Lehigh County Historical Society

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Lehigh County Historical Society Headquarters
2008 - Lehigh Valley Heritage Center.jpg
Lehigh County Historical Society in June 2008
Lehigh County Historical Society
Established1904
Location432 West Walnut Street, Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Coordinates 40°36′08″N75°27′57″W / 40.60219°N 75.46592°W / 40.60219; -75.46592
TypeHistorical museum
DirectorJoseph Garrera, M.A.
CuratorJill Youngken, M.A.
Public transit accessAiga bus trans.svg LANta bus: 102, 107, 210, 220, 324 (at 5th and Hamilton/Linden streets)
Website http://www.lehighvalleyheritagemuseum.org

Lehigh County Historical Society is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1904, dedicated to collecting, preserving, and exhibiting the history of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The Historical Society and Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum are located at 432 West Walnut Street in Allentown.

Contents

Features

Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum

The Lehigh County Historical Society is headquartered in the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum, a 30,000-square-foot (2,800 m2) museum facility with four galleries and more than 10,000 square feet (930 m2) of exhibition space. [1] Recent exhibits have included exhibits on General Harry Clay Trexler, Native Americans, and U.S. presidents. The museum maintains an exhibit on the Lehigh Valley and an extensive collection of local and regional historical materials with more than 30,000 historical artifacts in its collection.

Library and archive

Now one of the sites administered by the Lehigh County Historical Society, Trout Hall served as the organization's home for many years. 2008 - Allentown Trout Hall.jpg
Now one of the sites administered by the Lehigh County Historical Society, Trout Hall served as the organization's home for many years.

The Lehigh County Historical Society's library, the Scott Andrew Trexler II Research Library and Archive, houses 200,000 vintage photographs and nearly three million historical documents. [1] Included in its collections are more than 800 volumes of church and cemetery records for Lehigh and neighboring counties, early county records including tax rolls, wills and land deeds, indexed marriage records and announcements, 800 volumes of family genealogical histories, city directories from 1860 through the present, maps, census records, and published histories. [2] The library also maintains microfiche versions of several of Allentown's early German and English-language newspapers. [2] Access to the library is free for Society members; a small fee applies for non-members.

Historic sites

Built in 1756, the Troxell-Steckel House, administered by the Lehigh County Historical Society and open to the public, is one of the oldest buildings in Lehigh County. PA-LEHIGH-TroxellSteckelHouseFrontSide.JPG
Built in 1756, the Troxell-Steckel House, administered by the Lehigh County Historical Society and open to the public, is one of the oldest buildings in Lehigh County.

The Lehigh County Historical Society administers six historical sites in the region:

Publications

Proceedings, a bi-annual publication of the Lehigh County Historical Society LCHS Proceedings 1962.JPG
Proceedings, a bi-annual publication of the Lehigh County Historical Society

Proceedings, the journal of the Lehigh County Historical Society, was published on a bi-annual basis since 1906 [3] and featured articles focusing on local and regional history. From 1947 to 1994, the publication was bound in a distinctive blue buckram hardcover binding with gilt lettering. In 1994, the journal was published in softcover. Publication of Proceedings was discontinued in 2004.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lehigh County, Pennsylvania</span> County in Pennsylvania, United States

Lehigh County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 374,557. Its county seat is Allentown, the state's third-largest city after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allentown, Pennsylvania</span> Home rule municipality in Pennsylvania, United States

Allentown is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Lehigh County, in the United States. It is the third-most-populous city in Pennsylvania with a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 census and the largest city in the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th-most populous metropolitan area in the nation as of 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fullerton, Pennsylvania</span> Census-designated place in Pennsylvania, United States

Fullerton is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in Whitehall Township in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The population of Fullerton was 16,588 as of the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania</span> Township in Pennsylvania, United States

Whitehall Township is a township with home rule status in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The township's population was 26,738 as of the 2010 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lehigh Valley</span> Metropolitan Statistical Area in the United States

