Old Maps of Bethlehem, PA - Part 2: What Used To Be (Northampton Heights)

Following my post about Clearfield Village, I heard a lot about another former neighborhood: Northampton Heights. 

Formerly located along E 4th Street (Southside Bethlehem), Northampton Heights was originally part of Lower Saucon Township. It was incorporated as a borough in 1901 (population 650) [1], and then incorporated into the city of Bethlehem in 1920 (population 4000) [2]. 

Since the neighborhood was demolished by the Bethlehem Steel Company in the mid 1960s, there is nothing left of Northampton Heights. There were two schools, a number of businesses, several churches, and many homes: gone. Fortunately for us, we can re-create some of the neighborhood using historic maps and Google Earth. 

The 1912 Sanborn fire insurance maps [3] proved to be a good starting place. Sheets 55 and 56 show the neighborhood in detail. This helped me understand the street layout, east to west: Emery, Diamond, Carbon, Bessemer, Anthracite.

As with Clearfield Village, I used the USGS Historical Topographic Map Explorer. In particular, I used the Hellertown 1965 and 1972 maps, showing the neighborhood just before and after the demolition.

These maps helped me pinpoint a few things: 

• Emery Street still exists and the historic map aligns to modern roads best at the northern end of the street. 
• Anthracite Street aligns north/south with today's Redfield St, albeit on the opposite side of E 4th Street in South Terrace.
  
• The Lynn Avenue bridge (south of E 4th St) is between Bessemer and Carbon, but slightly closer to Bessemer. 

From there I estimated the locations of the other north-south streets based on the nearest aligned street in South Terrace. I estimated the locations of 1st through 6th Streets by drawing a straight line from their current existence (hence the long lines in the map you're about to see).

Here is the resulting neighborhood, recreated:

I also took the 1912 Sanborn map images and overlaid them in Google Earth. This confirmed street locations and allowed me to begin plotting points of interest, businesses, churches, etc. The file is huge so I can't post it here; contact me if you'd like a copy of the file. I plotted additional places on the map based on information from articles, Facebook posts, books, etc. Using many sources I was able to create a fairly complete view of the former Northampton Heights neighborhood.

 

Pictures of Northampton Heights:

My map gives you an idea of where things were, and I embedded some pictures I found along the way. Here are some additional pictures to give you a better sense of the neighborhood. 

  The original St Josaphat's Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic Church  

Scroll down a bit to see the Saucona Hotel 

(scroll down in the frame to see)

There's a bit more information about the hotel, including details on the architect, Albert Wolfring Leh, here: https://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/106440 

 

McIlvain Fire Co, which was also used as the Borough Hall
before Northampton Heights was incorporated into Bethlehem.

There is a longer article on that same page if you click through.

Example of rowhomes in Northampton Heights in 1964

This photo was used to claim that the neighborhood was 'in too much disrepair to save'. The City, HUD, and Bethlehem Steel worked together on an "Urban Renewal" project to demolish the neighborhood so the Steel could build the BOF.

 

Demolition in progress, 1967

 

 

"A trolley crosses Fourth Street at Anthracite Street in 1950" 

(scroll down in the frame to see)

 

Louis Polack & Sons Brickote Company 

1604 E 2nd St

Louis Polack's family home being demolished in October 1968

Today

Northampton Heights was demolished by the Bethlehem Steel Company in the mid-1960s to build the Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF), the latest in steelmaking technology at the time. Since then of course, Bethlehem Steel went bankrupt and the BOF was also demolished in 1998 [4]. The site sat vacant for a number of years but has since been redeveloped into an Industrial Park, which includes some office buildings, a hotel, and several giant warehouses. 

