Allentown

The number of bands in Allentown was nothing less than amazing. There was a band to play for every occasion, from the Allentown Band, the oldest civilian concert band in the United States, to the Juvenile Band and others for young instrumentalists. There were bands composed of employees of businesses and industries, and ethnic bands proliferated as more and more people came from different homelands to the city to find work in the late 19th century. The Ukrainian National Band, one of a number of bands formed by immigrant groups and their descendants, is shown soon after it was organized in 1916.