October 1, 2020
AHC Records in the Morning Call Archive

Recently, we had the opportunity to search the Allentown Morning Call's digital archive for every mention of the phrase "Allentown Hiking Club" in the newspaper. Imagine our surprise when my search returned 4,851 hits!

That averages out to about 54 times each year over the past 90 years.

However, the number of mentions varies greatly. In 1980-1989, the decade with the most hits, there are 1,666 mentions, or an average of 167 per year! Next was 1990-1999, with 1,361 hits. After this, the numbers of returns per decade fell off significantly - 456 for 1970-1979. Totals for other decades were 356 for 1954-1959, 352 for 2000-2009; 228 for 2010-2019, 204 for 1931-1939; 193 for 1960-1969; and finally 35 for 1940-1943. Due to World War II restrictions, AHC suspended operations in the Spring of 1943 and did not reorganize until February 1954.

The types of articles include announcements of hikes, descriptions of competed trips, human interest stories, informational pieces, Appalachian Trail work trips, as well as mentions in obituaries, and notices of events and meetings.

Obviously, we were not able to read every article. But in searching for the earliest mention of AHC, I discovered that it was in the newspaper of October 30, 1931. This was a surprise, since our club records begin with a meeting on December 2.

As the newspaper articles indicate, AHC can trace its history back to October 29. The following clippings tell the previously unknown story of our first weeks.

October 1, 2020
Who Was George W. Outerbridge
By Barbara Wiemann

...and why is a shelter named after him?

George Whitney Outerbridge was the second person to hike the entire Appalachian Trail. George was born in Philadelphia on May 12, 1881, the only child of Alexander E. Outerbridge, Jr. and Mary Eli Whitney. His mother died seven days after his birth. His father had worked with Alexander Graham Bell to demonstrate the telephone at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876.

Perhaps because his mother and maternal grandmother both died after childbirth, George chose to become a gynecologist. He graduated from Harvard University in 1905, received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1907, served as Chief Gynecologist at the Methodist Hospital and Chief Surgeon at the Gynecean Institute, and taught at the University of Pennsylvania.

During World War I, he served in France with the Pennsylvania Hospital unit, he was in charge of a venereal disease clinic. After the war, George left academic medicine and concentrated on his gynecological practice. He never married.

George was a charter member and a club leader of the Philadelphia Trail Club, which was organized in 1931. His first AT hike was Oct. 30, 1932, from Lehigh Gap to Bake Oven Knob. Joined by Martin and Mildred Kilpatrick (also PTC leaders), George section hiked the entire trail, completing his journey at Damascus, VA on June 22, 1939. An account of his adventures was included in volume 1 of Hiking the Appalachian Trail, ed. by James Hare (Rod ale Press, 1975).

In 1960 the Philadelphia Trail Club added the maintenance responsibility for the 5 miles of the AT between Lehigh Gap and Lehigh Furnace Gap (the club was already maintaining 21 miles of the AT between Wind Gap and Lehigh Gap). In 1965, when the club constructed a shelter near a never-fail spring on this section where George began his AT hike, they named it for him to recognize his club leadership and commitment to the AT.

George died on Jan. 16, 1967, age 85.