More information

Bethlehem has a strong presence of its past. Here, traditions of many immigrant groups are still alive in the form of festivals, bazaars, and church groups. While Northampton Heights may be gone, there is still a lot of information being preserved about the area. To learn more about the history of Northampton Heights, here are some resources:

• "Preserving a piece of Bethlehem's Black history: 'These oracles are a vital, accessible but aging population'" in The Morning Call, 03 Feb 2019. https://www.mcall.com/news/local/bethlehem/mc-nws-bethlehem-black-experience-oral-history-20190103-story.html
• "Can anything good come from Northampton Heights?" http://southbethhistsoc.org/can-any-good-thing-come-from-northampton-heights/
• "How Bethlehem Steel Fought A War and Pestilence" https://venditta.blog/2020/04/19/1918-how-bethlehem-steel-fought-a-war-and-pestilence/ 
• "Read up on Three Lehigh Valley Legends" https://lehighvalleystyle.com/people/features/three-local-legends/
  

Facebook posts are also a wealth of information: 

• Baby Health Station: https://www.facebook.com/SouthBethlehem/posts/3845721458824571
• Mechanic Street in the Heights in 1961: https://www.facebook.com/SouthBethlehem/posts/3123220141074710
• Kids on overturned cars during the Strike of 1941: https://www.facebook.com/SouthBethlehem/posts/3251680041562052
• Various aerial views of the neighborhood:
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/1278836242479737/permalink/1344691332560894/
• https://www.facebook.com/SouthBethlehem/posts/2855150414548352
• https://www.facebook.com/SouthBethlehem/posts/3902527499810633
• https://www.facebook.com/SouthBethlehem/posts/2551667968229933
• https://www.facebook.com/SouthBethlehem/posts/2561599683903428

 Additional resources:

• "This Week in Bethlehem History: The Heights - Declaration of doom" in the Bethlehem Press, 05 Sept 2013.
  
• http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:HreOTs0zskIJ:bethlehem.thelehighvalleypress.com/2013/09/05/week-bethlehm-history-heights-declaration-doom+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-b-1-d (as of 2021 this link no longer works)
  
• St Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church in The Heights 
• https://www.facebook.com/notes/the-lehigh-valley-historical-archive/st-marks-evangelical-church-northampton-heights/1305478092925499
• "Furnace Launched Steel Into Modern Age, Basic Oxygen Unit Replaced A Neighborhood" in The Morning Call, 16 Jan 1989. 
• https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-1989-01-16-2681293-story.html
• "Heights Renewal Official" in The Morning Call, 22 Dec 1965. 
• https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58724221/northampton-heights-urban-renewal/ 
• Two photos from the Sigal Museum in Easton, PA:
• 1905 picture of students at Northampton Heights School: https://sigalmuseum.pastperfectonline.com/archive/14F1B1B4-6145-4356-BC99-528553319524
• Undated picture of students at Northampton Heights School: https://sigalmuseum.pastperfectonline.com/archive/7E799C0D-153F-40E4-BEC3-149980737824
  

Sources: 

1. "The Fifth Borough. Judge Scott issues a decree incorporating Northampton Heights" in The Allentown Leader, 18 Feb 1901. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4537366/judge-issues-decree-incorporating/ 
2. "Bethlehem Swallows Northampton Heights" in The Morning Call, 04 Mar 1920. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12904219/bethlehem-swallows-northampton-heights/
3. Sanborn 1912 Maps of Northampton Heights (Pg 55, 56, 77): https://digital.libraries.psu.edu/digital/collection/maps1/id/4178 
4. "Steel Demolition Continues" in The Morning Call, 22 Mar 1998. https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-1998-03-22-3180927-story.html 

• 1929 map of Bethlehem, from the Bethlehem Area Public Library: https://bapl.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1929-map.jpg
• See additional links/sources/photos in my Google Map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1p8mvsw7i0QT1NExL6IE6C8A6XP2wrCYe&usp=sharing 
• Special thanks to local historians who have researched this neighborhood before me, especially Nancy Rutman and Karen Samuels whose work I found very helpful!
  

 

Crowdsourcing Rusyn places in the US

Rusyns may not be a well-known ethnic group, but we have quite a presence if you know where to look. This is especially evident in the Northeastern US, where many onion-domed churches were founded by Rusyn immigrants in the late 1800s or early 1900s.

