The Allentown, Pennsylvania, Band has authentic records to prove that
it was organized in 1828 and that it played at a “celebration in honor
of General Lafayette, who had recently died, held on July 31, 1834. In
the center of the troops, leading the white horse draped in mourning,
the band marched to the rumbling of the muffled drums.”
Marching at the head of the first firemen’s parade in Allentown was one
of the various important holiday functions the band has participated
in. “The band was followed by the hose company with four horses and a
fine banner; the Friendship engine, drawn by two horses and having a
banner; the Lehigh engine, drawn by four gray horses, with a banner;
and the Humane engine, drawn by four horses with a banner. All were
decorated with laurel, evergreens and flowers.”
During World War I the band played for many civic and military affairs,
including the launching of the first wooden ship by the Trayler
Shipbuilding Company at Cornwells, on July 5, 1918.
In 1926 the present director, Albertus L. Meyers, who had many years
of professional experience with Sousa, Conway, Pryor and Liberati was
elected leader and business manager. Under his direction the Allentown
Band has grown into a concert band of seventy members which has played
in Toronto and Montreal, Canada, and in various large cities of the
East.
This is Allentown’s own municipal band. It plays a series of winter
concerts in a local theater and a summer series in West Park, as well
as many concerts in nearby communities.