Sited at the confluence of the rapidly flowing Lehigh River's waters with the more stately waters of the deeper wider Delaware, Easton became a major commercial center during the canal and railroad periods of the 19th century, when it would become a transportation hub for the eastern steel industry.
The Delaware Canal, was quickly built soon after the lower Lehigh Canal (1818) became effective in regularly and reliably delivering much needed anthracite coal, into more settled lands along the rivers.
And eventually the Morris would also serve to connect the rapidly developing Coal Regions to the north and west, to the fuel starved iron works to the west, the commercial port of Philadelphia to the south, and to the many home owners seeking fuel for heat within Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware and New York.
Seeing other ways of exploiting the new fuel source, other entrepreneurs quickly moved to connect across the Delaware River reaching into the New York City area to the east via a connection with the Morris Canal in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, so the town became a canal nexus or hub from which the Coal from Mauch Chunk reached the world.
The early railroads were often built to parallel and speed shipping along transportation corridors, and by the late 1860s the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad (LH&S) and Lehigh Valley Railroad (LVRR) were built to augment the bulk traffic through the canals and provide lucrative passenger travel services.
The LVRR, known as 'the Black Diamond Line' would boast the twice daily "Black Diamond Express" daily passenger trains to and from New York City and Buffalo, New York via Easton.
The Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ), would lease and operate the LH&S tracks from the 1870s until the Conrail consolidations absorbed both the Central Railroad of New Jersey and Lehigh Valley Railroad in 1966.
Today, the Lehigh Valley Railroad's main line is the only major rail line that goes through Easton and is now known as the Lehigh Line; the Lehigh Line was bought by the Norfolk Southern Railway in 1999.

Canal transportation was largely replaced by railroads in the mid-19th century with Easton being a hub for five railroads including the Jersey Central, Lehigh Valley Railroad and others.
Easton lost its prominence in passenger transportation with the rise of the automobile in the mid-20th century.
The development of improved logistics, transfer and handling methods lead to other regions profiting from freight transportation rather than Easton.


Like the Pennsylvania Dutch region to the southwest, Easton has a strong German heritage.
The Pennsylvania Argus, a German-language newspaper, was published in Easton until 1917.
As part of their heritage, the Germans put up one of the continent's earliest Christmas trees in Easton; Daniel Foley's book states that "Another diary reference unearthed recently makes mention of a tree set-up at Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1816."
There is a plaque in Scott Park (along the Delaware River) commemorating this event.
The Pennsylvania guide, compiled by the Writers' Program of the Works Progress Administration in 1940, colorfully described the rich and cosmopolitan fabric of Easton's society in the first half of the 20th century:
The city is a composite of a hurried commercial present and a sedate mercantile past, leavened by a carefree college atmosphere.
Coeds, dressed according to the dictates of Hollywood, and college boys in sports clothes and near-white buckskin shoes worn without regard for time or season, rub elbows with frugal Pennsylvania Germans.
A familiar sight on market days is the trucks and wagons, loaded with farm produce, drawn up to the curb at the Circle [Centre Square].
Women, scrupulously clean in their calico house dresses, and men in overalls or 'Sunday best,' arrange makeshift counters on which to display their vegetables, meats, crocks of apple butter, and pastries.

— Federal Writers'Project, "Part II: Cities and Towns, Pennsylvania: A Guide to the Keystone State (1940)
Historians of angling believe that Samuel Phillipe, an Easton gunsmith
Sited at the confluence of the rapidly flowing Lehigh River's waters with the more stately waters of the deeper wider Delaware, Easton became a major commercial center during the canal and railroad periods of the 19th century, when it would become a transportation hub for the eastern steel industry. The Delaware Canal, was quickly built soon after the lower Lehigh Canal (1818) became effective in regularly and reliably delivering much needed anthracite coal, into more settled lands along the rivers. And eventually the Morris would also serve to connect the rapidly developing Coal Regions to the north and west, to the fuel starved iron works to the west, the commercial port of Philadelphia to the south, and to the many home owners seeking fuel for heat within Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware and New York. Seeing other ways of exploiting the new fuel source, other entrepreneurs quickly moved to connect across the Delaware River reaching into the New York City area to the east via a connection with the Morris Canal in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, so the town became a canal nexus or hub from which the Coal from Mauch Chunk reached the world. The early railroads were often built to parallel and speed shipping along transportation corridors, and by the late 1860s the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad (LH&S) and Lehigh Valley Railroad (LVRR) were built to augment the bulk traffic through the canals and provide lucrative passenger travel services. The LVRR, known as 'the Black Diamond Line' would boast the twice daily "Black Diamond Express" daily passenger trains to and from New York City and Buffalo, New York via Easton. The Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ), would lease and operate the LH&S tracks from the 1870s until the Conrail consolidations absorbed both the Central Railroad of New Jersey and Lehigh Valley Railroad in 1966. Today, the Lehigh Valley Railroad's main line is the only major rail line that goes through Easton and is now known as the Lehigh Line; the Lehigh Line was bought by the Norfolk Southern Railway in 1999.
Canal transportation was largely replaced by railroads in the mid-19th century with Easton being a hub for five railroads including the Jersey Central, Lehigh Valley Railroad and others. Easton lost its prominence in passenger transportation with the rise of the automobile in the mid-20th century. The development of improved logistics, transfer and handling methods lead to other regions profiting from freight transportation rather than Easton.

Like the Pennsylvania Dutch region to the southwest, Easton has a strong German heritage. The Pennsylvania Argus, a German-language newspaper, was published in Easton until 1917. As part of their heritage, the Germans put up one of the continent's earliest Christmas trees in Easton; Daniel Foley's book states that "Another diary reference unearthed recently makes mention of a tree set-up at Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1816." There is a plaque in Scott Park (along the Delaware River) commemorating this event. The Pennsylvania guide, compiled by the Writers' Program of the Works Progress Administration in 1940, colorfully described the rich and cosmopolitan fabric of Easton's society in the first half of the 20th century:
The city is a composite of a hurried commercial present and a sedate mercantile past, leavened by a carefree college atmosphere. Coeds, dressed according to the dictates of Hollywood, and college boys in sports clothes and near-white buckskin shoes worn without regard for time or season, rub elbows with frugal Pennsylvania Germans. A familiar sight on market days is the trucks and wagons, loaded with farm produce, drawn up to the curb at the Circle [Centre Square]. Women, scrupulously clean in their calico house dresses, and men in overalls or 'Sunday best,' arrange makeshift counters on which to display their vegetables, meats, crocks of apple butter, and pastries.
— Federal Writers'Project, "Part II: Cities and Towns, Pennsylvania: A Guide to the Keystone State (1940)
Historians of angling believe that Samuel Phillipe, an Easton gunsmith
Easton, Pennsylvania