Industrial Walking Tours

Catasauqua is a community rich with history. Explore the architectural landmarks and historical homes that dot our borough streets with these walking tours.

From industrial revolution-era factory sites and breath-taking mansions to the noteworthy-landmarks that still exist today, here are the sites history buffs and architectural fans will want to see.

This section of Walking Tours covers the industrial sector, mostly along Front St, but also along Race St andon the west bank fo the LehighRiver.  Individial pages are updated as more historical info is discovered.

Feel free to access these on your smart phone and conduct your own walking tour. as you explore the neighborhoods of Catasauqua.

Industrial History
The source for the history information provided here came from many references.  These included (but are not limited to) the following.

Two history books of the borough published in 1914 in conjunction with Catasauqua’s Old Home Week celebration are accessable through Google Books:  Early History and Reminiscences of Catasauqua in Pennsylvania by Wm. H. Glace and A History of Catasauqua in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania by James Franklin Lambert and Henry J. Reinherd.  by The one by Lambert & Reinhard is also available, with an introduction, through The Hopkins Thomas website.  This latter website, The Hopkin Thomas Project, contains an extensive amount of history of Catasauqua and its early industrialists.

A recent history now accessible online is an unpublished History of the Iron Borough by local historian Dale Wint.

Three that are not available electronically, are two Acadia Press Images of America books by Martha Capwell Fox on Catasauqua & North Catasauqua (available at local books stores and through Amazon) and a 1992 publication by HCPA (the Blue Book) on Catasauqua (and) North Catasauqua, A Profile fo the Boroughs, The latter is available through HCPA or the random EBay offerring.

Histories of the Lehigh Valley which contain sections on Catasauqua are:
Manufacturing and Merchantile Resources of the Lehigh Valley published in 1881 by the Industrial Publishing Company of Philadelphia, which also includes historical sketches of the prominent towns. Catasauqua’s coverage begins on page 140 (151 of the google Book).
Another reesource is the History of Lehigh County, Pennsulvania:  And a Genealogical and Biological Record of its Families, Volume I (of three) written by Charles Rhoads Roberts, John Baer Stoudt, Thomas H. Krick, William Joseph Dietrich, published by Lehigh Valley Publishing Company, Limited, 1914