Portland Cement
Upper Macungie Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
This industry was born in the Lehigh Valley. David O. Saylor first made portland cement at Coplay in 1871. Here also was the first use of the rotary kiln process commercially Nov. 8, 1889. This region has continued to lead in the industry.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
The American portland cement industry was born in the Lehigh Valley, where David O. Saylor first manufactured the material at Coplay in 1871. The region pressed the advantage further in November 1889 with the first commercial use of the rotary kiln, a process that transformed cement from a batch product into a continuous industrial output. Rich local limestone kept the valley at the forefront of the trade for generations.
Why it matters
This corner of Pennsylvania gave the nation the cement that would pave its highways and raise its cities, making it a cradle of American industrial building.
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Related people
- · David O. Saylor
Related events
- · First U.S. portland cement, 1871
- · First commercial rotary kiln, 1889
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Portland Cement
Upper Macungie Township, PA
In the rolling limestone country of the Lehigh Valley, a new American building material was born. In 1871 David O. Saylor began producing portland cement at Coplay, and by November 1889 the region pioneered the commercial use of the rotary kiln — a continuous-process furnace that turned cement-making from a slow batch craft into true industrial mass production. The valley's rich cement rock and rail links let the industry take root and dominate, supplying the mortar and concrete of a rapidly modernizing nation.
Bob Rodale Cycling & Fitness Park
Upper Macungie Township, PA
Robert "Bob" Rodale (1930–1990) turned his family's Pennsylvania publishing house, Rodale Inc., into a national voice for organic gardening, preventive health, and physical fitness through magazines like Prevention and Organic Gardening. A committed advocate of cycling, active living, and what he championed as "regenerative" agriculture, he worked from the Lehigh Valley for decades until his death in 1990. Set in the countryside near his Emmaus base of operations, this park carries both his name and his belief that shared public spaces renew the bonds of a community.
First Cement
Whitehall, PA · est. 1947
At Coplay in 1871, David O. Saylor produced the first portland cement made in the United States, freeing American builders from reliance on imported European product. Less than two decades later, in November 1889, the same locale saw the first commercial use of the rotary kiln — a breakthrough that let cement be manufactured continuously and at scale. These innovations turned the Lehigh Valley into the heart of the young nation's cement industry.
Crane Iron Works
Catasauqua, PA · est. 1997
On the Fourth of July, 1840, Welsh ironmaster David Thomas fired up a furnace in Catasauqua that finally proved anthracite coal could smelt iron on a commercial scale. Earlier attempts had failed, but Thomas's hot-blast furnace for the Lehigh Crane Iron Company soon turned out 50 to 60 tons of pig iron a week, and the works grew to six furnaces before closing in 1930. The success helped shift American iron production away from charcoal and toward the hard coal of Pennsylvania's mountains.