If you want to understand why the Lehigh Valley has such a deep connection to health and wellness, you need to know one name: Rodale. J.I. Rodale founded Rodale, Inc. in Emmaus in 1930, and over the next several decades, his family would shape the American organic and wellness movements in ways that are still felt today.
The Organic Pioneer
J.I. Rodale launched Organic Gardening magazine in the 1940s, at a time when the idea of farming without synthetic chemicals was considered eccentric. He followed it with Prevention magazine in 1950, one of the first major publications dedicated to preventive health. These were not niche projects. They became the foundations of a publishing empire that introduced millions of Americans to the idea that what you eat and how you move directly affects how you feel.
Runner's World and the Velodrome
J.I.'s son Robert Rodale expanded the family's vision into fitness. In 1985, Rodale acquired Runner's World magazine and moved editorial operations to Emmaus, making the Lehigh Valley a global hub for running culture. Robert also fell in love with track cycling at the 1967 Pan American Games and built the Valley Preferred Cycling Center near Trexlertown, which opened in 1975. That facility has produced over 140 national champions, 7 world champions, and 3 Olympic medalists. Bicycling magazine was also headquartered in Emmaus.
The Rodale Institute
The Rodale Institute, a 386-acre certified organic research farm near Kutztown, is home to the Farming Systems Trial, the longest running side-by-side comparison of organic and conventional farming in North America. It is literally where American organic agriculture was born.
Robert Rodale died in a 1990 automobile accident in Russia, but his legacy lives on across the valley. The Rodale Aquatic Center at Cedar Crest College, the Velodrome, the running culture, the organic movement. All of it started here in Emmaus, in a small town that decided health was worth paying attention to.
