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- The culture of Allentown, Pennsylvania dates back to the settlement of the city and the surrounding Lehigh Valley in the early 1700s by Germans of the Protestant Lutheran, Moravian, and Reformed faiths, who fled religious persecution and war in Europe to settle in Allentown and its surrounding towns and communities. Before their arrival, the region had been historically inhabited by Lenape Native American tribes. Allentown has played a central role in the country's development and history, serving as one of the first cities whose patriots organized (as early as 1774) in support of the American Revolution. Allentown later played a central role in hiding the Liberty Bell in the city's Zion Reformed church for nine months from September 1777 to June 1778 during the British occupation of Philadelphia; an Allentown museum, the Liberty Bell Museum, today commemorates the elaborate effort to transport and protect the Liberty Bell in Allentown during the Revolutionary War. Allentown again played a central historical role during the American Civil War as its 47th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment and other regiments from the region deployed in support of the Union Army following the Union's defeat at the Battle of Fort Sumter in April 1861 and ultimately emerged as one of the Union Army's boldest and most effective fighting units, tilting the Civil War in the Union's favor. In the 1800s, Allentown was one of the cities and regions that sparked the Industrial Revolution as the city emerged as an early national mining and industrial manufacturing hub. Allentown's Lehigh Canal, which afforded the city and region the ability to utilize the Lehigh River for the transport of coal, iron, steel, and other products from the region to primary consumer markets in New York City, Philadelphia, and other major markets made the city a center of early American industrialization, which continued until foreign competitors, regulations, trade practices, manufacturing costs, and innovation and other trends combined to force its deterioration beginning in the late 1970s and continuing throughout the 1980s. Migration to Allentown and the region continued in the 19th and 20th century with additional inflow of German immigrants followed by waves of Italians and Asians. In the late 20th century, Hispanics, primarily Puerto Ricans arriving directly from Puerto Rico or indirectly from nearby New Jersey and New York City, immigrated to the city and currently comprise a sizable percentage of the city's population. As of 2010, Allentown's demographic composition was 43.2% White (non-Hispanic), 42.8% Hispanic, 11.6% Black, and 2.2% Asian. In the late 20th and early 21st century, Allentown's image and character as a rugged industrial Rust Belt city has been bolstered globally in numerous movies, television shows, and songs. (en)
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- The culture of Allentown, Pennsylvania dates back to the settlement of the city and the surrounding Lehigh Valley in the early 1700s by Germans of the Protestant Lutheran, Moravian, and Reformed faiths, who fled religious persecution and war in Europe to settle in Allentown and its surrounding towns and communities. Before their arrival, the region had been historically inhabited by Lenape Native American tribes. As of 2010, Allentown's demographic composition was 43.2% White (non-Hispanic), 42.8% Hispanic, 11.6% Black, and 2.2% Asian. (en)
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