The photo above means a lot to me, for the things just out of view and now gone. You're at the crossing tower on Union Street, near 3th. There's another gate stopping the eastbound traffic, which has backed up toward the Jordan Creek. The same train has also blocked traffic further down the line, at Basin Street. It's the early 1950's and the tracks from the two rail lines, Lehigh Valley and Jersey Central, cross here. At the end of Union Street you can make out my father's market, Allentown Meat Packing Company. The whole side of the building is a sign, painted directly on the brick in red and silver, Retail Meats, Wholesale Prices. You'll pass Morris Black Building Supply and The Orange Car before you get there. You'll also have to cross another set of tracks, which was the Lehigh Valley old main, before they built the Railroad Terminal over the Jordan Creek, at Hamilton Street. Our commercial past is now consigned to memory and future urban archeology.
reprinted from December of 2013
My Aunt Helen Fulton worked as a cashier in your father’s establishment back in the late 50s and 60s
ReplyDeleteAnon@8:56: She also did bookkeeping in the office, a very nice person.
DeleteMy great uncle worked the LVRR "shantys" here and Hamilton St & Front St.. He let me stay with him one day. He was a WWI veteran whose jon was on. Ammo trains. He suffered injuries from blister gas.
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