In the mid 1930's, Allentown, and especially its park system, was endowed with magnificent stone edifices, courtesy of the WPA... Works Progress Administration. This was a new deal program designed to provide employment during the aftermath of the depression. Stone masons in this city built structures which are irreplaceable. The walls and step structures in Lehigh Parkway, as the Union Terrace amphitheater, are legacies which must be protected. Pictured above is the grand stairway from Lawrence Street (Martin Luther King Drive) up to Union Street, built in 1936. The steps are in a state of disrepair. They lead to the great Union Street Retaining Wall, thirty feet high and two blocks long, which was completed in 1937. I call upon the Trexler Trust and Allentonians of memory, to insist that these steps are re-pointed and preserved. The current Administration knows nothing of our past, and really has no commitment to our future. Save the things in Allentown that matter.
above reprinted from September 18, 2008
UPDATE MAY 20, 2021:Although it would take me many years, and along the way I inadvertently offended many people, eventually I got the steps at Fountain Park and a few other structures repointed. However, much more needs to be done to maintain this irreplaceable legacy in Allentown. Just recently a corner of the stage wall at Union Terrace crumbled. I will through this blog continue to advocate for these structures and the traditional park system.
Come November we will have a new mayor, but he will hear from me an old message.
When I went to Fountain Park, I used those steps.
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