English: On Front Street, north of Hamilton. Prior to the 1830s, Allentown was a small town with only local markets. The arrival of the Lehigh Canal greatly expanded the city’s commerce and industrial capacity. The Canal was built on the east side of the Lehigh River, across from Allentown, although both sides of the river were navigable because of slack water created by Dam 7, later called the Hamilton Street Dam. Boatmen poled their boats across the river above the dam to Lehigh Port, an area along the Lehigh shoreline developed with warehouses and wharves.

Along with the port, the area had a number of industries located near the river. Among these were the J. L. Hoffman sawmill and lumber yard; a gristmill, and the Allbright and Son Tube Works.

With the arrival of the railroads, the importance of the Lehigh river port declined and after the Civil War it was taken over by the large Arbogast & Bastian (A&B) meat processing plant. Today, the area is now called the "Lehigh Landing" in the Delaware-Lehigh National Heritage Corridor.