A history of Allentown,
since 1762
Postcards, papers and photographs of Allentown from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗In the early 18th century, the area that is present-day Allentown was a wilderness of scrub oak, where the Lenape, an Indigenous tribe, fished for trout and hunted for deer, grouse, and other game.
On May 18, 1732, the land was deeded by Thomas Penn, one of three sons of William Penn, founder of the colonial era Province of Pennsylvania, to Joseph Turner, a Philadelphia-based iron manufacturer and politician. Two years later, on September 10, 1735, a 5,000-acre (20 km2) portion of this land was purchased from Turner's business partner by William Allen, a wealthy shipping merchant who became mayor of Philadelphia the following month.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Allentown’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewFrightful accident on the Lehigh …, 1858: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Allentown
See all 46 →
Allentown, decade by decade
1990s
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Frightful accident on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, near Allentown, Pa., July 21 (1858) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Historic places
National Register · via Wikidata
From Wikimedia Commons (2), the Library of Congress (9) and the National Register (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.