I always look for Rusyn sites when I'm traveling, and have seen quite a few Facebook posts asking for Rusyn points of interest in Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA), for example. After a quick poll to gauge interest and participation, I started a collaborative Google Map that we could use to map Rusyn places in the US. In under a week, we already had an impressive collection of points on the map!


Data in this map is organized into several layers:

• Rusyn Places in the US - This is the layer most people will view and/or edit. 
• Blue points indicate a Rusyn place of interest
• Brown points indicate a Rusyn-style wooden church (more on that later)
• Former Rusyn Places in the US - This layer contains places that have a Rusyn history and have been repurposed, closed, or demolished.  
• Gray points indicate a place that is no longer used by Rusyns, but still has significance (architectural, cornerstone, etc.)
• Black points indicate a place that no longer has any Rusyn significance or has been demolished. These points still provide context for the extent of a former Rusyn community 
• Needs More Info - This layer includes places that are too vague to be useful or may be Rusyn but aren't confirmed (by sources or colloquial knowledge). 
• Red points were identified either during my review of newly added points or in my own research, and require additional digging. 
• Rusyn Places in Canada - This layer includes two Rusyn-style wooden churches in Canada because they were too interesting to leave off the map, and are very close to the Northeastern US.
• Russian Brotherhood Organization Lodges (-1959) - This layer includes towns that had a RBO lodge before 1959, as listed on the Rusyns of PA blog. This layer provides places for me to investigate for additional Rusyn communities and places that I may not have found otherwise.
• Green points are placed on the town, as these lodges often didn't have addresses of their own and met in churches or other businesses.
  

Findings

Not surprisingly, churches and cemeteries are most of the mark we've left on the US over the past 136 years*. I did find some fun things though:

• Monuments (a giant Campbell's Soup can signed by Andy Warhol, a statue of baseball player Stan Musial)
• Roads named for individuals or an entire group of people (Lemko Way, Olyphant, PA)
• A park (named for former Manville, NJ mayor George Papawick)

Of course, Rusyns need their pirogi, so I included a number of Eastern European restaurants in Rusyn areas, along with the famously Rusyn Baba's Pirogies in Brooklyn, and a future Rusyn restaurant in Johnstown, PA.

Take one look at the map and you'll notice that most of the Rusyn places in PA are in NEPA or near Pittsburgh. There are a significant amount of Rusyn places in NJ and OH as well. I also learned more about a number of Rusyn outposts in less likely places, like Hartshorne, OK and Brookside, AL. Rusyns migrated from the Northeastern US to Hartshorne and Brookside for job opportunities in the mines.

The most exciting find though, is a number of Rusyn-style wooden churches in the US and Ontario, Canada! Who knew?!? Here's the list, so far:

If you know of any that I missed, please comment below!

Idea for a Road Trip

I'm still stuck at home, trying to stay safe during a global pandemic. I'm not sure when I'll get to do this road trip, but I can dream... I used MapQuest's route planner again and came up with this route. I can visit all of the Rusyn-style wooden churches in the Northeast in 26 hours of driving!


I excluded the two in Ontario, Canada, since Canada is not letting Americans (or any other foreign nationals) in during the pandemic**. I also excluded the church in Georgia, because it is so far from the rest of the churches. I'll have to save that for another trip.

Sources

I cited my sources in each point on the map. If there's no comment in the map point, it was a suggestion by someone in the Facebook group, or was added by a user. For further reading, check out these links:

• Rusyns of Pennsylvania blog
• Kubek Project blog
• Carpatho-Rusyns Everywhere Facebook Group  
• Lemko Rusyns and Friends (Лемкы-Русины з приятелями) Facebook Group

* St Michael's in Shenandoah was the first Rusyn church in the US. It was built in 1884 and demolished in 2015. The congregation still exists, and has a newer church building that they've used for many years.
** I don't blame them. The US has some work to do, as infection numbers are skyrocketing again.

