The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • 72

E-S SUNDAY CALt-CHROXICLE, Allentown, May 6, 1962 Electrician Rescuing History of East Allentown '(' 4 J-j i st in, -d'frrorf iWlWMWI, MM Those booklets which are not given away to libraries and societies and sponsors will be sold for a small price. As a by-product of the research, Evans will be able to show "post card slides" to interested groups. He estimated he took about 1,000 photographs himself and collected 1,500 other pictures. Fdrds, ferries and bridges; the old Mosser mansion and the Manhattan Hotel, which was an attraction, especially because of fashion shows, to people from as far away (for those times) as Mauch Chunk and Philadelphia; a baseball park; stage shows for 35 cents at Central Park, and swamps and hard-pan clay these are among the subjects in the booklet. There is a lot more.

In fact, Evans, who is an electrician at Bethlehem Steel and who moved from the Emmaus area to Allentown's East side in 1933, eventually hopes "to get together a full book on East Allentown." He simply can't let historical research alone. The work was new for all four, as they encountered problems of copy reading, layout and editorial policy. For space reasons they made ink sketches of photographs for the booklet. Bridges across the Lehigh became the theme. The cover will feature a sketch of the first bridge across the river, a suspension bridge in 1813, with a Lehigh River bridge of today arching above the old one.

"As a matter of fact," Evans said, "the civic group is working on a model of this first bridge for a float in the bicentennial parade." Evans described "East of the Lehigh" as a supplement to the official bicentennial history of the city. At the time he began work, he did not know there would be a official city history, but he is certain there will be little duplication. Funds for the project have been limited they came from East Allentown residents. Most of the preliminary expense was in the photographic work, and the printing costs will eat up some more of the donations. lentown to investigate their own corners of the city in detail." Valuable Help The amateur historian said he believes local histories like "East of the Lehigh" are extremely valuable.

"How can you learn something you want to know, for example, about the old Manhattan Hotel opposite Central Park, in a hurry in a more general history? Even such a limited history as one of Allentown as a whole might not mention this hotel, or might not index it. With the history of East Allentown in one cover, the researcher will save 'a lot of time." The idea for the booklet came to Evans last June. Realizing that Allentown's 200th anniversary was due this year, he approached the 14th Ward Civic Group with the suggestion they do something to help celebrate the event. The civic group, headed by Donald P. Deppen, of 258V E.

Mosser approved the idea, and Evans began the project. A hobbyist in photography as well as in history, Evans began shooting landmarks, buildings, bridges, the Lehigh River and just about everything he could think of. He spoke to senior citizens groups about the booklet and asked them to look through the attics, basements, and garages at their homes for old papers, photos, postcards, letters, records, souvenirs, what-have-you connected with East Allentown. He 'contacted the older residents in the 14th and 15th Wards and tape recorded their recollections of the old days. He read every history text which might help his project.

And, presumably to the consternation or perhaps pity of those who saw him, he prowled through dumps, where he probed through rubbish and turned over rubble in search of a document or photograph. Toward the end of his project, the past months, he was spending an average of four hours a day on his history. Files in paper boxes began to fill his home, particularly the basement. With Deppen, Henry H. Stettler of 252 E.

Mosser "A lot of history is being thrown away on city dumps," said an East Allentown electrician who perhaps knows more about the section in which he lives than does any professional historian in this Allentown Bicentennial year. The East Allentonian, John Evans, of 227 E. South is chairman of the historic committee of the 14th Ward Civic Group. He is also the prime mover photographer, writer, information collector for a 6 by 8 inch booklet titled "East of the Lehigh." The pamphlet, about 38 pages of sketches and written history, is now in the hands of the printers. About 500 copies will be available to schools, the Allentown Free Library, local historical societies, and individuals particularly interested in how the city's 14th and 15th Wards began and expanded since colonial days.

