Although cheerleaders for the current waterfront NIZ think that they're inventing the Lehigh River, Allentonians already had a river port in the 1800's. As this section of the 1899 map shows, Wharf Street, which is still partially there, led to a man made river port, with two channels back to the river. The Lehigh Port was dug out in 1829, and was used in conjunction with the canal on the other side of the river. In the early 20th century, as the canal commerce was replaced by the railroads, the port was filled in, by an expanding Arbogast & Bastian Meat Packing. Currently, a private boat club utilizes the river front near that location. I exhibited the map at a recent session held for those interested in Allentown history.
The river port was slightly north of the current America On Wheels Museum, by the Hamilton Street Bridge, going over the Lehigh River to East Allentown.
reprinted from April of 2016
