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The culture of Allentown, Pennsylvania dates back to the early 18th century settlement of the city and the surrounding Lehigh Valley, which was then part of the Province of Pennsylvania, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, by German immigrants almost exclusively affiliated the Lutheran, Moravian, and Reformed faiths, three of the most prominent Protestant denominations.
Prior to the arrival of German immigrants, Allentown and the region was inhabited by the Lenape Native American tribe, which spoke the Unami language.[1]
The German immigrants who settled present-day Allentown and the surrounding Lehigh Valley were mostly fleeing religious persecution and war at the time in Germany and were drawn to Allentown and its surrounding communities by the region's reputation for religious freedom and fertile farming land. Later, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the city and region's reputation as a central manufacturing location during the American Industrial Revolution attracted a second wave of German and other European immigrants who sought economic opportunity and jobs afforded by its anthracite coal, iron ore, steel, railroad, and other manufacturing and mining industries.
Allentown's influential role in support of the American Revolution and Revolutionary War is celebrated in the city with various museums and memorials. Until 2023, the Liberty Bell Museum inside Zion Reformed Church at 622 West Hamilton Street in Allentown honored the role Allentown played in protecting and concealing the Liberty Bell, which was hidden underneath this Allentown church's floor boards from September 1777 to June 1778 during the British Army's occupation of Philadelphia. At the corner of Jordan and Gordan streets in Center City, a memorial exists on the site where General George Washington and the Continental Army housed Hessian mercenary prisoners of war during the Revolutionary War.
The Soldiers and Sailors Monument, located on Allentown's center square on South 7th Street, was erected on October 19, 1899, in honor of Union Army soldiers from Allentown and local Lehigh Valley towns and boroughs who died in combat in the American Civil War. In April 1861, the 47th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment from Allentown and its suburbs was deployed to defend the national capital in Washington, D.C., and later launched bold and effective attacks on Confederate positions, tilting the Civil War in the Union's favor.[2][3]
In the early 19th century, Allentown was one of the cities and regions that sparked the Industrial Revolution in the United States as the city emerged as an early national mining and industrial manufacturing hub. Allentown's Lehigh Canal, which afforded the city and region the ability to utilize the Lehigh River for the transport of anthracite coal, iron ore, steel, and other products from the region to nation's largest markets, especially New York City and Philadelphia made Allentown a center of early American industrialization, which continued until the late 20th century when foreign competition, regulations, trade practices, manufacturing costs, innovation and other trends combined to force substantial downsizings, bankruptcies, and outsourcing of many of these traditionally strong regional manufacturing industries.
Migration to Allentown and the region continued through most of the 19th and 20th century with additional German immigrants followed by waves of Italians and Asians. In the late 20th century, Hispanics, primarily Puerto Ricans arriving directly from Puerto Rico or indirectly from nearby New Jersey and New York City, immigrated to the city and currently comprise a sizable percentage of the city's population.
As of the 2010 census, Allentown's demographic composition was 43.2% White (non-Hispanic), 42.8% Hispanic, 11.6% Black, and 2.2% Asian.[4]
In the late 20th and early 21st century, Allentown's image and character as one of the nation's most prominent examples of a rugged industrial Rust Belt city was reflected globally in the city's appearance in several movies, television shows, and songs.
Allentown's media includes print, web, radio and television outlets. Allentown is part of the Philadelphia television media market, the fourth-largest television market in North America as of 2023.[5] WFMZ-TV Channel 69, based in Allentown, has studios and a transmitting site atop South Mountain. WLVT-TV, also based in Allentown, is the local PBS affiliate.
Major Philadelphia-based network stations serving Allentown include: KYW-TV (CBS), WCAU (NBC), WPVI-TV, and WTXF-TV (Fox). There are also other network and local television stations.[6][7][8]
Allentown has two daily newspapers, The Morning Call and The Express-Times, and numerous weekly and monthly print publications.
Allentown has the 68th-largest radio market in the United States by Arbitron.[9] Stations licensed to Allentown include WAEB-AM (talk, news and sports), WAEB-FM (Top 40 music), WDIY (NPR and public radio), WHOL (rhythmic contemporary), WLEV (adult contemporary music), WMUH (Muhlenberg College campus radio), WSAN (Fox Sports Radio and Philadelphia Phillies broadcasts), WZZO (hard rock music) and others. Most major New York City and Philadelphia radio stations are received in Allentown.
Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom is the area's main amusement park. The Lehigh Valley Zoo and the Trexler Nature Preserve are the two zoos in the Lehigh Valley. The William F. Curtis Arboretum is the area's arboretum.
The Great Allentown Fair, one of the nation's longest standing fairs held annually since 1852, is held the end of each August and early September. Mayfair Festival of the Arts, an arts festival, is held annually on the campus of Cedar Crest College each May. Musikfest, the nation's largest free music festival, is held annually in neighboring Bethlehem each August. Das Awkscht Fescht, the country's largest antique and classic car show, is held annually in early August in neighboring Macungie; in August 2022, it will hold its 58th consecutive show.[10]
The Lehigh Valley Spring Home Show is held annually in March at the Allentown Fairgrounds,[11] and the Lehigh Valley Auto Show[12] is also held annually in March at Stabler Arena in Center Valley.
The Drum Corps International[13] has been held for over thirty years at J. Birney Crum Stadium, bringing together the top junior drum and bugle corps in the world over two nights of competition.
Allentown Art Museum, founded in 1934, is the city's main fine art institution. Baum School of Art, located in Center City Allentown and founded in 1926, is the city's leading art school.
The city has long struggled with graffiti throughout the city. In an effort to eliminate it, the city has painted murals in some of its city parks and high graffiti locations, arresting graffiti artists and giving out rewards for turning in those who deface buildings with graffiti.
Allentown is influenced by cuisine from the Pennsylvania Dutch, Hispanic and Latino Americans, and Philadelphia. Allentown has a local variant of the Philly cheesesteak, and local pizza parlors. Pennsylvania Dutch foods, including head cheese, liver pudding, sous vide, chow-chow, apple butter, and others are available at some diners across the region. Ethnic food types represented include Dominican, Puerto Rican, West Indian, Japanese, Italian, Lebanese and Syrian. A regionally-famous hot dog chain, Yocco's Hot Dogs, founded in 1922, maintains two restaurants in the city and two additional locations in Allentown suburbs.
Allentown and its suburbs are home to several golf courses. Saucon Valley Country Club, located in Upper Saucon Township, hosted the 2009 U.S. Women's Open. Allentown is home to a high quality city-run golf course, Allentown Municipal Golf Course, located at 3400 Tilghman Street. Others include Brookside Country Club in Macungie, Lehigh Country Club on Cedar Crest Boulevard in Allentown, Olde Homestead Golf Club in New Tripoli, Shepherd Hills Golf Club in Wescosville, and Wedgewood Golf Course in Coopersburg.
Allentown is home to multiple museums, including:
Allentown has a long tradition of producing successful national musical acts and groups. In the 21st century, Pissed Jeans, a hardcore punk group founded in Allentown in 2005,[14] and Pearls and Brass, a stoner rock band founded in 2001 from neighboring Nazareth,[15] both started as local Allentown acts, were ultimately signed, and have since developed strong national and global followings.
Rock and hip hop performances at Allentown nightclubs have included appearances by Hollywood Undead, Pitbull, Day26, Metro Station, Fabolous, and other performers.
Allentown has a large radio market featuring many genres of music and also is within broadcasting reach of most major Philadelphia and New York City stations.
Allentown Symphony Orchestra performs at Miller Symphony Hall in Center City Allentown north of Hamilton Street on North 6th Street. The city also has several citizen bands, which perform at the West Park bandshell and elsewhere, including the Allentown Band, the oldest civilian concert band in the United States, the Marine Band of Allentown, the Municipal Band of Allentown, and the Pioneer Band of Allentown.
Youth Education in the Arts (YEA) is headquartered in Allentown its home and sponsors The Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps, a ten-time DCI world champion, in addition to a senior drum and bugle corps, a competitive scholastic marching band circuit, and the Urban Arts Center in the Lehigh Valley.
Allentown and its suburbs are home to several shopping areas and indoor malls, including Lehigh Valley Mall in Whitehall Township, South Mall in Salisbury Township, The Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley in Center Valley, The Shoppes at Trexler in Trexlertown, Whitehall Mall in Whitehall Township, and others.
Allentown's reputation as a rugged blue collar city has led to many references to the city in popular culture:[16]
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