By the 1980s, World War I was fast fading from living memory. But several elderly doughboys, then living at Allentown’s Phoebe Home, were still willing to share their experiences of the war that was to make the world safe for democracy, a war…

Allentown resident and firefighter George F. Missimer was familiar with the city’s stables. There was one near his home at 1337 Chew Street.

It is quite possible that John Fritz, when he was a Pennsylvania Dutch farm boy following his father behind the plow, never thought he would meet a Japanese prince.

It was on an October day, one in 1908, that Archibald “Arch” Johnston’s life took a dramatic turn.

The Kurt Zwikl I had come to know was the former legislator whose interest dove deep into everything historical on the local, state and national level.

In 1955 Max Hess had a real surprise when on March 30 no less a figure than Superman flew into Allentown from Metropolis.

It is 1946 and two guys from Newark, brothers Herbert and Sidney Hubschman, are working at the snack bar concession they ran at the RCA plant in Harrison, New Jersey, one of the few places back then that made television sets.

The year 1900 was not the start of a new century. But even as newspapers across the country tried to explain that fact to their readers, some could not resist the temptation to hail the year ahead of time.

Today as people worry about climate change and highways regularly turning to parking lots, it’s interesting to see how the Lehigh Valley’s trolleys came and went.

At first glance the lives of Karl Matthew Kafka and George Henry Woehler were not much different than most of the residents of mid-19th century Bethlehem. 

Known since its opening in 1917 as a place that catered to show acts passing through the city, the College Hotel attracted many show-people. 

Samuel Gearhart never backed off from a fight.

Pedestrians seeing the big faux Tudor mansion with its surrounding greenhouses and stables fully lit up could mean only one thing: its owner, Judge Edward Harvey, was failing.

For a true map lover, particularly one interested in local history, a visit to Muhlenberg College’s Trexler Library is a must.

Looking at the picture wall at the Hotel Bethlehem, you can see a lot of the great and near-great that have spent a night within its nearly 100 year old walls. 

John M. “Jack” Mack had been called Jack as far back as anyone could remember. 

In October of 1960, Republicans and Democrats in Allentown and across the Lehigh Valley were excited.

It is the summer of 1914 and Bethlehem Steel President Charles Schwab has a lot of concerns about Germany. 

President Eienhower, having recently come from meetings with visiting Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, feared the strike would delay progress on the missile programs that were essential for the national defense in the face of the Cold War threat of the Soviet Union.

Busy work crews have already brought back to life the vast public spaces that have echoed the sound of innumerable weddings and other family gatherings.