre
*Pioneer Band of Allentown
Allentown has two official
sister cities as designated by
Sister Cities International:
*
Ma'alot-Tarshiha,
Israel.
*
Vinci,
Italy.
Allentown also has two designated "twin cities":
*
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,
United States.
*
Easton, Pennsylvania,
United States.
*
Allentown Fair.
*
Allentown Fairground Farmers Market.
*
Allentown School District.
*
City of Allentown.
*
Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom.
*
Famous Allentonians.
*
Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority.
*
Lehigh Valley International Airport.
*
Lehigh Valley Mall.
*
Mayfair Festival of the Arts.
*
List of mayors of Allentown.
