Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch: Allenschteddel) is a city in
Lehigh County in eastern Pennsylvania, United States. The US The
Census Bureau recorded a population of 125,845 as of the 2020
census. Allentown is the third largest city in Pennsylvania
after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Allentown is located on the
Lehigh River and is the county seat of Lehigh County. The city
and its surroundings have been an important center for
German-Americans since the 18th century, whose ancestors mainly
emigrated from the Palatinate. Since the 1980s, immigrants from
Central and South America (Hispanics and Latinos respectively)
have increasingly moved to Allentown and now make up the
majority of the population.
Billy Joel's song Allentown,
which appeared on his 1982 album The Nylon Curtain, is about
Allentown and neighboring Bethlehem, both industrial cities in
decline (see Rust Belt).
The city was founded in 1762 under the name of Northamptontown by
William Allen. Differing from its formal name, however, the town was
known from the start as Allen's Town after its founder. The spelling
Allentaun was common among the immigrants from Germany who published and
read the newspaper Der Lecha Patriot there from 1848 to 1859. The
original plan of the founder, that a trading center should be built here
on the Lehigh River, failed because the water level of the river was
mostly too low. This disadvantage was later partially offset by the
construction of the Lehigh Canal.
From September 1777, the
Liberty Bell was temporarily stored in what is now Allentown because it
was feared that the British colonial power could melt it down during the
American War of Independence. She was returned to Philadelphia in June
1778.
The town, which officially received its current name in
1838, experienced an enormous boom in the iron industry in the 1850s and
1860s. Was produced in particular for the rapidly growing railroad
network in the USA. This market later suffered considerably from the
Panic of 1873. Allentown's iron industry was thrown into turmoil, with
more and more plants shutting down and never recovering. Instead,
companies in the textile industry, especially silk production, and the
furniture industry settled in the city. Since the 1970s, the city has
had to contend with the decline of the manufacturing industry and the
resulting structural change.
As of September 26, 2020, 15
structures and sites in Allentown are listed on the National Register of
Historic Places (NRHP), including the Albertus L. Meyers Bridge, the
Allentown Masonic Temple and the High German Evangelical Reformed
Church.
The Albertus L. Meyers Bridge, better known by its former name Eighth
Street Bridge, spans the deep-cut Little Lehigh Creek, connecting
downtown Allentown, Pennsylvania, with its southern boroughs. When it
opened in 1913, it was probably the longest and highest reinforced
concrete road bridge in the world.
The Albertus L. Meyers Bridge
carries South Eighth Street with three lanes and a sidewalk on both
sides over the approximately 42 m deep valley and Martin Luther King Jr.
Drive, which runs along the valley floor. On the initially slightly
sloping southern slope, it also crosses Harrison Street, which runs
directly below it.
The Albertus L. Meyers Bridge is 597 m
(1959 ft) long and 13.72 m wide and consists of 9 arches with spans of
36.58 m (120 ft) and 6 flat pate bridges in the Harrison Street area,
the are faced with a shell that suggest a flat arch. 2 slab bridges in
the area of the northern end of the bridge are covered by the vegetation
of the last hundred years and the adjacent buildings.
The arches
each consist of two parallel arch ribs supported on each side by two
separate piers that reach up to the deck slab. The ribs of the arch and
the pillars are connected just below the deck by slabs in the shape of a
semicircular arch, which stiffen them and support the deck.
A
property company was founded as early as 1900 and began buying land for
the bridge. Initially, a steel truss bridge was planned, the
superstructure of which was to be erected by a German company. However,
construction suddenly stopped. It was only years later that the local
tram company, which had since been founded, received the right to lay a
route along Eighth Street over a bridge that was to be built. This time
it should be a concrete bridge. Construction work began in July 1912 and
ended with the opening ceremony on November 17, 1913. The bridge was a
toll road until 1957.
In 1974 it was named after the then
83-year-old band leader Albertus L. Meyers, who had spent his musical
life in Allentown and had already played the cornet in the brass band at
the opening ceremony.
In June 1988, the bridge was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places as a structure worthy of protection
under number 88000870.
The companies Air Products & Chemicals and the energy supplier PPL have their headquarters in Allentown. Also Mack Trucks until 2009. Today, Mack's largest factory is still in nearby Macungie.
Charlie Kunz (1896–1958), British swing pianist and bandleader
Flower A. Newhouse (1909–1994), Christian mystic and author
Lee
Iacocca (1924–2019), manager
Eddie Sachs (1927–1964), racing driver
Ariel Cahill Hollinshead (1929–2019), cancer researcher and
pharmacologist
Robert Bartholomew (1936–2021), weightlifter
Sally
Daley (born 1941), composer, church musician and organist
Keith
Jarrett (born 1945), jazz pianist
Thomas Litz (born 1945), figure
skater
Larry Seiple, (born 1945), American football player
Bob
Becker (born 1947), percussionist and composer
Stanley Dziedzic (born
1949), wrestler
Denise Donatelli (born 1950), jazz singer
Caren
Diefenderfer (1952–2017), mathematician and university lecturer
Rick
Braun (born 1955), smooth jazz trumpeter and singer
Garielle Lutz
(born 1955), writer
Chris Jarrett (born 1956), pianist and composer
Joseph Atiyeh (born 1957), American-Syrian wrestler
Eddie Metz junior
(born 1958), jazz musician
Brian Knobbs (born 1964), professional
wrestler
Jerry Sags (born 1964), professional wrestler
Maria
Wisser (* ≈1964), track cyclist
Thom Browne (born 1965), fashion
designer
Marty Nothstein (born 1971), cyclist
Christine Taylor
(born 1971), actress
Alvin Walker (1971–2022), jazz musician
Jessica Grieco (born 1973), cyclist
Billy Kidman (born 1974),
professional wrestler
Pete Lisicky (born 1976), basketball player
Michaela Conlin (born 1978), actress
Nickolas Butler (born 1979),
writer
Amanda Seyfried (born 1985), actress and fashion model
Rich
Wyman, singer-songwriter
Dane DeHaan (born 1986), actor
Kimberly
Geist (born 1987), cyclist
Lil Peep (1996–2017), rapper