Category:1928 Allentown Jubilee Celebration

The 1928 Allentown Jubilee was a festival, which peaked on May 17, 1928, with a parade and fireworks.

The jubilee was held with the belief the city's population would eclipse 100,000 when tabulated for the 1930 Census. If reached, the distinction would have meant Allentown was one of the largest cities in the state.

The parade was planned months in advance. A flyover by the Navy airship Los Angeles was promised. The Naval Air Station at Lakehurst, N.J., vetoed that when a thunderstorm threatened. By the time the sky cleared, it was too late to get the LA airborne. The much smaller aircraft Blimp J-3 flew over in its place. But because there was so much publicity about the Los Angeles, many folks later insisted it was the Los Angeles they saw. The parade had six divisions: historical, civil and educational, mercantile, industrial, transportation and military. The divisions, in turn, were divided into 94 subgroups that consisted of a float or band. All of the city's ethnic groups, including African-Americans, were represented. Their float featured black veterans of World War I. Many local companies, from PP&L; to Mack Trucks, went all out. The utility's float featured live models dressed as figures from classical mythology. One figure was Aurora, goddess of the dawn; the other was Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods. They were standing on either side of a replica of the PP&L; Tower building, which at that point wasn't even a year old. A landscape of the Valley's past was spread out before them. Mack's contribution was a 1901 motor bus with company employees in period costume. The only mishap at the parade that anyone could recall was that shortly after it began, the papier-mache lion atop the Lions Club float fell off his perch, disappearing into the undergrowth around it.

When the celebration was done, everybody deemed it a success, and the city fathers said confidently that by the 1940s Allentown would have a 200,000 population.

But first things first. When the 1930 Census was released, Allentown was shown to have a population of 92,000. By then, the Great Depression had started, and people had other things to worry about. It was the 1950 census that Allentown finally reached 100,000 people. 106,756 to be exact. The last official census in 2010 showed the city at 118,032.

To be fair, the City of Allentown is locked in its present size for decades by surrounding townships, and annexation of additional areas is very difficult for the city to do. If one reviews the population of the Lehigh Valley, which contains the surrounding townships, along with the cities of Bethlehem and Easton, the Lehigh Valley is the third most populous Metropolitan Statistical Area in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with a population of 841,914 residents as of the 2018 U.S. Census Estimate, an 2.5% increase from 821,173 residents in the 2010 U.S. Census