Category:Allentown Preparatory School, Allentown, Pennsylvania

Allentown Preparatory School, Allentown, Pennsylvania 

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The Allentown Preparatory School (APS) was a private college prep school run by the Lutheran Church of America and was owned by Muhlenburg College. It was, however, a completely separate institution from the college.

Opened in 1904, the school's original location was in downtown Allentown at Fourth and Walnut Streets in what had been the Muhlenberg College building. The site was the original James Allen Trout Hall built between 1768 and 1770, and expanded to accommodate Muhlenburg which was expanded several times in the 1800s. The school offered dormitory facilities for out of area students as well as classes for local Allentown area students. The school moved to a new building in the West End in 1916 designed by Ruhe & Lange, Allentown’s preeminent architectural firm. The APS was located on the west side of the Muhlenburg College campus.

It accepted students as young as nine years old, although the vast majority were between fourteen and eighteen. The mission of the APS was to prepare young boys for college studies and to furnish a solid base of knowledge and christian manliness. A large number of its graduates went on to attend Muhlenburg College, however it prepared students for college admissions around the United States.

The APS offered courses in science, general studies and business. It also offered an athletic program which sent student-athletes in several sports who went on to collegiate sport programs nationally. There was a large local following for APS teams. It was able to accommodate about 85 students in its dormitory and over double that as day-students. It graduated about 200 students each year.

The Allentown Preparatory School closed its doors in June 1939 when the growing enrollment at Muhlenburg College required the building's use as a freshman dormitory. Today the building is known as Brown Hall and is used as a dormitory by Muhlenburg. If you go inside the front entrance of the building today it still has its original terrazzo tiled floor with an interlocking APS monogram.