Allentown
is a
city
that is in
Lehigh County
,
Pennsylvania
, in the
United States
. After
Philadelphia
and
Pittsburgh
, it is Pennsylvania's third most
populous
city, with 125,845 residents as of the
2020 census
.
[1]
It is the
county seat
of Lehigh County.
The town is in east
Pennsylvania
about 45 minutes away from the
Pocono Mountains
.
The city of Allentown was first home to people in
1735
. It was then named a Northampton town (Northampton-Towne) in 1762 by William Allen, a rich shipping merchant, Chief Justice of the
Province of Pennsylvania
and mayor, or leader, of
Philadelphia
in the past.
[2]
The town was made on a 5,000-acre area Allen got for money in 1735 from the sons of
William Penn
. Allen hoped that Northampton-Towne would become a
commercial
center because of it being on the Lehigh River and how it was near Philadelphia. Allen gave the area to his son, James, who built a summer home, Trout Hall, there in 1770.
On
March 18
1811
, the town became a
borough
. On
March 6
1812
, Lehigh County was made from the west part of Northampton County, and Northampton was made the county seat. The name of the town became "Allentown" on
April 16
1833
because it was liked by people. Allentown was made a city on
March 12
1867
.
The
Liberty Bell
was kept away from the
British
during the
American Revolutionary War
in Allentown. After
George Washington
lost the Battle of Brandywine on
September 11
,
1777
, the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia did not have defense, and got ready for the British to attack. The Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania said that eleven bells, like the State House bell and the bells from Philadelphia's Christ Church and St. Peter's Church, should be taken down and taken away from the city to stop the British, who would melt the bells down to and make into
cannons
, from taking the bells. The bells were moved north to Northampton-Towne, and put in the
basement
of the Old Zion Reformed Church, in what is now center of Allentown. Today, a shrine in the church's basement marks the same spot where the Liberty Bell was.
Birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution
[
change
|
change source
]
Before the 1830s, Allentown was a small town with only local markets. When the Lehigh Canal was made the economy got bigger. The town changed with
industrialization
and became one of the United States' biggest areas for big industry and manufacturing. While Allentown was not as big as
Bethlehem
, the city right next to it, the iron industry in the area still gave many jobs to the city. Railroads, like the Lehigh Valley Railroad, were very important to move raw materials and made goods, and made many new jobs.
Allentown also had a strong tradition in the making of
beer
and was home to many breweries people knew, like the Horlacher Brewery (founded 1897, closed 1978).
Economic
recovery
in the early 20th century was caused by the
silk
and textile industry. The Adelaide Silk Mill, which was one of the biggest mills in the world, opened in Allentown in 1881. By 1928, there were more than 140 silk and textile mills in the Lehigh Valley which made silk the second biggest industry. By the 1930s, the silk industry was getting slow in all the world because synthetics were taking the place of silk. Catoir Silk Mill, the last silk mill in Allentown, closed in 1989. In 1905, Mack Trucks moved to Macungie, a small
suburb
of Allentown, which began Allentown's focus on big industrial manufacturing. Today, Allentown's economy is mostly service industries.
Allentown's climate is called
humid continental
. Summers are hot and muggy, fall and spring are mild, and winter is cold. Precipitation is almost spread throughout the year at the same rate. Allentown's weather is affected by the
Blue Mountain
, a mountain ridge from 1,000 to 1,600 feet high about 12 miles north of the city, and
South Mountain
, a mountain ridge of 500 to 1,000 feet high that is south of the city.
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Counties
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Major cities and towns
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Cities
over 100,000
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Cities and towns
over 25,000
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Cities and towns
over 10,000
| |
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Regions
| |
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Three-time winners
|
- Alexandria, Virginia
(1963, 1984, 1985)
- Allentown, Pennsylvania
(1962, 1974, 1975)
- Asheville, North Carolina
(1951, 1969, 1997)
- Bloomington, Indiana
(1958, 1981, 1982)
- Boston, Massachusetts
(1949, 1951, 1962)
- Cincinnati, Ohio
(1949, 1950, 1981)
- Dayton, Ohio
(1951, 1978, 1991)
- Delray Beach, Florida
(1993, 2001, 2017)
- Edinburg, Texas
(1968, 1995, 2000)
- Fayetteville, North Carolina
(1985, 2001, 2011)
- Fort Worth, Texas
(1964, 1993, 2011)
- Gastonia, North Carolina
(1963, 2000, 2010)
- Grand Rapids, Michigan
(1949, 1960, 1981)
- Hampton, Virginia
(1972, 2002, 2014)
- Hickory, North Carolina
(1967, 1987, 2007)
- Independence, Missouri
(1961, 1982, 2001)
- Laurinburg, North Carolina
(1956, 1967, 2003)
- Louisville, Kentucky
(1963, 1995, 2012)
- Norfolk, Virginia
(1959, 2013, 2016)
- Rochester, New York
(1981, 1998, 2020)
- Seward, Alaska
(1963, 1965, 2005)
- Shreveport, Louisiana
(1953, 1980, 1999)
- Somerville, Massachusetts
(1972, 2009, 2015)
- Spokane, Washington
(1975, 2004, 2015)
- Tacoma, Washington
(1956, 1984, 1998)
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Four-time winners
|
- Akron, Ohio
(1980, 1981, 1995, 2008)
- Anchorage, Alaska
(1956, 1965, 1985, 2002)
- Baltimore, Maryland
(1952, 1977, 1991, 2012)
- Columbus, Ohio
(1958, 1987, 1992, 2006)
- Fort Wayne, Indiana
(1983, 1998, 2009, 2021)
- Grand Island, Nebraska
(1955, 1967, 1981, 1982)
- New Haven, Connecticut
(1958, 1998, 2003, 2008)
- Peoria, Illinois
(1953, 1966, 1989, 2013)
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
(1949, 1951, 1957, 1994)
- Rockville, Maryland
(1954, 1961, 1977, 1979)
- Toledo, Ohio
(1950, 1983, 1984, 1998)
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Five-time winners
|
- Cleveland, Ohio
(1949, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1993)
- Dubuque, Iowa
(2007, 2012, 2013, 2017, 2019)
- El Paso, Texas
(1969, 2010, 2018, 2020, 2021)
- Phoenix, Arizona
(1950, 1958, 1980, 1989, 2009)
- Stockton, California
(1999, 2004, 2015, 2017, 2018)
- Tupelo, Mississippi
(1967, 1989, 1999, 2011, 2015)
- Wichita, Kansas
(1961, 1993, 1999, 2009, 2019)
- Worcester, Massachusetts
(1949, 1960, 1965, 1981, 2000)
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Six-time winners
| |
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Seven-time winners
|
- Kansas City, Missouri
(1950, 1951, 1986, 1994, 2006, 2017, 2021)
- Roanoke, Virginia
(1952, 1979, 1982, 1988, 1996, 2012, 2017)
- San Antonio, Texas
(1949, 1951, 1983, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018)
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