Page 7 - The Lehigh Valley Community Guide 2015-2016
P. 7
The Morning Call, COMMUNITY GUIDE 2015-2016 ❘ 7
WELCOME
By the numbers, Lehigh County Allentown
Emily Hirsch/Special to The Morning Call A CITY ON THE MOVE
The Emmaus Public Library’s mural was created by East Penn School District students, the Emmaus Arts Commission and Philadelphia artist Isaiah Zagar.
It was in 1762 that a little settlement of 12
Geography 67.5 Percent of homeowners Lifestyle cabins, which founder William Allen called
347 Square miles $196,600 Median value, owner-occupied “Northampton Towne,” became officially
1,018 Persons per square mile $1,600 Median mortgage Males 15 and older registered as a location after a storekeeper
$914 Median rent costs 41,290 Never married there gave birth. And it was John Adams,
Population 2.67 Persons per household 71,539 Married passing through it as a small farming
13.7 Percent living below poverty 2,726 Separated village in 1777, who called the place
357,823 Lehigh County 3,724 Widowed “Allen’s Town.” It’s hard to imagine how from
118,577 Allentown Education 11,182 Divorced these humble beginnings the city has
6 Percent of persons under 5 Females 15 and older transformed into the bustling, diverse center
19.9 Percent of persons between 5-19 86.8 Percent of population with a high 43,685 Never married we now call home. The population has
15 Percent persons 65 or over school degree or higher 69,398 Married expanded from predominantly Northern
51.2 Percent female 28.1 Percent of population with a bachelor’s 4,167 Separated European — particularly German — to a
degree or higher 14,815 Widowed mix that includes Hispanic, Asian, African
Looking Closer 16,219 Divorced and Middle Eastern people. The landscape
The Working Life 4,607 Women who gave birth is different, too, with the busy sidewalks and
39.4 Median age 7,665 Grandparents who live with storefronts of the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s
3.13 Average family size 24.2 Mean travel time to work (minutes) grandchildren anchored by the former Hess’s department
223,014 Number born in Pennsylvania 81.2 Percent of workers drive to work alone store, transformed into loft apartments,
34,620 Number of people born in a foreign 4,283 Persons walk to work By Race restaurants, office buildings and, most
country $54,923 Median household earnings recently, the PPL Center. This sports arena
77.9 Percent of the population that only $51,105 Male full-time earnings 85.1 Percent of white persons complex is home to the American Hockey
speaks English $37,386 Female full-time earnings 8.2 Percent black persons League’s Phantoms team and various
39.7 Percent of the population that speaks a 182,984 People in the labor force 20.7 Percent of Hispanic or Latino persons restaurants. Attached to it is the new
language other than English 18,447 People unemployed 3.4 Percent Asian persons Renaissance Allentown Hotel, which uses
7,717 Self-employed workers 2.3 Percent reporting two or more races the historic Dime Bank as its lobby. The
Housing 0.8 Percent American Indian hotel is directly across Seventh Street from
SOURCE: WWW.CENSUS.GOV the city’s delightful Arts Walk. More
142,681 Total housing units businesses, buildings and apartments are
being added downtown each year. Here are
some highlights of the city’s varied history:
■ When the Declaration of Independence
was read publicly for the first time in
Allentown on July 8, 1776, it was read in
English and German.
■ During the American Revolution, the
Liberty Bell was hidden under the floor at
Zion’s United Church of Christ on Hamilton
Street so that it couldn’t be melted down and
made into a cannon by British troops.
■ The Albertus L. Meyers Bridge (Eighth
Street Bridge) was the longest and highest
concrete bridge in the world when it opened
to traffic in 1913. In 1974, it was named
after Meyers, long-time conductor of the
Allentown Band who, as a boy, played
cornet with the band during the opening
ceremonies.
■ The Great Allentown Fair is among the
oldest fairs in the country.
■ Homeopathic Healing Art Plaque, 31 S.
Penn St., marks the location of the world’s
first medical college exclusively devoted to
the practice of homeopathic medicine.
Established in 1835, the college moved to
Philadelphia in 1843, where it grew into
what is today Hahnemann University
Hospital.
Pop culture
■ Allentown is mentioned in the 2011
movie “The Hangover Part II” when Ed
Helms sings a cover of Billy Joel’s song
“Allentown.”
■ In the Saturday Night Live skit “Good
Excuse” in Jan. 2009, a guest is urged to
tell his girlfriend, as an excuse for his
breakup with her, that his company is
relocating to Allentown.
