Allentown, city (2020 pop. 125,845),
seat of Lehigh co., E Pa., on the Lehigh River; inc. as a borough 1811, as a city 1867. The
largest city in the agricultural and industrial Lehigh Valley, it is a commercial, financial,
and government center. Iron, cement, and mining, the city's traditional industrial mainstays,
have given way to printing and publishing and the manufacture of food, metal, and leather
products, chemicals, electrical and medical equipment, and furniture. In the city are
Muhlenberg College, Cedar Crest College, Allentown College of St. Francis de Sales, United
Wesleyan College, and a campus of Pennsylvania State Univ. Allentown was founded in 1762 by
William Allen, chief justice of Pennsylvania, and was settled largely by German religious
groups. First known as Northampton, it was renamed Allentown c.1836. During the Revolutionary
War, the city was a munitions center for the Continental Army. Points of interest include the Zion Reformed Church (where the
Liberty Bell was kept) and an art museum.
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