As an archivist and historian, the National Canal Museumโs Martha Capwell Fox knows a lot about the Lehigh Valleyโs contribution to Americaโs Industrial Revolution.ย
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…
In 1962, the Saturday Evening Post magazine featured a story on Lehigh Valley race car driver Eddie Sachs. It began this way:
It was at roughly 4:00 p.m. on June 15, 1863 when the Williamsport, Pennsylvania telegraph in the local telegraph office began to pound wildly. The words it tapped out were clear. Confederate General Robert E. Lee had crossed into Maryland wh…
Anyone who has ever moved from a home they have lived in a long time can recall how much can accumulate in what seemed a few short years. So, imagine what Allentown Band Music Director Ron Demkee sees when he looks out at the archives of the …
On the evening of Monday June 19th 1922, the members of the Allentown Radio Club got some exciting news: U.S. Navy Captain Walter Hinton, pilot of the NC-4, the first plane to cross the Atlantic in 1919, was coming to address the group. The c…
On November 7, 1918 the United Press issued a bulletin declaring that Germany had surrendered, ending what we know as World War I. Across the Lehigh Valley, a celebration broke out, as it did in the rest of the country. It was a real disappoi…
It was July of 1868, and the Democratic Party Convention was in full swing in New York's cavernous Tammany Hall auditorium. As delegates from across the country mingled on the floor in the stifling, fetid, smoke-filled air at the press tables…
The decision was final. Martin Tower's doom, announced by Bethlehem officialdom, was set for late spring or early summer. It would, they said, be carefully imploded so as to cause as little fuss as possible. Over 20-odd stories of steel, what…
Describing Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930) is not easy. Was he an academic? Was he an archeologist? Was he a tile maker? Or was he just odd? In fact, 89 years after his death, Mercer is recognized as a little bit of all those things, and als…
TONIGHT: Clear and seasonably chilly. Low: 40TUESDAY: Mostly sunny and not as warm. High: 66TUESDAY NIGHT: Mostly clear early, then increasing clouds towards daybreak. Low: 45
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