Allentown is Pennsylvania’s third-most-populous city situated in Lehigh County. It is the county seat of Lehigh County and the largest city in the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area. It was incorporated as the borough of Northampton in 1811 and was later officially renamed Allentown for its founder.
In the mid-1960s, the economy of Allentown was booming, and Allentown’s inability to expand its borders lead hundreds of thousands of baby boomers to move outside the city limits. Allentown began to lose its next generation of working-class residents, who began to migrate to the newer housing in suburbs that also offered lower taxes, green space, less crime, and new schools.
Below are some fascinating vintage photos that show what Allentown looked like in the 1970s.