The Lehigh Valley, known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic and metropolitan region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh and Northampton Counties in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bounded to its north by Blue Mountain, to its south by South Mountain, to its west by Lebanon Valley, and to its east by the Delaware River and Warren County, New Jersey. The Valley is about 40 miles (64 km) long and 20 miles (32 km) wide. The Lehigh Valley's largest city is Allentown, the third-largest city in Pennsylvania and the county seat of Lehigh County, with a population of 125,845 residents as of the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Clay Trexler</span> American businessman (1854–1933)

Henry Clay Trexler was an American industrialist, businessman, and major philanthropist who contributed to the economic development of Allentown, Pennsylvania and the surrounding Lehigh Valley in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He bequeathed the majority of his estate to create the Harry C. Trexler Trust, which has since dispensed more than $150 million in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">America on Wheels</span> Transportation museum in Allentown, Pennsylvania

America on Wheels is an over-the-road transportation museum in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pennsylvania Route 222</span> Highway in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Route 222 is a 4.482 mi (7.213 km)-long state highway located in Allentown and its surrounding suburbs in the Lehigh Valley region in eastern Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lehigh Parkway</span>

Lehigh Parkway is a large, 629-acre public park along the Little Lehigh Creek in Allentown, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. It is the most prominent park in the city and follows the Little Lehigh Creek southward for three miles from center city Allentown to Cedar Crest Boulevard in neighboring Emmaus.

Cedar Crest Boulevard, colloquially known as Cedar Crest and The Boulevard, is a major north-south highway in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. South of Interstate 78 (I-78), the road is part of Pennsylvania Route 29. North of it, the road becomes State Route 1019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State Route 1002 (Lehigh County, Pennsylvania)</span> Highway in Pennsylvania

State Route 1002(SR 1002), locally known as Tilghman Street and Union Boulevard, is a major 13.8 mi (22.2 km) long east–west road in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The majority of the roadway is the former alignment of U.S. Route 22, maintained by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation as a Quadrant Route, and is not signed except on small white segment markers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lehigh Valley Transit Company</span>

The Lehigh Valley Transit Company (LVT) was a regional transport company that was headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The company began operations in 1901, as an urban trolley and interurban rail transport company. It operated successfully into the 1930s, but struggled financially during the Great Depression, and was saved from abandonment by a dramatic ridership increase during and following World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Egypt, Pennsylvania</span> Census-designated place in Pennsylvania, United States

Egypt is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Whitehall Township in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population of Egypt was 2,588 as of the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cementon, Pennsylvania</span> Census-designated place in Pennsylvania, United States

Cementon is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The town is in Whitehall Township, 7 miles (11 km) north of Allentown. As of the 2020 census, the population of Cementon was 1,657. Cementon is part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th-most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. as of 2020. It uses the Whitehall Township ZIP Code of 18052.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of Allentown, Pennsylvania</span> Overview of the culture of Allentown, Pennsylvania (USA)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Center City Allentown</span>

Center City Allentown is the downtown and central business district of Allentown, Pennsylvania, the third largest city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It has a dense population and is currently undergoing an urban revitalization process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lehigh Valley Zoo</span> Zoo in Pennsylvania, U.S.

The Lehigh Valley Zoo is a 29-acre (11.7 ha) zoo located in Schnecksville in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. It is located inside the 1,100-acre (445 ha) Trexler Nature Preserve. The zoo is open year round.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coplay Cement Company Kilns</span> Pennsylvania historic place

Coplay Cement Company Kilns, also known as the Saylor Park Industrial Museum, is an open-air historic site located at Coplay, Pennsylvania in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The nine kilns were built between 1892 and 1893 and used for the production of Portland cement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trexler Nature Preserve</span> Park in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania (est. 2006)

The Trexler Nature Preserve is an 1,108-acre county park (448 ha) owned and maintained by Lehigh County in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. The preserve is situated in Lowhill Township and North Whitehall Township and the land that comprises the preserve was originally purchased between 1901 and 1911 by local industrialist General Harry Clay Trexler.

References

  1. 1 2 "Welcome to LCHS" . Retrieved 2008-06-17.
  2. 1 2 "LCHS Collections" . Retrieved 2008-06-17.
  3. "LCHS Publications" . Retrieved 2008-06-17.