Evans, fascinated by history ever since he was in the fifth or sixth grade in school, said he hoped this booklet "will spur people in other sections of Al- ROAD TO SAFETY The dotted black and white line indicates the route which Allentown Boys Club believes was taken in bringing the Liberty Bell from Philadelphia to Zion's Church in Allentown, during the Revolution. The map is a reproduction of one made in 1770. To Re-enact Trek Liberty Bell Again oming i ji II si il ii ii ii ii :1 ii ii ii ii I iWiMtjEP mm'mM 'xu 1 1 I 0 i i i Sin 1 I i V- i I ii If 1 mi ii iin if i 1 ii I nil II JniL in K---zL-- nn Ii if ji I MILK IS SUBJECT TO MANY INSPECTIONS AND ls THE 0NLY THE AREA I m. b- as jl -m. i TO BE U.S.

PUBLIC HEALTH INSPECTED. LCl I Ik mi Wmmm JOHN EVANS and Mrs. Elda IQoiber of 268 E. Mosser Evans wrote and assembled the booklet. ALLENTOWN, PA.

Continued from E-l erty Hall barber shop. It will mov down the community's Broad Street to Route 212 and then along the Richland Pike to Leithsville. where the travelers will stop for luncheon. In the afternoon the bells will be moved along Route 412 to Bethlehem, where the pilgrims will arrive at the "Moravian settlement," Church and Main about 4:30 p.m. There the breakdown of the Liberty wagon will be restaged.

At 9:30 a.m. Sunday the pilgrimage will move to Allentown. along Bethlehem's Broad Street and Allentown's Hanover Avenue. In Allentown the wagons will move along Union Street to 4th Street, up 4th to Walnut, west on Walnut to Penn Street and finally west on Hamilton to Zion's United Church of Christ, where the bells will be unloaded. This is expected to happen about noon.

The bells will then be reloaded on the wagons for the parade. The wagons will thereafter be parked in front of Zion's UCC for Bicentennial Week. Commemoration The pilgrimate is dedicated not only to Allentown's 200th anniversary but to the 150th anniversary of Lehigh County, the 185lh anniversary of the hiding of the Liberty Bell in old Zion's Church and the 25th anniversary of the local Boy's Club. Behind the trip is careful research. Several problems had to be solved the route, type of wagon, method of concealment, handling of the bell itself and even the substance the 18th-century wagoners used to lubricate axles.

The major difficulty was the route. This has long been clear enough except for a stretch between the present Sellersville and Hellertown areas. Two possibilities are involved: the so-called Applebachsville and the Quakertown routes. Shaner. who was responsible for most of the research, decided the Quakertown route afforded the best facilities for a retreat from Philadelphia.

Although the Applebachsville pattern followed an old stage coach line, the Quakertown route was much more direct a connection to Allentown. It seemed unlikely to Shaner that anyone trying to get something away from an enemy would waste time. The principle obstacle on the Quakertown route was a hill. Could the Liberty Bell haulers get the bell across that hill? The answer, Shaner said, is that they could. It is recorded that four hourses pulled the Liberty Bell wagon.

Farmers to whom the pilgrimate director talked informed him one horse can easily pull a ton. Type of Wagon The next most important problem to be solved was that of the wagon. Two wagon types were in use in Pennsylvania Dutch territory in the late 18th Century, historians agree. They were the famous Conestoga wagon and the produce wagon known as a coke wagon from its use in hauling this carbon created by destructive distillation of coal. The Boys Club will use the coke wagon.

For one thing, the coke wagon was built in the Lehigh Bucks area, whereas the Conestoga type was a creation of Lancaster Shaner said as far as he could determine the Conestoga did not exist in the Lehigh Bucks area at the time. Perhaps more important as a factor in the decision that the coke wagon was the vehicle used to carry the Liberty Bell is size. The bell is 4 feet in diameter and 3 feet 7 inches in height without its yoke. (The yoke was removed for haulage.) The Conestoga wagon has a 3-foot width. On the other hand, the coke wagon starts with a minimum width of the Conestoga type and goes to a 5 -foot width.

