Design of the Memorial began in 2008 by analyzing 7 potential sites for the memorial location:
o Site 1 - SE corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and Lehigh Street
o Site 2 - Traffic Island at intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and W Union St.
o Site 3 - Center Square, SE corner of 7th St & Hamilton St
o Site 4 - Allentown Public Library @ 12th St and Hamilton St
o Site 5 - Allen Park at 4th St & W Walnut St
o Site 6 - Bluff on axis with 10th Street, between Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and W Union St
o Site 7 - NE corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and Lehigh Street (Wachovia)
o Looked at opportunities, constraints, parking availability, prominence, connections, visibility, accessibility, environmental concerns, anticipated site work required, etc.
o Developed a point system to rate the various sites.
Narrowed down to Site 2 – Triangular traffic island at 4th Street, Union Street, and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, and Site 5 - Allen Park at 4th St & W Walnut St, between the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum and Historic Trout Hall.
o Both sites are close to or on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
o Both located near historic African American community of Allentown.
o Near A.M.E. Zion Church.
o Connections to downtown.
o Accessible for local and out-of-town visitors.
o Can handle medium-large group sizes.
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Developed preliminary design for each site and presented to the MLK/CSK Board, who unanimously decided on the Traffic Island Site and design.
o Great visibility from many directions along well-traveled Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
o Accessible parking.
o Prominence and significance as its own site (not shared with LVHM or Trout Hall).
o Valuable as memorial viewed by pedestrians or by vehicular passers-by.
o Accommodates large groups for potential Martin Luther King Day events, community service project gathering locations, etc.
• The Traffic Island site design went through several stages of development and refining.
o Collaborated with Sculptor Ed Dwight in Colorado via phone conversations regarding how to best present the sculpture piece. A mock-up model of the sculpture was incorporated in the design renderings as soon as it was available to help develop the design.
o The design was inspired by the “I’ve been to the mountaintop” speech that Dr. King gave in 1968 in Memphis, TN, in which he concludes the speech by explaining that he’s been to the mountain top and seen the Promised Land where injustice and racism end. He says, “I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!” In the original design, a path moves upward through the site, along which the sculpture of Dr. King and his wife marching is located but is not centered as the end destination. The idea behind the design is that we are still on the path that Dr. and Mrs. King started down, marching toward the end of injustice in the Promised Land. While many of their goals of equality have been achieved in America since the Civil Rights Movement, there are still many injustices that we are needful to work toward solving today.
The site connects the past, the present, and the future by drawing visitors through the site, stopping to remember Dr. and Mrs. King and their hard work in the fight against injustice, and drawing them on to continue along the path toward the mountaintop. The original design incorporated large stepped paths through the site surrounded by large raised planters with seat walls to mimic a mountain-like hike.
o Due to various concerns, including visibility from the road, damage by skateboarders attracted to the many seat walls, steps, and railings, and cost, the site design has been refined to incorporate benches rather than seat walls and open spaces of lawn with shade trees rather than planters. Railings are fitted with skateboard deterrents.
o Three sizes of memorial pavers have been incorporated into the paving along the main approach to the sculpture. These pavers are available for families, organizations, churches, businesses, individuals, etc. to make a donation and have their names engraved on the paver. This is incorporated into the design as both a community involvement and fundraising effort.
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Once a final design was agreed by the Board, cost estimates were developed, including alternative site design options to reduce cost, should funding be an issue.
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Construction Documents were then developed and the project went out to bid for contractors in mid-January. The bid opening is February 10, 2010 and construction began mid October, 2010, and is scheduled to be completed by January 15th 2011.
