Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch: Allenschteddel, Allenschtadt, or Ellsdaun) is a city in and the county seat of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 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 United States as of 2020.
Founded in 1762 and located on the Lehigh River, a tributary of the Delaware River, it is the largest of three adjacent cities, including Bethlehem and Easton in Lehigh and Northampton counties, in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. Allentown is located north of Philadelphia and west of New York City.
History
Origins
In the early 1700s, the area that is now Allentown was a wilderness of scrub oak where Lenape Indian American tribes fished for trout and hunted for deer, grouse, and other game. In 1736, a large area north of Philadelphia was deeded by 23 chiefs of the Five Civilized Tribes to three sons of William Penn: John Penn, Thomas Penn, and Richard Penn. The price for this tract included shoes and buckles, hats, shirts, knives, scissors, combs, needles, looking glasses, rum, and pipes.
The land was later part of a plot that William Allen purchased on September 10, 1735, from his business partner Joseph Turner, who was assigned the land's warrant by Thomas Penn on May 18, 1732. The land was surveyed on November 23, 1736, and again in 1753 as part of an effort to develop a road from Easton to Reading. The 1753 survey reported the presence of a log house owned by Allen that was built around 1740 and was located near the western banks of Jordan Creek in the city. The house was used primarily as a hunting and fishing lodge, but Allen also used it to entertain prominent guests, including James Hamilton, who was his brother-in-law, and John Penn, who was then governor of the Province of Pennsylvania.
Founding
The geographic area that includes present-day Center City Allentown was acquired in the 1737 Walking Purchase and initially organized, established, and named in 1762 by William Allen, a wealthy shipping merchant who served as a mayor of Philadelphia and chief justice of the Province of Pennsylvania during the colonial era. It is likely that rivalry among the Penns prompted Allen to decide to start the city in 1762.
A decade earlier, in 1752, Northampton and Berks counties were formed; Easton was named the county seat of Northampton County, and Reading the county seat of Berks County. In 1763, a year after Allentown's founding, an effort was made by William Allen and others to move the county seat from Easton to Allentown, but the Penns' influence prevailed and the county seat remained in Easton.
The town's original plan, which is detailed in archives now housed at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, included 42 city blocks and 756 lots, most in width and in depth. The city was located initially between present-day Fourth and Tenth Streets and Union and Liberty Streets and was initially named Northampton Towne. Many streets on the original plan were named for Allen's children, including Margaret (present-day Fifth Street), William (now Sixth Street), James (now Eighth Street), Ann (now Ninth Street), and John (now Walnut Street). Allen Street (now Seventh Street), the city's main thoroughfare, was named for Allen himself. Hamilton Street was named for James Hamilton, deputy governor of colonial-era Pennsylvania from 1748 to 1754. Gordon Street was named for Patrick Gordon, an earlier deputy governor of colonial Pennsylvania. Chew Street was named for Benjamin Chew, and Turner Street was named for Allen's business partner Joseph Turner. Allen hoped that the city would displace Easton as the seat of Northampton County and become a commercial center due to its location along the Lehigh River and proximity to Philadelphia. Allen gave the property to his son James in 1767.
On March 18, 1811, the city was formally incorporated as a borough. The following year, on March 6, 1812, Lehigh County was established from the western half of Northampton County. Northampton Towne was selected as the county seat of Lehigh County, and present-day Allentown was formally incorporated as a city on March 12, 1867. On April 16, 1838, the city was officially renamed Allentown after years of popular usage by that name.