Philly Painting - A Community Mural

On an early morning in May 2018 I was driving to Philly. Traffic on the highway was backed up, as usual, and Google Maps routed me a different way. I ended up driving through part of Germantown Ave that is a huge neighborhood mural, took a quick picture, and looked up more information later.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by RoboChristine (@iamrobochristine) on May 24, 2018 at 5:36am PDT

This project is called Philly Painting, and it was done by the same people who did the Favela Painting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Philly Painting’s Vimeo account has a bunch of short videos documenting the project, and I’ve embedded them below to make it easy for you to watch them in order. Check out this really cool project and what the community had to say about it!

Video about the original project in Rio de Janeiro:

Philly Painting!

In video #4 you can see the tour guide, Keenan, standing in front of the block in my photo. 

He says the neighborhood to the west is called Beirut because it was like growing up in a war zone.

I love seeing projects like this with community involvement!

Old Maps of Bethlehem, PA - Part 1: What Used To Be (Clearfield Village)

Like many people in Bethlehem after WWII, several of my family members lived in Clearfield Village. Not much information about this former housing development can be found online, but its 250 single-story homes were built to house those returning from war and starting families¹.

Formerly located south of Pembroke Rd and east of Bethlehem Drive, Clearfield Village had 50 5-unit residential buildings and a community center. All buildings were constructed of cinderblock². The homes had coal stoves and furnaces and an icebox³ (No refrigerators?! Talk about ‘essentials only’!).

To get a sense of the neighborhood I overlayed the Sanborn map of the neighborhood in Google Earth, and then drew the streets and buildings as they used to be. The result provides a good overview of the neighborhood.

Hint: Click on the buildings for addresses. 
This is helpful if you're curious where your relatives 
lived, since the streets are gone!

It's interesting that the streets in "the Village" (as the locals call it -- and several other housing developments) didn't line up with the streets in Freemansburg. You can tell where the city/borough line is located by looking at the ends of Tolstoy, Karoly, Kossuth, and Monroe Streets (all in Freemansburg). But why not make them connect? Simply because Clearfield Village was intended to be temporary?

Timeline
Clearfield Village was created as temporary housing and was demolished after some time, though I can’t find much information about the demolition (or when it was built, for that matter). I turned to the USGS’ awesome historical map site for a timeline. The faint red crosshairs in each map denote the location of Clearfield Village.

The 1939 Allentown map shows vacant land (under Freemansburg):

1939 Nazareth Map - USGS

That hashed red line is the city/borough boundary. Remember that for later!
Side note: did you know that Pembroke Rd used to be Alternate US-22?

The 1959 Allentown map shows Clearfield Village’s major streets:

1959 Nazareth Map - USGS

The 1964 Nazareth map only shows a few remaining roads (Bristol Rd, part of Nelson Rd, Spencer Rd, and most of Salem Rd). Also note that Missouri Ave (today called Bethlehem Dr) is missing, but was missing in some earlier maps as well.

1964 Nazareth Map - USGS

Sorry for the weird way the historic map is truncated... 

the rest of these do the same thing.

The 1992 Nazareth map shows the same layout, but with more industrial buildings moving in to the west:

1992 Nazareth Map - USGS

And by the 1999 Nazareth map, the entire area had been redeveloped, with Win Dr cutting through where Clearfield Village used to be.

1999 Nazareth Map - USGS

In 2018, nothing remains to give any indication of the vibrant neighborhood that used be there. Do you have pictures or stories of Clearfield Village or the neighborhood reunions? Let me know!

Sources

1. Newspapers.com: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/280040098/
• “When veterans returned home after the war, he declared, Bethlehem faced another housing shortage, and Clearfield Village, a 250 unit project, was built.”
2. Sanborn Fire Insurance Map via Lehigh’s Beyond Steel project: http://gisweb2.cc.lehigh.edu/beyondsteel/
3. Klugh In America (genealogy report): http://www.klugh.com/pdf/butler-genealogy-report.pdf
• “During this time the family lived in low-cost G.I. housing ... that had coal stoves and furnaces, and an icebox in lieu of a refrigerator. Clearfield Village consisted of long concrete block single story row houses."

