In 1812, Lehigh County was formed by partitioning a section of Northampton County, and Northampton was designated as its county seat. Frederick Eckert was elected as the second burgess. George Graff was elected burgess in 1813; however, records of elections in Northampton have been lost from the period 1815–1830. On April 16, 1836, an act of the Pennsylvania Legislature changed the name of the community from Northampton to Allentown, and John P. Rhue was burgess. During its existence as a Borough, Northampton/Allentown had a total of forty-seven annual municipal elections. A burgess was elected each year, the most prominent was John J. Krauss, being elected five times in succession from 1830 to 1835. Other known burgesses of the town were Samuel Runk (1839–1849); Robert E. Wright (1845), and Peter Wycoff (1846). In 1866, William Kern was elected burgess over Thomas Mohr by a vote of 974 to 881, Kern being the last burgess of Allentown