The Neighborhood School

In 1949 the school district built the Lehigh Parkway Elementary School. It was the new modern one story type  It was tucked up at the back of the development of recently built twin homes. All the kids  could walk to school without leaving the neighborhood or crossing a large street. The photo is May Day 1952, on the playground behind the school. The neighborhood houses can be seen in the background. May Day was big then, so were the unions; Most of the fathers worked at the Bethlehem Steel, Mack Truck, General Electric, and a hundred other factories going full tilt after the war. The houses were about 8 years old, and there were no fences yet. The kids would migrate from one yard to another, and every mother would assume some responsibility for the herd when it was in her yard. Laundry was hung out to dry. If you notice, most of the "audience" are mothers, dads mostly were at work. The neighborhood also had its own Halloween Parade and Easter egg hunt.