Additional Resources:

• Bethlehem Housing Authority – History Page: http://bha645.homestead.com/BHAhistory.html

Map Tour of the former Lehigh Valley Railroad (LVRR)

I love love love love love love love PDFs of old books on sites like Archive.org, Google Books, and the Library of Congress. A while back I found one called “Seen from the Train on the Picturesque Lehigh Valley Railroad”. Published in 1895, this book was intended to keep riders informed of their whereabouts as they took the train from NYC (well, Jersey City) to Buffalo and Niagara Falls.

I’ve spent most of my life living along this former railroad (in New Jersey and Pennsylvania), and I really enjoyed reading the 1895 description of several places I lived in/near. While this book is an interesting read, it just isn’t as fun without a train ride. (Soapbox: we need more passenger rail service!!!) But these trains don’t run anymore. And some (most?) of the rail segments are totally gone.

Someday I’d like to make a road trip out of this, and include a present-day photo of each stop. For now, I created a Google Map to act as a guide and provide some context. You can click on any point and read the that town’s description from the book. I hope you enjoy it!



Legend:

• Blue binoculars: Points of interest along or near the route
• Red train engine: Major transfers or junctions with other railroads
• Green circle with a square inside: The western route through the Finger Lakes
• Yellow circle with a diamond inside: The eastern route through the Finger Lakes

PS: If you happen to be a train nerd (I mean that affectionately) and I got something wrong, please let me know!

An Interesting House in Bethlehem, PA or I'M BACK!

Hellooooooooo. I’ve been away from my blog for a while (about a year?), but I finally found a topic that has inspired me to post once more!

What’s this all about?

There’s a house on Linden St in Bethlehem, PA that I’ve always been curious about. Have a look:


Pretty unique, right?  That giant stained glass window, the stone porch beams carved to look like trees, that crazy looking peaked roof on the back part of the building: it doesn’t look like any other house in the area. Since the outside is so ornate, I’ve always wondered what the interior looks like. Well we are in luck - the house is currently for sale, and several real estate companies have photos!

Links to real estate listings:

• http://www.weichert.com/65126340
• http://www.trulia.com/property/3239906425-3300-Linden-St-Bethlehem-PA-18017

Note: If the photos are taken down from the real estate websites, just leave a comment and I’ll try to get in touch with you.

The realtor’s (Weichert) description of the home provides more information (emphasis mine):

“This stone gingerbread house with walls of old mosaics, carved stone porch columns and stained glass windows has tremendous historical and artistic value and is listed by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. It was built by Tilghman Fogel from 1899 to 1906 and every exterior wall is a work of art. The hand-crafted blocks have a menagerie of story telling and each are an artistic expression, with blown glass, Chinaware, and many artifacts built by hand in an artistic tale. This is a large estate style property with what was a stable attached in the rear, which is now a 4+ car garage and workshop, with a 3 bedroom apartment on the top. This is surrounded by almost 3 acres of prime, flat, partially wooded land. Originally designed all 29 rooms for active air flow and natural light for most of the day. Much of the 100 year old architecture has been preserved. This house must be valued as "artwork" and it will captivate your artistic imagination immediately.”

Who was Tilghman Fogel?  Google Books to the rescue!  Tilghman Fogel (1850-1935) was a member of a seemingly prominent agricultural family in Lower Nazareth Township, Northampton County, PA.  If you’d like to learn about his family, check out pages 413-414 in this Google Book:

Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical  and Personal Memoirs of the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania

Fun fact: I also found another Tilghman Fogel (1842 - 1915), from Lehigh County, who was a well-known blind musician.  The two men do not appear to be immediately related.

But what about the house?!

