Fullerton is an

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in Whitehall Township in Lehigh County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. The population of Fullerton was 16,588 as of the 2020 census. Fullerton is a suburb of

Allentown Allentown may refer to: Places * Allentown, California, now called Toadtown, California * Allentown, Georgia, a city in four counties in Georgia * Allentown, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Tazewell County * Allentown, New Jersey, a boroug ...

in the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley () is a geography, geographic and urban area, metropolitan region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh and Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton counties in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a co ...

metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th-most populous

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...

in the U.S. as of the 2020 census.

History

2020 - Lehigh Valley Mall - 7 - Allentown PA

Originally known as "Ferndale", the town was located on tracts of land originally settled by Giles Windsor (1767), Stephen Snyder (1786) and Jacob Yundt (1826). In 1895, the town was renamed "Fullerton" in honor of local businessman James W. Fuller Jr., who had purchased the railroad car wheel factory of Frederick & Company in 1865 and operated it as McKee, Fuller & Co. and later the Lehigh Car, Wheel & Axle Works. Fuller laid out the hamlet in 1870, and by 1883 it was a thriving

company town A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...

with a population in excess of 1,500 men and their families. When the Lehigh Valley

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

industry exploded in the early 1900s, Fuller's company prospered by providing machinery to the mills in the region, and the town supplied the workforce for both his factories, and the numerous mills and quarries operating in the immediate area. The Dent Hardware Company Factory Complex in Fullerton was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1986.

Geography

Fullerton is located in eastern Lehigh County at (40.631297, -75.480215), in the southern part of Whitehall Township. It is bordered to the south by the city of

and to the east by the

Lehigh River The Lehigh River () is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in eastern Pennsylvania. The river flows in a generally southward ...

. To the northeast, across the

, is the borough of Catasauqua. U.S. Route 22, the Lehigh Valley Thruway, runs through central Fullerton, with two interchanges in the community: one with Pennsylvania Route 145 (MacArthur Road) and the other with Fullerton Avenue/Third Street. US-22 leads east to Easton and west with

Interstate 78 Interstate 78 (I-78) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Northeastern United States that runs from I-81 northeast of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, through Allentown to western and North Jersey, terminating at the Holland Tunnel entra ...

Harrisburg Harrisburg ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat, seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50, ...

, the state capital. PA-145 leads south to the center of Allentown and north to Walnutport. The Lehigh Valley Mall is located in Fullerton on the northeastern side of the US-22/PA-145 interchange. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, Fullerton has a total area of , of which are land and , or 2.23%, are water. The community is drained by the Lehigh River and its tributary, Jordan Creek.

Demographics

As of the 2000 census, there were 14,268 people, 6,224 households, and 3,827 families residing in the CDP. The population density was . There were 6,484 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the CDP was 86.09%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 3.88%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.16% Native American, 5.52% Asian, 0.07%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 2.57% from other races, and 1.70% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 6.15% of the population. Ancestries: German (28.3%), Italian (11.8%), Irish (10.8%), Arab (5.6%), Slovak (5.3%), English (5.0%). There were 6,224 households, out of which 24.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.7% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 9.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.5% were non-families. 31.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 2.87. In Fullerton, the population was spread out, with 19.6% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 31.3% from 25 to 44, 21.9% from 45 to 64, and 19.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.0 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $43,048, and the median income for a family was $50,147. Males had a median income of $40,305 versus $27,230 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the CDP was $22,164. About 4.6% of families and 7.3% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 8.3% of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Fullerton is part of the

Whitehall-Coplay School District Whitehall-Coplay School District is a public school district in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. It serves the borough of Coplay and Whitehall Township. The school district has one high school f ...

. Students in grades nine through 12 attend Whitehall High School.

Notable people

* Evelyn Keppel, former

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was a professional women's baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley, which existed from 1943 to 1954. The AAGPBL is the forerunner of women's professional league sports in the Uni ...

baseball player * Dave Steckel, former college football player and coach * Albert C. Vaughn, former U.S. Representative

References

* * *

Notes

{{authority control Census-designated places in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania Census-designated places in Pennsylvania