In 1900, Catasauqua was one of the wealthiest communities in America. Its electric-lighted streets were lined with businesses, stores, row houses, and ornate mansions. But when iron making ended in 1920, the “Iron Borough’s” golden age soon began to fade. Compared to its booming industrial atmosphere in the 19th century, life in Catasauqua and North Catasauqua during the 20th century became quintessentially small town. Though Fuller Company and Phoenix Forge were nationally known in their own industries and the silk mills still wove luxury fabric for New York designers, many people moved elsewhere in the Lehigh Valley to work. Those who remained put down even deeper roots, buying the once-company-owned workers’ houses or raising large baby-boom families in the old mansions. Church and school defined lives, and civic groups, service organizations, and sports teams provided fun, fellowship, and a sense of community.

Catasauqua and North Catasauqua Revisited (Images of America)

Arts & Photography

Fox, Martha Capwell

Photography & Video

Arcadia Publishing

Geography, Geology, And Genius

Canal History and Technology Press

Once among the wealthiest communities in the country, Catasauqua was the birthplace of the modern American iron and steel industry. The energy and inventiveness of industrialists such as David Thomas, J.W. Fuller, and Leonard Peckitt spurred the growth and spread the fame of the Iron Borough far beyond the Lehigh Valley. Entrepreneurs and workers flocked to Catasauqua and North Catasauqua. They filled its mansions and row houses, churches and schools, silk mills, saloons, and playing fields with families who were proud to call the "Million Dollar Town" home.Their pride is evident in the images in Catasauqua and North Catasauqua. Bustling businesses, spacious schools, cherished churches, opulent houses, big parades and public celebrations, and strong, confident faces abound in these photographs. The culmination of that pride and prosperity came in 1914, when Catasauqua welcomed the world to celebrate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Crane Iron Works with Old Home Week. Less than ten years later, the iron business was gone, its last years recorded in extraordinary photographs. Life in Catasauqua, though harder, went on and today, the heritage of the Iron Borough days is visible everywhere in both towns-the streets, houses, and churches still loved and lived in as they were a century or more ago.

Catasauqua and North Catasauqua

History

Americas

Arcadia Publishing Library Editions

When the first German, Huguenot, and Scotch-Irish settlers arrived in what is now Whitehall Township nearly three hundred years ago, their lives were fraught with peril. Some of the first families were nearly wiped out in raids during the French and Indian War. After the United States was established, the township settled into a long tranquil farming period, which lasted until the arrival of iron and the iron horse in the 1850s. Then, the Lehigh Valley became the cradle of the Industrial Revolution. Communities such as Egypt, Hokendauqua, Coplay, and Fullerton sprang up around iron mills, cement plants, and railroads. The new industries brought entrepreneurs, innovators, and immigrants to Whitehall and Coplay, changing the face of the township in many ways that are still visible today.

Whitehall and Coplay

In 1900, Catasauqua was one of the wealthiest communities in America. Its electric-lighted streets were lined with businesses, stores, row houses, and ornate mansions. But when iron making ended in 1920, the "Iron Borough's" golden age soon began to fade. Compared to its booming industrial atmosphere in the 19th century, life in Catasauqua and North Catasauqua during the 20th century became quintessentially small town. Though Fuller Company and Phoenix Forge were nationally known in their own industries and the silk mills still wove luxury fabric for New York designers, many people moved elsewhere in the Lehigh Valley to work. Those who remained put down even deeper roots, buying the once-company-owned workers' houses or raising large baby-boom families in the old mansions. Church and school defined lives, and civic groups, service organizations, and sports teams provided fun, fellowship, and a sense of community.

Catasauqua and North Catasauqua Revisited

Describes the seat of government of the Roman Catholic Church, detailing the papal state's history, architectural marvels, and everyday life.

Vatican City (Modern Nations of the World)

Teen & Young Adult

Lucent

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