Getting to the Boat Landing, for six year old boys who lived above the park in 1953, was quite an adventure. There were three other wonderful WPA structures to navigate on the journey. Unfortunately, poor foresight by a previous park director has erased some of the WPA's monuments in Lehigh Parkway. As the postcard from the mid-50's above shows, the Boat Landing (my name for the structure) was a source of pride for the city and park system. It is located at 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, combining two posts seeking help to uncover this treasure after 50 years.
MM, Beautiful postcard. Maybe we will see a comeback of hand painted postcards to wash away the billboards and blight Mayor Pawlowski is proposing for the park system. I am not sure of the details, but I heard some recent discussion about Allentown mugging Mother Nature of her serenity along the Jordon and may be proposing a Billboard(s) (possibly electronic) for the Jordon parkway/greenway.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone heard anything about this? I always thought this was part of Whitehall and was passive recreation. Seems this quick cash is not consistent with the spirit of DCNR grants that Allentown has been granted and is pursuing. Seems a stop payment should be issued in light of this planned degradation of the park system. Harry Trexler is probably fuming. I hope the Trust pays attention to this!
Mayor, how could you do this? How is this becoming of a candidate for Governor?
@8:26, yes, it is an interesting postcard. it shows that allentown was so proud of the Boat Landing, and nearby island, (now abandoned and grown wild) that it promoted this end of the park as the main entrance. starting today, i'm going to be publishing some old photographs with no story, just images of our past. I will include a copy of Mack truck's magazine, Bulldog, featuring the boat landing.
ReplyDelete