Oct 23, 2012

Zooming In On Allentown's Past

Today, I assigned our aging staff photographer to document the demolition of the 1st. National Bank building. He only took two photographs, complaining that there was no water spray to control the dust. For a building supposedly encumbered with asbestos, one would think that the pedestrians of Allentown deserved better treatment, but of course the upscale people has yet to arrive. Regular readers have been hearing about Lehigh Structural Steel on this blog. If you click on and enlarge this lower closeup, you can clearly see Lehigh
Structural Steel Allentown stenciled on this main beam. Imagine a time when an Allentown centered bank used steel beams made in Allentown for it's headquarters in center square. We will be lucky if the beams used in the new building are made in the U.S.A.
UPDATE: A Morning Call video shows water being sprayed during the demolition. The spray person may have been on lunch break yesterday when I visited the site.

6 comments:

  1. Like the saying goes, bury the dirt deep¿

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  2. Guess that asbestos threat was a minor mistake or the feds would be all over them.

    Allentown made steel, get serious. Only thing to be made in Allentown now is by NIZ investors.

    By the way, good luck getting into and out of the arena area or getting out of a parking garage for less than $20 and 45 minutes.

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  3. Not only is the steel being purchased from within the US, it is has been purchased from PA based Amthor Steel out of Erie, the same with arena. Also if you think for one sec that that they are not demolishing within industry standards along with OSHA standards you are very mistaken.

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  4. @10:58, i can tell you that at 12:30pm on oct.23, there was no spray hose and a cloud of dust.

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  5. @10:58, amthor appears to be fabricator, like lehigh structural, reconfiguring steel beams to the architectural specifications. the beams in the former bank building likely were forged at bethlehem steel. your comment only refers to purchase and reconfiguring. if amthor is using steel manufactured in the U.S.A, remains unanswered.

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  6. MM, you KNOW I had many events at that building and I am sad to see it go down. I considered that location my first TRUE foray into business. It's, also, where we met and I was officially introduced int the blogosphere. Alot of memories, alot of problems, alot irregularities, and alot of unanswered questions. I guess this is what PROGRESS looks like....

    Alfonso Todd

    www.alfonsotodd.com

    www.celebratelyfe.com

    ReplyDelete

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