Whitehall and Coplay (Images of America: Pennsylvania)

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.