Now that we know a little about the family, let’s talk about the house.  Why would a prominent farmer decide to build such an eccentric home?  Google Books comes to the rescue again, with two articles containing details about the home itself:

Technical World Magazine, Volume 10

Sketch: A Journal of Art and Actuality, Volume 66

In summary, Tilghman Fogel built the home after he traveled around the United States, collecting souvenir rocks, broken glass, and other scraps along the way.  He decided to incorporate his plethora of souvenirs into the facade of his new home, embedding his creativity into the house itself. 

While looking for information on Tilgman Fogel and his “Souvenir House”, I came across a photo of some unknown young men on the home’s porch:

As such a unique home with an interesting history, I hope someone buys this home and really makes it shine.

Photo Phriday - 2015 02 27

Train bridge over the Delaware River, between Easton PA and Phillipsburg NJ. Taken from the trail under the Free Bridge on the Easton side of the river.

Also, happy 100th blog post to me! :)

Photo Phriday - 2015 02 13

Former Bethlehem Steel building and one of the many steeples of South Side.

Symbol of Progress

I've spent a lot of time at the Bethlehem Area Public Library (BAPL).  Summer reading programs when I was a kid, seemingly endless stacks of books, and an incredible Local History room full of old maps and records.  BAPL is a great place.

Of all of the time I spent there, I never knew anything about the sculpture in the plaza.  You know the one:


Yeah, that thing.  What is it called?  What does it symbolize?  Who made it?  When was it installed?  Why is it covered in spiders and their webs every summer?  So many questions.  Finally, here are some answers, brought to you by a long holiday weekend with no travel plans*!

The sculpture, called "Symbol of Progress", was installed in 1967 as part of Bethlehem's new City Center Plaza.  It was created by Joseph J Greenberg, Jr of Philadelphia, and is made of Bethlehem Steel.  According to Lehigh Valley Style, "His intent was to symbolize the diversity of ethnic groups living in Bethlehem. Greenberg’s vision features three tapered steel arcs that are joined in the middle, denoting the fusion of these different ethnicities. The arcs continue skyward, calling on the strength of the integration."  Pretty cool!

I can't answer my last question from above, regarding why spiders love this sculpture so much, but I'm going to guess they just really enjoy public art.


Photo by Munkeyspasm via Flickr
*No travel plans?  How did that happen?!  It worked out pretty well considering how icy the roads were!

Sources:

• "Steel Sculpture for City Center" from the Gettysburg Times, Aug 16, 1967.  
• Link: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2202&dat=19670816&id=52UmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bP8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=829,1354496 
• "Lehigh Valley Icon" from the Lehigh Valley Style blog.  
• Link: http://www.lehighvalleystyle.com/January-2014/Lehigh-Valley-Icon/ 
• "Symbol of Progress, (sculpture)" from The Smithsonian.
• Link: http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=record_ID:siris_ari_340711
•  "Depth of Field" photo by Munkeyspasm on Flickr
• Link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13259574@N05/3169655682 

Photo Phriday - 2014 12 26

Happy Holidays!  As a snowstorm rolls into Denver, here's a photo of a storm from 2010 in Bethlehem, PA!

Photo Phriday - 2014 11 07

An older photo, but it is very "autumn" feeling. Red leaves (poison ivy) growing on a Jersey barrier.

Photo Phriday - 2014 10 03

An old photo from 2008, but it seems to capture the mood: autumn is coming quickly!

Rusyn Christmas Tree

The Comfort Suites in Bethlehem PA has an exhibit of Christmas trees decorated to represent ethnic groups who have settled in and influenced the city.  After hearing that there was a Rusyn tree on display, I decided that a visit was in order.

Given Rusyns' history of being absorbed into larger ethnic and/or political groups, I somewhat was nervous that it would be a Ukrainian or Slovak or even Russian (gasp!) tree, with a mention of "oh yeah, some of these people identify as Rusyns".  I was thrilled to find an entire tree dedicated to Carpatho-Rusyn culture!

Me + Rusyn Christmas tree.  I look even shorter than usual!  

That's what you get when a tall person takes your photo!

The tree had a variety of ornaments on it, ranging from cookies to pysanky to religious icons to golden walnuts.  It was beautiful!

