How an American City Can Become a Manufacturing Hub

Mayor Matt Turek of Allentown, Pennsylvania, joins Odd Lots to explain how his city has pursued reindustrialization by leveraging its industrial heritage, location, and policy reforms, rather than chasing megaprojects.

Allentown's Industrial Evolution

Allentown's manufacturing peaked with early industries like cigar and silk production, followed by Mack Trucks relocating from Brooklyn in 1915, Volti bombers for World War II, and Western Electric's transistor production in the mid-20th century, which later evolved into Broadcom. Decline hit with plant closures—the Western Electric facility wound down in the 1970s, Mack shifted production to Macungie in the 1980s, and Bethlehem Steel cast its last pour in 1990—but the city avoided total collapse. Manufacturing jobs stabilized at 17% of employment, higher than national averages, through diversification into life sciences (precursor drugs, medical supplies like B. Braun), industrial gases (Air Products, founded nearby in the 1950s), and food/beverage processing. Civic leaders foresaw steel's end and pivoted with Pennsylvania's support toward tech-led development, attracting Olympus's North American surgical device headquarters in 2006.