Fort Deshler
Whitehall, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
A substantial stone structure, used as a military post and as a refuge for settlers against attack, was nearby on the north bank of Coplay Creek. It was built in 1760 by Adam Deshler, a native of Switzerland. Remaining in his family for several generations, the building was owned by the Coplay Cement Company after 1899 and stood until about 1940.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
On the north bank of Coplay Creek, Swiss immigrant Adam Deshler raised a sturdy stone house in 1760 that doubled as a fortified refuge during the dangerous years of the French and Indian War. Frontier families sheltered behind its walls when raids threatened the scattered settlements of the Lehigh Valley. The building outlived its garrison days by nearly two centuries, passing through the Deshler family and later the Coplay Cement Company before finally coming down around 1940.
Why it matters
Fort Deshler recalls the perilous frontier of colonial Pennsylvania, where ordinary stone farmhouses became lifelines for settlers caught in the wider imperial struggle for the continent.
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Related people
- · Adam Deshler
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Trucker's Mill
Slatington, PA · est. 1952
A sawmill standing here before 1755 turned the forests of the Lehigh Valley into lumber for a growing frontier. When the French and Indian War set the backcountry ablaze, the sturdy mill — also called Kern's Fort — became a defensive station and shelter for troops. Sitting at the crossing of two pioneer roads, it commanded a position of real military value in a dangerous borderland.
Fort Allen
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In 1756, as the French and Indian War set the Pennsylvania frontier ablaze with raids, the province built a chain of stockaded forts to shield its scattered settlers. Fort Allen was one link in that defensive line, raised on the site of present-day Weissport along the Lehigh. Benjamin Franklin himself oversaw the construction of forts in this region during that anxious winter, when the backcountry felt anything but safe.
Fort Allen Well
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