Northampton County
Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Formed March 11, 1752 out of Bucks County. Named for Northamptonshire in England. Easton, county seat, was incorporated in 1789. County is noted as a leading center for the steel industry and for cement and slate production.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Established in 1752 from part of Bucks County and named for England's Northamptonshire, this county grew up around Easton at the forks of the Delaware, incorporated as a borough in 1789. In the following century the Lehigh Valley became one of the engines of American heavy industry. Its furnaces made it a leading center of steel, while its quarries fed the nation's demand for cement and slate.
Why it matters
The region helped forge the steel and building materials that literally constructed industrial America, tying a colonial-era county to the rise of the nation's manufacturing might.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Samuel Phillippe
Easton, PA · est. 1953
Around 1846, in his Easton gunsmith shop on this site, Samuel Phillippe crafted what is widely recognized as the first split-bamboo fishing rod made in the United States. By splitting cane into strips and gluing them back together, he produced a rod that was lighter, stronger, and more responsive than solid wood—a breakthrough that transformed sport fishing. His technique became the foundation of American rod-making for the century that followed.
George Taylor
Easton, PA · est. 1953
This handsome stone house was built in 1757 by William Parsons, the Surveyor-General who laid out Easton, and first served as his own home. It later belonged to George Taylor, an ironmaster and member of the Continental Congress who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Taylor's forges helped supply the Revolution with the iron of war, and his signature bound him to the boldest gamble of the founding generation.
The Lehigh Canal
Glendon, PA · est. 1995
Dug between 1827 and 1829, the Lehigh Canal ran 47 miles from Mauch Chunk to Easton, where it met the Delaware Canal to Philadelphia and the Morris Canal to New York. It was a vital artery for hauling anthracite coal out of Pennsylvania's hard-coal region, fueling the rise of the anthracite iron industry that powered the young nation's growth. The canal ran in full operation until 1932, and this restored section reopened in 1976.
Delaware Canal
Williams Township, PA · est. 1949
Just below the highway runs the channel of the Delaware Canal, the towpath waterway that once carried anthracite coal and freight along the Delaware River. Here stand Locks No. 22 and 23, the final lift locks in the 60-mile run from Bristol up to the Lehigh River at Easton. In the canal era, such locks stepped boats up and down the changing elevations, letting mule-drawn barges move heavy cargo before the railroads took over.