Allentown in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania — part of the Lehigh Valley, a region of the Appalachian Great Valley — is the third largest city in the state and the two-hundred and thirty-third largest city in the United States. With a population of 121,000 as of the last census and is generally considered the fastest growing city in the state. The largest of the region’s three cities — which also include Bethlehem and Easton — it makes up roughly fifteen percent of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area’s 822,000 citizens. 60 miles north-northwest of Philadelphia, 75 miles west of New York, as well as 60 miles south-southwest of Scranton and 80 miles east of Harrisburg, Allentown and the surrounding region are centrally situated as what was once called the “Elbow of the Northeast,” with nearly 30 million people living within a 100 miles.
Despite the sheer number of people living within a stone’s throw, as part of the Bos-Wash Corridor megalopolis, Allentown itself is a densely populated 18 square mile island within a sea of both conventional suburbs and extensive forest and farmland, making it and the region that rarest of places — one which has all the advantages and pleasures of the city, on the one hand, and within only minutes dissolves into bucolic countryside, on the other.
The region is an exciting center for artistic and cultural expression, hosting the Allentown Arts Museum, the Alternative Gallery and ArtsFest, the Baum School of Art, the Allentown Symphony at Miller Symphony Hall, the Municipal Opera Company, ArtsQuest, Civic Theater, the Ballet Guild of the Lehigh Valley, Community Music School, two chamber orchestras and several fine choirs, including the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, and six concert bands, including the Allentown Band, established in 1829. The Allentown Library, with an annual circulation of over a million books, is one of the largest in the state.