Jul 31, 2011

History of The Boat Landing


The feature shown in the photo, from the Mack Truck Magazine of 1943, shows a beautiful stone masonry structure in Lehigh Parkway that was allowed to go to ruin. We kids of the Parkway called this the "boat landing". It is located near the end of the park near Regency Apartments. I use the present tense because remnants of this edifice still exist, buried under dirt and debris. Other attractions lost in that section of the park include the Spring Pond near the Robin Hood parking lot, and the bridge to the "Island", plus the mosaic inlaid benches which were on the island. ( Island halfway between parking lot and boat landing). Neither the Mayor or the Park Director knows that these centerpieces ever existed. These are irreplaceable architectural treasures well worth restoring.

reprinted from May, 2009. First in a series of reprints documenting the uncovering of this treasure after 50 years.

4 comments:

  1. MM
    Permission to Post.
    These photos you kindly post from time to time are so sad to view. They reflect a lack of leadership at city hall.

    May we have permission to change the topic but only slightly as it too deals with Allentown.

    National Night Out is this Tuesday and what does Allentown's city hall do? Instead of symbolizing this very important event in center city where hundreds of families could attend, it schedules a special event at Overlook Park which is beautiful but hardly a present symbol of crime that targets center city families (across the river and impossible for many to reach) at 3 p.m. on a work day!

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  2. CC A-CRIPS hard at work. Kodak moment, reality be damned.

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  3. MM -

    Since it's been over a year since you had the boat landing cleanup, could you post some photos on how it looks today?

    Has the work that was done by volunteers been maintained by the Parks Department?

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  4. patrick, i revised the date, that project actually was in 09. as of last summer, it was not being maintained by the park dept., but still looked pretty good.

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