ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown State Hospital may be gone, but it's not forgotten.
The demolished structure was one of 36 places, people and events honored by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission last week.
The commission will issue blue historical markers in 2023 to note their significance.
- The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission approved 36 new markers, including two for Lehigh County
- Allentown State Hospital was the first in the state to treat mental illness
- The 650-ton President Pumping Engine in Upper Saucon Township was the strongest steam engine of its type in the world
The markers are an important tool to educate the public about local history, said Joe Garrera, executive director of the Lehigh County Historical Society.
People come across them over the course of their everyday lives and learn more about their communities. They drive curiosity, turning their sites into open air museums, Garrera said.
"One of the reasons I like historical markers is that it helps to underscore the importance of history at all levels," he said.
Allentown State Hospital opened in 1912 and became the first hospital in the state to treat mental illness. The state closed the campus in 2010 and razed the 195-acre site in East Allentown in 2020. The property was the subject of controversy after lawmakers approved selling the land to developer City Center Investment Corp. outside the standard bidding process for $5.5 million.
The hospital wasn't the only Lehigh Valley location approved for a marker. The President Pumping Engine in Upper Saucon Township also received the special designation.
Located near the present-day intersection of Old Bethlehem Pike and Center Valley Parkway, the pump was a marvel of the Industrial Revolution. When constructed in 1872 to drain water from zinc mines in Friedensville, it was the world's largest and most powerful single-cylinder rotative steam engine. Named after President Ulysses S. Grant, the 650-ton engine was demolished in 1900, according to Lehigh University's website.
Allentown State Hospital and The President will become the 32nd and 33rd Lehigh County locations to receive a historic blue marker, according to the state's website. No Northampton County locations earned recognition this year, but it has more than double the number of Lehigh County's historic markers, with 74.
Gerrera said it takes hard work and dedication by historians and communities for historic sites to receive the state honor. It took years before Zion German Reformed Church in Center City Allentown earned approval for a historic marker in 2020 for being the hiding spot of the Liberty Bell during the Revolutionary War.
Gerrera said he believes other Lehigh County locations and events are worthy of the honor. One he listed highly was a marker commemorating a speech Sen. John F. Kennedy delivered to 15,000 people in Allentown in the closing days of the 1960 presidential election.
"There's no shortage of these things," he said.
The markers are not expected to be placed on site until June 2023 at the earliest, said commission spokesman Howard Pollman. The final language of the markers has not been finalized. Other markers the commission approved include:
- Ford Station in Erie, a stop on the Underground Railroad from 1811 to 1836 for escaped slaves heading to Canada
- Hack Wilson, a Lawrence County native who mashed a record 191 RBIs in 1930 for the Chicago Cubs
- Keith Allen Haring of Kutztown, an internationally recognized artist who raised awareness of AIDS and apartheid
- The Montgomery County home of Chevalier Jackson, a pioneering doctor who specialized in laryngology
