LV HERITAGE MUSEUM:

A new exhibition, “Zinc and Palmerton, Pennsylvania,” opens at 1 p.m. Oct. 7 in the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum, 432 W. Walnut St., Allentown, with a talk by Peter L. Kern, former Senior Vice President of Research and Development, the New Jersey Zinc Company.

“The histories of Palmerton, Pennsylvania and the New Jersey Zinc Company are inextricably intertwined, and that’s the emphasis of our exhibit,” said Joseph Garrera, Executive Director of the Museum.

In the late 1890s, zinc-producing operations were located throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In an effort to increase efficiency and maximize production, the New Jersey Zinc Company consolidated its smelting operations at a site along the Lehigh River just north of the Lehigh Gap. Here they constructed their smelting plants and established the town of Palmerton.

This region of Pennsylvania possessed large fields of anthracite coal that were necessary for the manufacturing process. Large supplies of fresh water were also available in ample quantities from the Lehigh River.

High-grade zinc ore was mined in and around Franklin, N.J., then shipped by rail to Palmerton for efficient processing on a world-class scale. By 1917, New Jersey Zinc’s research and technology out-paced its competitors. When the Palmerton, Pennsylvania research laboratory was established in 1917, it was the largest in the world devoted to testing zinc products.

Palmerton quickly became a model company town. The New Jersey Zinc Company built the town’s hospital, installed water and sewer systems, and built low-cost homes.

Information: lehighvalleyheritagemuseum.org; 610-435-1074