If you grow up in a big city, your city makes the national news every day. But when you grow up in a town of about 4000 people, you are pretty unlikely to hear Walter Cronkite call out its name.
My hometown of Slatington made the national news two times that I can remember. One time was the fire, and complete destruction, of a Pfizer pigments plant just outside of town. The other was the tale of a truck crashing into an apartment house for the elderly, killing at least one resident.
I’ve written about the pigments plant before. I worked there for about four years, the time of the fire. It was old, so old it was built with wooden pegs instead of nails. The fire apparently started in a storage room filled with paper bags. It happened on third shift. I, fortunately, worked first shift. My brother, who also worked there, called me at 2am to tell me what was happening. On the national news the report went something like: chemical plant goes up in flames near the town of Slatington, about sixty miles north of Philadelphia. Of course, Philadelphia had to be mentioned. Whoever heard of Slatington?
No lives were lost in the fire. The same cannot be said of the apartment house crash. Slatington is built on steep hills. Its Main Street is a very steep hill and also Route 873. About halfway down the hill, the street makes a sudden right turn, a ninety degree turn. On that turn is Slatington’s famous Fireman’s Statue. Also on the turn is an apartment house for elderly residents. If you are coming down Main you are staring straight at the apartment house, when you make the right turn. One afternoon, a tractor trailer driver failed to make the turn and plowed right into the apartment house causing much destruction and at least one death. We were on the national news that night as well.
It is unfortunate that the way to make the news is for something bad to happen. But, that is the nature of life. On the positive side, the apartment house was rebuilt and still stands in the same spot, protected by metal bollards out front. The pigments plant was also rebuilt, but closed a few years later. Pfizer paid to return that area to pristine condition right along the river. It is along the road to Lehigh Gap Nature Center. Every time I drive by I am amazed how there is no sign of the plant whatsoever!
So, I guess if the only way to make the national news is for something bad to happen, I hope Slatington is never heard from again. I’d be happy to just let it be a quiet little town, built on hills, along the banks of the Lehigh River.
If any of my Slatington readers can remember another time that we made the national new, I’d love to hear about it.
A Semi-retired Kind of Life 