Cookies & pysanky

Icons, candles, gold-painted walnuts, a cool bird, and the Rusyn flag

Carpatho-Rusyn American!

Another pysanka

Straw angel!

Description of Rusyn Christmas traditions

If you're anywhere near Bethlehem, you should definitely check out this display.  There are trees representing a variety of ethnic groups, not just Eastern Europeans.  While you're in town you can visit Christkindlemarkt at Steel Stacks (former Bethlehem Steel).

Outside of Christkindlemarkt

Here's a bonus photo of another tree that really impressed me:

The Lithuanian tree was beautiful, with most ornaments made of straw.

Airmail Beacons

If you've been on the internet in the past week or so, you've probably seen one of the following stories:

• Dead Media Beat: US Mail airmail arrows (Wired)
• These concrete arrows point the way across America (io9)
• This Really Exists: Giant Concrete Arrows That Point Your Way Across America (CN Traveler)
• The 80-year-old concrete arrows hat helped deliver the mail (The Verge)
• The Forgotten Giant Arrows That Guide You Across America (Messy Nessy Chic)

My first thought?  Road trip!  Fortunately, there is a great website that catalogs the locations (and former locations) of these beacons.  Since I live in Denver, I looked at nearby counties in Colorado and Wyoming, and was pretty happy to find two arrows that still exist nearby, according to Google's satellite view!  Here's the map (red = gone, blue planes = still visible):

View Air Beacons Near Denver in a larger map

A comment on PlanetZhanna said that MO1218 is on private land, so I figured I'd give MO1245 a try.  Not too far off of I-80, and not too far from Denver.  Let's go!

Airmail Beacon MO1245

About 1 mile down a dirt road (W Pilot Peak Rd) and a little further down USFS Road 703B (not 703A!) we found the site.

W Pilot Peak Rd

Where's the arrow?!

Look closely!

Oh, there it is!

Generator building

What a view!!

The site itself was beautiful!  The beacon arrow was still there, and though the tower was gone, the generator building was also still standing.  Definitely one of the better remaining sites!  Very cool!

More Beacons?  More Arrows?
Of course since I'm from PA, I had to see if there were any of these concrete arrows still around there.  I went back to PlanetZhanna's site and mapped all of the locations in PA.  Here's the map (red = gone, yellow = couldn't tell from satellite view):



View Air Beacons - PA in a larger map

Sadly, it appears as though there are no remaining beacon arrows in PA.  Several were on roads named "Beacon Rd" or similar.  I always wondered where these roads got their names!  One of my favorites was KX2026, located on "Old Airport Rd" with no airport nearby.  It's fascinating to see how much the landscape can change in 50 years, when many of these were still visible!

Weather: PA vs CO

I grew up in Pennsylvania. Yay!

Then I moved to Colorado. Yay!

Since I moved west, everyone back east has been asking me about the weather out here.  Ok, mostly those who have never visited Colorado.  You see, apparently everyone on the east coast believes that Denver is high on a mountain top.  Not so!   Here's a spoiler for those who haven't visited yet: Denver's nickname is the Queen City of the Plains.  Plains?  Yes, plains.  It's flat here.  Flat in a way that my rolling-hills-of-the-mid-Atlantic-Appalachians self couldn't imagine until I first visited.  Vast and FLAT:

Looking east, past the 'burbs southeast of Denver.
At least it's not Iowa.

But if you look west:

Mountains!

Central Park off of MLK Jr Blvd

Anyway, living in the middle of a continent and above 5000', the weather patterns are certainly different than living 2 hours away from the Atlantic Ocean. So let's compare the data!

