Ruins to playgrounds: The Lehigh Valley is reclaiming its industrial past for new uses
The Lehigh Valley is rightfully proud of its industrial past. Bethlehem Steel helped build battleships and the Golden Gate Bridge, after all.
But that’s not the Lehigh Valley of today. The region’s economy is much more varied, and many those old industrial sites now reflect the new emphasis on arts, entertainment and culture — becoming attractions themselves.
Here are 10 examples of industrial ruins reclaimed for the new Lehigh Valley:
• SteelStacks and the Hoover Mason Trestle. Bethlehem Steel closed in 2003. The old blast furnaces, once the premiere symbol of the Valley’s titanic of industry, are now a dramatic backdrop to the area’s most unique entertainment venue. Concerts and festivals, including Musikfest, are held here. Connecting past and present is the Hoover Mason Trestle. Opened in 2015, this elevated walkway allows visitors to get up close to the blast furnaces and learn about Steel’s history while perusing the campus’s other frequent offerings.
• Wind Creek casino. In 2004, investors bought the core of Bethlehem Steel’s former flagship plant in 2004 for $3.1 million to develop a casino. It opened as Sands in 2009 before it was sold to Wind Creek in 2018. But the development set the stage by donating land for the SteelStacks campus above. It incorporated old Steel equipment like the iron ore crane that sports the casino’s name. Known now for its games, shops and concerts, Wind Creek also wanted to turn another Steel building into a water park, though those plans seem to have stalled since the COVID-19 pandemic.
• National Museum of Industrial History. Another old Bethlehem Steel building has been turned into a monument to industry itself. This Smithsonian-affiliated museum opened in 2016 with interactive exhibits about the role of industry nationally and locally. It annually hosts a reunion for former steelworkers.
• Simon Silk Mill. This former factory in Easton is a relic from over 100 years ago, when silk was Pennsylvania’s biggest industry. The mill was abandoned in the 1960s. It wasn’t until 2016 that it reopened as a mix of new businesses and living space. Now the old mill is a brewery, winery, distillery, ice cream shop, apartments and more.
• The Automobile Corner of America. Allentown’s Klein Building used to be A&B Meats. Now it’s apartments upstairs, some of which still have the building’s old exterior as a wall feature (seen above). And downstairs is a classic car garage and showroom, conveniently across the street from the America On Wheels museum.
• Lafayette College’s Williams Arts Campus. This part of Lafayette’s campus in Easton is unmistakably one of the first things you see when you enter Pennsylvania on Route 22. It’s still relatively new, opening in 2015 in buildings that used to be a car showroom and vacant Club Mohican. Now it hosts the next generation of artists.
• Bethlehem’s Colonial Industrial Quarter. It’s hard to believe that this area along the Monocacy Creek used to be an auto junkyard. Efforts to reclaim it began in the 1950s. Now it once again stands as a historical monument to some of the nation’s earliest industry — the mills and smiths of Bethlehem’s Moravian settlers. It’s also one of the most photogenic spots in the Valley.
• D&L Trail. This one doesn’t count as ruins, more as a relic. But it’s definitely an attraction. This trail harkens back to the days before railroads. It follows the old Delaware & Lehigh Canal path practically from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, passing through parks in the Lehigh Valley’s major cities. Follow it south of Easton into Delaware Canal State Park and you’ll be walking Pennsylvania’s Trail of the Year.
• Allentown waterfront. Here’s a reclamation in progress. The Lehigh River’s west bank in Allentown was once the site of Lehigh Structural Steel. Now it is being developed into a mix of commercial, livable, walkable space. Last summer, developers gave a sneak peak at one 125,000-squre foot office building, The Mohrbanc, which will be flanked by two public squares. All will be named for former industrial executives.
• (The former) Dutch Springs. An old quarry pit in Northampton County filled with water and became a destination water park and scuba diving school. The future of this one is a little murky: The property was sold to a developer who plans to build warehouses — the Lehigh Valley’s new booming industry — but it’s said the scuba school will remain.