Lehigh County Historical Society facts for kids
Lehigh County Historical Society in June 2008
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| Established | 1904 |
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| Location | 432 West Walnut Street, Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Type | Historical museum |
| Public transit access |  LANta bus: 102, 107, 210, 220, 324 (at 5th and Hamilton/Linden streets) |
The Lehigh County Historical Society is a special group that started in 1904. Its main job is to find, keep safe, and show the history of Lehigh County and the Lehigh Valley area in eastern Pennsylvania.
You can find the Historical Society and the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum at 432 West Walnut Street in Allentown. It's a great place to learn about the past!
Contents
What You Can Explore
Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum
The Lehigh County Historical Society has its main home inside the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum. This museum is quite large, with about 30,000 square feet of space. It has four big rooms for showing exhibits.
You can see many cool things here. They have shown exhibits about famous people like General Harry Clay Trexler. They also have displays about Native Americans and even past U.S. presidents.
The museum always has an exhibit about the Lehigh Valley. They also have a huge collection of over 30,000 historical items. These items help tell the story of the local area.
Library and Archive
The Lehigh County Historical Society also has a special library. It's called the Scott Andrew Trexler II Research Library and Archive. This library is like a treasure chest of old photos and documents.
It holds 200,000 old pictures and almost three million historical papers. You can find many old records here. These include church and cemetery records from Lehigh County and nearby areas.
They also have early county records like tax lists and land deeds. You can look at old marriage records and family history books. City directories from 1860 until today are also available. Plus, there are maps, census records, and published history books.
The library even has old newspapers from Allentown. Some are in German and some in English. If you are a member of the Society, you can use the library for free. If not, there's a small fee.
Historic Sites to Visit
The Lehigh County Historical Society also takes care of six important historical places in the region. These sites let you step back in time and see how people lived long ago.
- Claussville One-Room Schoolhouse (built in 1893): This brick schoolhouse was the very last one-room school in Lehigh County. You can find it on Route 100, north of Fogelsville.
- Haines Mill Museum (around 1850, rebuilt in 1909): This is a working grist mill. A grist mill grinds grain into flour. It's located at 3600 Dorney Park Road in Cetronia.
- Lockridge Furnace Museum (1868): This was a 19th-century ironworks. It's now a museum and park that teaches about the anthracite iron industry. You can visit it at 525 Franklin Street in Alburtis.
- Saylor Cement Industry Museum (1893): These are old Cement kilns built by David O. Saylor. He was very important in starting the American Portland cement industry. They are on North Second Street in Coplay.
- Trout Hall (1770): This is a beautiful old stone mansion built in the colonial style. It was the home of James Allen, whose father, William Allen, founded Allentown. It's at 4th and Walnut Streets in Allentown.
- Troxell-Steckel Farm Museum (1756): This is a Pennsylvania Dutch stone farmhouse. It's one of the oldest buildings in Lehigh County. You can find it at 4229 Reliance Street, off Route 329, in Egypt.
See also
- Allentown, Pennsylvania
- Lehigh County, Pennsylvania
- List of historical societies
- List of historic places in Allentown, Pennsylvania
- Mahlon Hellerich