Allentown, PA

	Units	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average High	°F	36	40	50	62	72	80	85	83	75	64	53	41	62
Average Low	°F	21	23	30	40	49	59	64	62	54	42	34	25	42
Precipitation	"	3	3	3	4	4	4	5	4	5	4	3	4	45
Snowfall	"	11	11	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	34
Average Relative Humidity	%	69	67	64	62	66	67	68	71	73	71	71	71	68
Mean Daily Sunshine	Hours	5	6	7	7	8	9	9	8	7	7	5	4	7

Denver, CO

	Units	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average High	°F	44	46	54	61	71	82	89	86	78	65	52	43	64
Average Low	°F	19	21	27	35	44	53	59	58	49	37	26	18	37
Precipitation	"	0	0	1	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	15
Snowfall	"	7	6	10	6	1	0	0	0	1	4	9	10	53
Average Relative Humidity	%	56	56	54	51	54	52	51	52	51	51	59	59	54
Mean Daily Sunshine	Hours	7	8	8	9	9	11	11	10	9	8	7	6	9

Comparison

	City	Units	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average High	Allentown, PA	°F	36	40	50	62	72	80	85	83	75	64	53	41	62
	Denver, CO		44	46	54	61	71	82	89	86	78	65	52	43	64
Average Low	Allentown, PA	°F	21	23	30	40	49	59	64	62	54	42	34	25	42
	Denver, CO		19	21	27	35	44	53	59	58	49	37	26	18	37
Precipitation	Allentown, PA	"	3	3	3	4	4	4	5	4	5	4	3	4	45
	Denver, CO		0	0	1	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	15
Snowfall	Allentown, PA	"	11	11	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	34
	Denver, CO		7	6	10	6	1	0	0	0	1	4	9	10	53
Average Relative Humidity	Allentown, PA	%	69	67	64	62	66	67	68	71	73	71	71	71	68
	Denver, CO		56	56	54	51	54	52	51	52	51	51	59	59	54
Mean Daily Sunshine*	Allentown, PA	Hours	5	6	7	7	8	9	9	8	7	7	5	4	7
	Denver, CO		7	8	8	9	9	11	11	10	9	8	7	6	9

As you can see, the basic differences are:

• Average High: Allentown's average high is a few degrees cooler than Denver's average high.
• Average Low: Allentown's average low is a few degrees warmer than Denver's average low.
• Snowfall: Denver receives an average of 53" of snow per year, while Allentown only receives 34", but...
• Precipitation: Allentown receives 45" of precipitation per year, while Denver only receives 15".  
• Humidity: It's pretty dry in Denver... 54% average relative humidity for the year, with the winter being the most humid.  Allentown is at 68% average for the year.
• Sunshine: Denver is the clear winner here, with 9 sunshine hours per day (mean).

Humidity and sunshine hours are the biggest differences.  Allentown has overcast weather for much of the winter season, and is pretty humid all year.  Denver's winters are much more sunny (though both cities are at nearly the same latitude), and is generally not very humid at all.  Denver's general lack of humidity contributes to that 53" of snow melting into less than 15" of water.  Spring and summer rainstorms in PA can last a week, whereas July in Denver brings the daily 30-minute thunderstorms, followed by clear skies and sunshine.

Notes

Allentown's temperature/precipitation/snowfall measurements were taken at Lehigh Valley International Airport (1981-2010).  This is pretty much in the center of the Lehigh Valley metro area.

Denver's temperature/precipitation/snowfall measurements were taken at Stapleton International Airport (1981-1995) and Denver International Airport (1995-2010). While Stapleton is quite a bit closer to the city than the new Denver International Airport (19 miles closer!), both sets of measurements were taken relatively far from the actual urban area, which is generally a few degrees warmer than the surrounding areas, and gets a different amount of precipitation. NOAA does have data from Denver Water (near downtown), but it starts in 1997 as opposed to 1981, which is when both Denver's and Allentown's airport data begin. For a consistent comparison, I chose to use the Denver Airport data.

For your enjoyment, here is a map of Denver's new and old airports:

View Denver Airport Locations in a larger map

Data Sources

• Temperature/Precipitation/Snowfall: NOAA
• Denver
• Allentown
• Average Relative Humidity: NOAA
• US Cities
• Mean Daily Sunshine Hours: Hong Kong Observatory
• Denver
• Philadelphia (closest available measurement to Allentown)