WELCOME
By the numbers, Lehigh County Allentown
Emily Hirsch/Special to The Morning Call A CITY ON THE MOVE
The Emmaus Public Library’s mural was created by East Penn School District students, the Emmaus Arts Commission and Philadelphia artist Isaiah Zagar.
It was in 1762 that a little settlement of 12
Geography 67.5 Percent of homeowners Lifestyle cabins, which founder William Allen called
347 Square miles $196,600 Median value, owner-occupied “Northampton Towne,” became officially
1,018 Persons per square mile $1,600 Median mortgage Males 15 and older registered as a location after a storekeeper
$914 Median rent costs 41,290 Never married there gave birth. And it was John Adams,
Population 2.67 Persons per household 71,539 Married passing through it as a small farming
13.7 Percent living below poverty 2,726 Separated village in 1777, who called the place
357,823 Lehigh County 3,724 Widowed “Allen’s Town.” It’s hard to imagine how from
118,577 Allentown Education 11,182 Divorced these humble beginnings the city has
6 Percent of persons under 5 Females 15 and older transformed into the bustling, diverse center
19.9 Percent of persons between 5-19 86.8 Percent of population with a high 43,685 Never married we now call home. The population has
15 Percent persons 65 or over school degree or higher 69,398 Married expanded from predominantly Northern
51.2 Percent female 28.1 Percent of population with a bachelor’s 4,167 Separated European — particularly German — to a
degree or higher 14,815 Widowed mix that includes Hispanic, Asian, African
Looking Closer 16,219 Divorced and Middle Eastern people. The landscape
The Working Life 4,607 Women who gave birth is different, too, with the busy sidewalks and
39.4 Median age 7,665 Grandparents who live with storefronts of the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s
3.13 Average family size 24.2 Mean travel time to work (minutes) grandchildren anchored by the former Hess’s department
223,014 Number born in Pennsylvania 81.2 Percent of workers drive to work alone store, transformed into loft apartments,
34,620 Number of people born in a foreign 4,283 Persons walk to work By Race restaurants, office buildings and, most
country $54,923 Median household earnings recently, the PPL Center. This sports arena
77.9 Percent of the population that only $51,105 Male full-time earnings 85.1 Percent of white persons complex is home to the American Hockey
speaks English $37,386 Female full-time earnings 8.2 Percent black persons League’s Phantoms team and various
39.7 Percent of the population that speaks a 182,984 People in the labor force 20.7 Percent of Hispanic or Latino persons restaurants. Attached to it is the new
language other than English 18,447 People unemployed 3.4 Percent Asian persons Renaissance Allentown Hotel, which uses
7,717 Self-employed workers 2.3 Percent reporting two or more races the historic Dime Bank as its lobby. The
Housing 0.8 Percent American Indian hotel is directly across Seventh Street from
SOURCE: WWW.CENSUS.GOV the city’s delightful Arts Walk. More
142,681 Total housing units businesses, buildings and apartments are
being added downtown each year. Here are
some highlights of the city’s varied history:
■ When the Declaration of Independence
was read publicly for the first time in
Allentown on July 8, 1776, it was read in
English and German.
■ During the American Revolution, the
Liberty Bell was hidden under the floor at
Zion’s United Church of Christ on Hamilton
Street so that it couldn’t be melted down and
made into a cannon by British troops.
■ The Albertus L. Meyers Bridge (Eighth
Street Bridge) was the longest and highest
concrete bridge in the world when it opened
to traffic in 1913. In 1974, it was named
after Meyers, long-time conductor of the
Allentown Band who, as a boy, played
cornet with the band during the opening
ceremonies.
■ The Great Allentown Fair is among the
oldest fairs in the country.
■ Homeopathic Healing Art Plaque, 31 S.
Penn St., marks the location of the world’s
first medical college exclusively devoted to
the practice of homeopathic medicine.
Established in 1835, the college moved to
Philadelphia in 1843, where it grew into
what is today Hahnemann University
Hospital.
Pop culture
■ Allentown is mentioned in the 2011
movie “The Hangover Part II” when Ed
Helms sings a cover of Billy Joel’s song
“Allentown.”
■ In the Saturday Night Live skit “Good
Excuse” in Jan. 2009, a guest is urged to
tell his girlfriend, as an excuse for his
breakup with her, that his company is
relocating to Allentown.
