Category:Livingston Club, Allentown, Pennsylvania

The Livingston was a private social club located at 22 South Seventh Street. It opened in 1890 and catered primarily to businessmen and politicians of influence.

The club's history began on January 20th, 1890 while a play called "Passion's Slave" was playing to capacity crowds at a local theater. A group gathered in Parlor A of the American Hotel at Sixth and Hamilton Streets, where the Americus Hotel is today, to plan a men's club. The group included Dr. Edward Martin, president of the Lehigh Valley Trust and Safe Deposit Co., Robert Iredell, Jr., publisher of the Chronicle and News, and Lewis Soleiac, superintendent of the Adelaide Silk Mill.

At the group's next meeting on Jan 28th, they chose the name "Livingston Club" to honor the Livingstons, one of the founding families of the United States which had intermarried with the Allen Family of Allentown in the early 19th Century. A new building, located at 22 South Seventh, was commissioned by the group and was designed by Joseph Howard Martz, who worked in the offices of L.S. Jacoby, one of the leading architects of Allentown. The Martz family had helped in the redesign of the Allentown Central Market Hall into the Lyric Theater, now Miller Symphony Hall. The red brick used in the construction was commonly used in the style of the 1890s sought for formal buildings. It had two dining rooms, two bars and two bowling lanes for its members.

The Livingston Club initially had 150 members, and had a long waiting list for many more. It became a mark of high social status to be accepted as a member of the club, especially after the founding of the Lehigh Portland Cement Company by Harry Trexler in 1897. The company would require its executives to belong to the club. Senator Warren Harding of Ohio, later a United States President, spent a night at the Livingston Club by accident. He was in Allentown on December 13, 1917 to speak at Allentown's Odd Fellows Hall. The head of Bethlehem Steel, Charles Schwab was also on hand. At the meeting Harding was introduced by Schwab. A blizzard struck Allentown that evening, stopping all train travel. So Schwab, Trexler and Harding went to the Livingston, where the future president and Schwab spent the night.

Origionally a men's-only club, a few women were admitted on Saturdays-only beginning in 1902. A motion to accept women as club members was voted down, 42-7 in 1945. In 1949, women began to be allowed to dine at the club after 5:00pm if they came with a member. It was not until 1978 that, after picketing by the National Organization for Women, women were accepted for full club membership.

During the late 20th Century, membership in the Livingston Club began to decline with the changing nature of business in Allentown, the concept of single-sex social clubs and local power brokers declining. By 1996, the club was unable to sustain itself financially and took dramatic steps to regain solvency by opening its dining room to the public, opening for outside organization meetings, solicited donations, cut membership dues, and tried to recruit new members. However the financial situation did not improve enough and put the property up for sale in order to prevent it being foreclosed on. It was subsequently purchased by the Allentown Redevelopment Authority.

However, the Livingston Club suffered from the declining atmosphere of Hamilton street of the late 1990s, and it was subsequently closed by tha ARA in April 1999. It was torn down in early 2000, and today it is a parking lot. The site will be part of the NIZ 1 Center Square complex when it is constructed.