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====American Revolutionary War==== {{Further|Pennsylvania in the American Revolution}} {{See also|Farr Building|High German Evangelical Reformed Church}} [[File:2021 - Farr and Haas Buildings - Allentown PA.jpg|thumb|The [[Farr Building]] at 739 [[Hamilton Street]], where a hospital treated wounded [[Continental Army]] troops during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]]]] Allentown played a central role in inspiring and supporting the [[American Revolution]] and [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]]. Some of the first [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriot]] resistance to [[British colonization of the Americas|British colonialism]] in the [[Thirteen Colonies]] began in and around present-day Allentown. On December 21, 1774, a [[Committee of safety (American Revolution)|Committee of Observation]] was formed by Allentown-area patriots, who expanded their resistance to British governance and drove [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Tories]] out of the city. The burden of supplying the local militias fell on the people, and requisitions for food, grain, cattle, horses, and cloth were common.<ref name="Moll">{{cite web |url=https://www.angelfire.com/pa5/mollpa/ |title=The Moll Family In Pennsylvania |website=[[Angelfire]] |access-date=October 23, 2017 |archive-date=June 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180624203658/http://www.angelfire.com/pa5/mollpa/ |url-status=live}}</ref> In June 1775, after the Revolutionary War was launched with the [[Battles of Lexington and Concord]], the [[Second Continental Congress]] incorporated Patriot militias, including those in present-day Allentown, into the [[Continental Army]] and unanimously selected [[George Washington]] as its commander. During the Revolutionary War, [[Hessian (soldier)|Hessian]] prisoners of war were kept in Allentown in the vicinity of present-day 7th and Gordon streets, and the city housed four hospitals for wounded Continental Army troops, including one in [[High German Evangelical Reformed Church|Zion Reformed Church]] and one on the grounds of the present-day [[Farr Building]]. After [[George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River|crossing the Delaware]] and prevailing in the [[Battle of Trenton]] on December 26, 1776, Continental Army commander George Washington and his staff traveled through Allentown, where they proceeded up Water Street, which is present-day [[Lehigh Street]]. On the grounds of present-day Wire Mill on Lehigh Street, Washington and his staff stopped at the foot of the street, where they rested and watered their horses, and then proceeded to their post of duty.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lehighvalleyhistory.com/allentown-city |title=Allentown City β Lehigh Valley History |website=lehighvalleyhistory.com |access-date=October 23, 2017 |archive-date=October 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024043615/http://lehighvalleyhistory.com/allentown-city |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1777, a manufacturer of [[paper cartridge]]s and [[musket]]s for the Continental Army relocated to Allentown from neighboring [[Bethlehem, Pennsylvania|Bethlehem]], and a shop of 16 [[armourer]]s was established on [[Little Lehigh Creek]], which was used to repair Continental Army weapons and manufacture [[saddle]]s and [[scabbard]]s.<ref name="Allentown1916"/> =====Liberty Bell's hiding===== {{Further|Liberty Bell}} [[File:First Bridge Across Lehigh River.jpg|thumb|Hamilton Street Bridge, constructed between 1812 and 1814, the first bridge built across the [[Lehigh River]]. Three times since, in 1841, 1862, and 1902, it was destroyed by flooding and subsequently rebuilt. In the 1980s, the bridge was extensively refurbished.]] [[File:2007 - South Eighth Street Viaduct.jpg|thumb|[[Albertus L. Meyers Bridge]], which crosses the [[Little Lehigh Creek|Little Lehigh River]] at 8th Street in Allentown, the longest ({{convert|2650|ft|m}}) and highest ({{convert|138|ft|m}}) concrete bridge in the world at the time of its 1913 opening<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://transportationhistory.org/2021/11/17/1913-the-inauguration-of-a-record-breaking-bridge-in-pennsylvanias-lehigh-valley-region/ |title=1913: The Inauguration of a Record-Breaking Bridge in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley Region |website=Transportationhistory.org |date=November 17, 2021 |access-date=May 9, 2023 |archive-date=May 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230509215956/https://transportationhistory.org/2021/11/17/1913-the-inauguration-of-a-record-breaking-bridge-in-pennsylvanias-lehigh-valley-region/ |url-status=live}}</ref>]] Allentown holds historical significance as the location where the [[Liberty Bell]], then known as the State House Bell, was successfully hidden from September 1777 to June 1778, during the Revolutionary War by [[Patriot (American Revolution)|American patriots]], who sought to avoid its capture by the [[British Army during the American Revolutionary War|British Army]] during their nine-month [[Philadelphia campaign|occupation of Philadelphia]]. After Washington and the Continental Army were defeated in the [[Battle of Brandywine]] in [[Chadds Ford Township, Pennsylvania]] on September 11, 1777, Philadelphia was left defenseless and American patriots began preparing for what they saw as an imminent British attack on the colonial capital. [[Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council]] ordered that 11 bells, including the Liberty Bell and ten bells then housed at [[Christ Church, Philadelphia|Christ Church]] and [[St. Peter's Episcopal Church (Philadelphia)|St. Peter's Church]] in Philadelphia, be taken down and moved out of Philadelphia to protect them from the British, fearing their being melted down and cast into munitions. Two farmers and wagon masters, John Snyder and Henry Bartholomew, then transported the Liberty Bell north to present-day Allentown, where it was hidden under floorboards in the basement of [[High German Evangelical Reformed Church|Zion Reformed Church]] at 622 [[Hamilton Street]] in [[Center City Allentown]], just prior to Philadelphia's September 1777 fall to the British.
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