New ‘Warehouse Valley’ exhibit shows how the Lehigh Valley has grown

The painting of the view from Paxinosa Ridge features plenty of vibrant colors with fields of green, yellow and blue and mountains in the distance. That’s what Forks Township looked like to Vivian Fishbone, who put that vista on canvas in 1967.

At the Sigal Museum’s Chrin Gallery , that painting has been hung next to a contemporary photograph from the same vantage point. The photo, taken by Luis Bardales Jr. from LBJ Media , shows plenty of green, but the open fields have been taken over by hundreds of buildings, ranging from houses to industrial buildings, showing the suburbanization of Forks over the last 57 years.

The museum in downtown Easton recently unveiled a year-long exhibit, “Warehouse Valley: A Changing Landscape,” that explores the evolution of the Lehigh Valley by viewing its scenery. Paintings showing various places around the Valley from 1810 to the early 2000s are paired with photos by Bardales, revealing what they look like today.

Tim Betz, curator of exhibitions for the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society, said the purpose of the exhibit is to create a discussion on how the Lehigh Valley has changed over the decades.

“Our organizational mission is to create historical offerings that allow the community a place to have conversation,” Betz said. “And there is kind of no bigger conversation in the Lehigh Valley than warehouses and development.”

How does the region progress while preserving its past?

“Warehouses and development give jobs and homes, right?” Betz said. “Warehouses and development give the kind of things the Lehigh Valley has to offer, right? And honestly, without warehouses, you don’t have your quick delivery from Amazon the next day. What we’re hoping this exhibit does, and what I think it does, is to create this more nuanced discussion of whether you want these modern things.”

Some of the paired paintings include:

• Walter Emerson Baum’s 1940 view of a road to Easton with the mountains and valleys of the region as the road dips through the countryside. It is paired with an aerial view of Interstate 78, which serves as one of the Valley’s important modern highways.
• Gustav Grunewald’s view of Easton from 1857 that shows the railroad bridge and old covered bridge over the Delaware River. The railroad bridge had just been completed by Asa Packer’s Lehigh Valley Railroad and the painting captures both Easton and Phillipsburg, New Jersey, as growing transportation hubs with prominent views of canals on both sides of the river. The photo shows the current bridges and how the cities have expanded.
• Two paintings from Ruben O. Luckenbach show farm homes owned by the Horner family near Bath in the mid-19th century. The photos of the same spots today show a great contrast from the rolling fields: Both properties were sold off and developed, and one of the homes is today next to a warehouse.

The Luckenbach paintings, which have been on display at Sigal Museum for more than a decade, were especially striking to Megan van Ravenswaay, executive director of the historical society.

“We have all walked past these multiple times in the galleries, and not for a second did I imagine what was there today,” van Ravenswaay said. “I’ve driven past that gorgeous stone house a million times as I’m moving through Bath. It is really, really shocking to see beloved paintings in our collection, and what the landscape looks like today.”

Not all the displays feature paintings and photos. In one corner is a pile of 163 delivery boxes that represent the average number of home deliveries American consumers receive each year. There also are charts and graphs showing the Lehigh Valley’s current growth and its leading industries.

Visitors are encouraged to fill out postcards and put their ideas on which way the Valley should go in the future. Van Ravenswaay said the museum will host panel discussions and educational programs on the Valley’s growth in the upcoming year.

Betz said the Lehigh Valley has always been a place of change and debates over which way it will develop have been around for more than 250 years.

“This has always been a place of rising industries, falling industries and the dependence of people on these industries,” he said. “The conversations we have are not necessarily new ones.”

Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure, who made remarks at last week’s opening reception, said, “It is a relevant exhibition that addresses the rapidly changing landscape of the Lehigh Valley, questioning urban development and exploring our geographic role.”

He noted that the warehouse boom in Northampton County is slowing and the county is active in preserving farmland. More than $25 million has been committed to preserve that land and other open spaces, he said, to ensure “a high quality of life amidst development pressures.”

“To date, the county has successfully preserved 260 farms, totaling 19,455.50 acres,” McClure said. “Twenty more farms are in the process of preservation, adding approximately 1,000 acres.”

If you go

The Sigal Museum is at 342 Northampton St., Easton. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. The museum is closed on major holidays.

Admission is free Sundays.

For more information, call 610-253-1222 or go to sigalmuseum.org .

Morning Call reporter Evan Jones can be reached at ejones@mcall.com .