This size enables a person to load the Liberty Bell either horizontally or vertically. Tradition records the Liberty Bell was removed in the "dark of night" and hidden under manure, burlap bags, straw or farm staples. "We had to decid what the cover was," the pilgrimage director said. His decision was that the cover was probably hay or straw. In the first place the patriots would probably not want to leave anything in Philadelphia which could be used by the British, and hay or straw could have used for stabling horses.

Then, too, he said, potato sacks were unknown in 18th Century Pennsylvania and it was unlikely that refuse could have been piled high enough to cover the bell without falling from the wagon. The pilgrimage wagoners will use tar to lubricate the axles of the two wagons, as that was the lubricating material used on 18th-century carts. The wag-" ons are being painted powder blue with a red undercarriage at the Boys Club at 4th and Union Sts. The pilgrims will follow the 18th Century practice of placing bells on horses to alert other traffic of an approaching team. A Conestoga bell and harness gear valued at $1,000 is being used for the horses pulling the Liberty Bell wagon.

The bells are to be used through the courtesy of the Pennsylvania Folklife Society. Plans are to use a six-horse Conestoga team for the Liberty Bell wagon and a four-horse team for the 18th-century straw wagon. To make certain everything will operate smoothly the Boys Club members and the two adult "Pennsylvania Dutch farmers" who will make the tour will run off a practice session at 3 p.m. Friday, May 25, at Quakertown. A kickoff dinner is scheduled for 7 p.m.

on the 25th at Quaker-town's Red Lion Tavern, which is 216 years old. Another dinner fete will be held on the next night. The Boys Club will follow the tradition that John Jacob Mick-ley drove the team which pulled the Liberty Bell until the wagon broke down at Bethlehem. That trip of September 1777 will thus be a memorable start for Allentown Bicentennial Week. Mutts-Jeffs WASHINGTON (UPI) Riian- da-Urundi, the "Switzerland of Africa," is inhabited by three tribes whose stature is as differ ent as that of The Three Bears, according to the National Geo graphic Society.

The toweringly tall Watusi wan dered into the area three or four centuries ago and conquered the average-sized Bahutu, who looked at the six to seven foot invaders as gods. The Batwa, standin only about 4 feet tall and living in the forest, also became slaves of the Watusis. acting as court jesters and contributing poison tipped darts to the "gods." Audio Pen Pals MUSKEGON. Mich. (UPI) Pupils here have been speaking to pupils around the world through an International Tape Exchange program started by a junior highis school English teacher.

Schoolmarm Ruth Y. Terry made the first tape recording in her class. It included the nation al anthem, the pledge of alle giance and a talk by an Australian exchange teacher. It was exchanged with a tape from Australia. Other tape exchanges followed with schools in Japan, Sweden, England, New Zealand, Germany, India and Austria.

Good Givers KANSAS CITY, Mo. (UPI) -The Church of the Nazarene reports record contributions of $14 per member in 1961. The increase was nearly $2 per capita over 1960, when the Na-zarene's ranked first in the nation in individual giving among Protestant churches with 100,000 or more members. The total for 1961 was $47,122,000, by 382,000 members. i EM I ii it i 1 1 If 1 i II I i I I I I I I i Ml 1 rj-rs.

cf i r.r i Now Lehigh Valley Vitamin Milk cartons have a bright plastic coat inside and out. These shatterproof containers still have the popular gable top that sheds impurities, the tamper-proof spout that opens like a pitcher and now a new plastic coat has been added to seal in freshness. This latest improvement is your assurance that you're getting the best milk container on the market today. The new plastic-coated quarts are on sale at your neighborhood grocery store or delivered to your home. Allentown and Bethlehem phone 433-5115; Easton 253-2753.

mm 4 1000-1160 N. SEVENTH.