History's Headlines: The railroad that never was

Perhaps the Lehigh Valley served as a sort of preface to one of the greatest success stories in American literature.

On October 22, 1862 the 47TH Regiment of Pennsylvania  Volunteers from the Lehigh Valley were part of an amphibious Union assault on Pocotaligo, South Carolina.

As the world of medicine changed, Good Shepherd changed. Today it’s an institution Rev. John Raker could not have imagined on that long ago day, when he had to turn a sorrowing woman away.

Many people today have no memory of Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. But back in the days of swing they were right up there in popularity on the Big Band stages with Glenn Miller and other stars.

It was probably 1851 when author Elizabeth Fries Lummis Ellet, who wrote under the name Mrs. E.F. Ellet, arrived in Easton.

The America of 1919 should have been a peaceful place, but the reality was far different.

There once was a time when the citizens of Pottsville, Pennsylvania did not regard their native son, the author John O’Hara, with kindness. His name was whispered in scorn and not a little hatred for exposing the peccadillos and worse of the …

It's hard to imagine Bethlehem's historic Main Street without the stately brick home that's smack dab in the middle of it, but 50 years ago, that home almost met the wrecking ball.

As an archivist and historian, the National Canal Museum’s Martha Capwell Fox knows a lot about the Lehigh Valley’s contribution to America’s Industrial Revolution. 

In the spring of 1951, Muhlenberg College administration had a decision to make. Not only had longtime college president Levering Tyson decided to resign, but they were about to make college history. That year they picked for the first time a…

A lot has changed in the world since 1933, for the better and for the worse. But there is a little corner of Limeport, Pennsylvania where one of those good things remains. It is a baseball stadium. There it sits in an era of domed arenas and …

In case you haven't been paying attention, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the landing of American astronauts on the moon. Neil Armstrong's one small step for a man on the lunar surface has been justly celebrated in 2019 with books, a…

Eighty years ago, Allentown High School (now Willian Allen HS) was known for its excellent sports teams. And among the young men that played for those teams were two brothers, African Americans named Jackson.

In the late 18th century, the sea lanes around the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean Sea were a busy place. Here were the ships that carried the wealth of the West Indies in the form of the sugar from the islands of British owned plantations t…

It was one of those days typical of the summer of 2019. As Jeff Wenck, manager of Allentown's iconic Oakmont Tennis Club, looked at the puddles of a recent rain on its classic clay courts, a storm that weather forecasters had "promised" would…

Take a look at Gilbert Stuart's portrait of Ann Penn Allen Greenleaf, eldest daughter of Allentown's James Allen, at the Allentown Art Museum and what do you see? An 18th century lady with a capital L: prim, proper and respectable for sure. B…

There were a lot of things going on in the Lehigh Valley in the fall of 1948. But on the same page that it announced the upcoming opening of the Allentown High School Stadium (now J. Birney Crum Stadium), the Morning Call noted that on Octobe…

Driving down Allentown's Linden Street beyond 17th offers a sweeping view to the left of Cedar Beach Park and lake. But if you are new to the Lehigh Valley, you might wonder why the large stadium to the right bears the unfamiliar name- in lar…

Rick Doll arrived in Perkasie in 1985. A native of Bethlehem, he knew little about the past of his new home. But thanks to a friendly woman from next door he found out.

Today for most people, General Harry C. Trexler is little more than a name. His foundation does good works. His statue stands majestically on the park that bears his name. But, other than that, he is an enigma. Dead almost 100 years, there is…