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45-613: The company was named in honor of its founder, David Thomas , who emigrated to the United States in 1839 to introduce hot blast iron making in the Lehigh Valley, and later embarked on an independent ironmaking venture. Thomas Iron Company's main and original plant in Hokendauqua, inspired the growth of the town that grew up around it. The company also later acquired its own blast furnaces and railroads elsewhere in

90-592: A fifth jointly with Crane Iron, leased eight, and had worked another for two years. The company joined with Crane Iron, which had chartered the Catasauqua and Fogelsville Railroad in 1854, to begin construction in 1856. The rail line reduced difficult and inefficient wagon haulage to supply local ore to both companies. Thomas Iron also bought the Richard Mine near Mount Hope, New Jersey in 1856, which supplied large quantities of magnetite ore. Some magnetite

135-554: A household in the borough was $ 39,651, and the median income for a family was $ 49,604. Males had a median income of $ 37,935 versus $ 26,322 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $ 20,119. About 4.1% of families and 4.6% of the population were below the poverty line , including 6.5% of those under age 18 and 3.3% of those age 65 or over. As of 2010, there were 24.26 miles (39.04 km) of public roads in Hellertown, of which 3.58 miles (5.76 km) were maintained by

180-492: A largely ceremonial office selected by members of the borough council amongst themselves to serve a one year term that was often reserved for the more senior members of the council. As of the census of 2000, there were 5,606 people, 2,448 households, and 1,571 families residing in the borough. The population density was 4,180.8 inhabitants per square mile (1,614.2/km ). There were 2,570 housing units at an average density of 1,916.6 per square mile (740.0/km ). The racial makeup of

225-500: A program of retrenchment and abandonment of the old furnaces at Alburtis. His successor, chosen on July 1, 1913, was Ralph H. Sweetser, who held largely opposite views. Sweetser modernized not only No. 1 and No. 3 stacks at Hokendauqua, but the old No. 7 stack at Alburtis. He also attempted to restart local limonite mining, an effort which proved a costly failure. By 1915, No. 6 stack at Hokendauqua had been abandoned (leaving only No. 1 and No. 3 in operation there). The limestone flux for

270-548: A rail station. The small wooden station would be demolished in favor of a larger stone one in 1868. In 1858, the town's first newspaper, The Hellertown Telegraph began publication, but would only last a year before shutting its doors. In 1866, a large iron foundry was constructed by the Lower Saucon Ironworks. It was joined by the Saucon Savings bank in 1871, and a steel foundry in 1872. A Planing mill

315-605: A sort of underground mausoleum at Fairview Cemetery in West Catasauqua. The Thomas family mansion, located on Second Street in Catasauqua, is still standing, though its interior has since been divided into apartments. In 1898, Leonard Peckitt took the reins as president of the Crane Iron Company. He proceeded to purchase a number of other companies in the region, uniting them all under the incorporation of

360-536: A town hall, a bank, two churches, and a population of almost 1,000. In the 2016 Presidential election Donald Trump won the borough with 1,349 votes to 1,281 votes in favor of Hillary Clinton . In the 2020 Presidential election Joe Biden won with 1,648 votes to Donald Trump's 1,572 votes. Originally, like many other boroughs in Pennsylvania, Hellertown's highest executive was the Chief Burgess

405-566: Is in the possession of the borough of Catasauqua, which is currently working to transform it into a shopping and dining destination. Hellertown, Pennsylvania Hellertown is a borough in Northampton County , Pennsylvania . Its population was 6,131 at the 2020 census. Hellertown is part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th-most populous metropolitan area in

450-573: The Lehigh Valley Mall . Klein Transportation and Trans-Bridge Lines provide bus service from Hellertown to New York City from a park and ride lot located at the interchange between I-78 and PA 412. Hellertown formerly had commuter rail service along SEPTA 's Bethlehem Line north to Bethlehem and south to Philadelphia at Hellertown station , but service ended in 1981. Hellertown and Lower Saucon Township are served by

495-609: The Lock Ridge Iron Company , which began building two furnaces at Alburtis in 1867. The first furnace was placed in blast on March 18, 1868. Lock Ridge Iron was bought by Thomas Iron on May 1, 1869, and the second furnace placed in blast on July 9, 1869. This facility had its own small plant railroad, which connected with the East Pennsylvania Railroad , which later became the Reading and

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540-523: The Lucy Furnace from 1886 to 1887. In 1881, a cinder notch was added to No. 8 furnace at Lock Ridge, an innovation which allowed removal of slag from the furnace during the blast. The operators initially struggled with fine-dirt problems after the change, and it was only eliminated when the furnace burnt out part of the lining. The furnace was re-lined to the new geometry and found to be much more efficient, and No. 7 and No. 2 furnaces were remodeled in

585-862: The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and 20.68 miles (33.28 km) were maintained by the borough. Pennsylvania Route 412 runs north-south through Hellertown on Main Street, heading north to Bethlehem and south into Bucks County , where it provides access to Pennsylvania Route 611 . PA 412 has an interchange with Interstate 78 just outside the corporate limits of Hellertown, which heads west to Allentown and Harrisburg and east to Easton and New York City . LANta provides bus service to Hellertown along Route 215, which provides service Monday-Saturday north to Bethlehem and Lehigh Valley International Airport , and Route 105, which provides Sunday service north to Bethlehem and

630-576: The Sons of Hermann . In 1874, the first cemetery in the town was started, the Union Cemetery. In 1875, the town's second newspaper, The Saucon Advertiser was founded, but it would close in just a few months. That year Hellertown consisted of five stores, two hardware stores, one drug store, two carriage factories, one foundry, one grist-mill, one saw-mill, one planing-mill, two furnace stacks, three hotels, coal and lumber yard, furniture manufactory,

675-574: The hot blast manufacture of anthracite iron by the Lehigh Crane Iron Company . Thomas founded his own company, which was organized on February 14, 1854 and chartered on April 4, 1854; it was named in his honor. Thomas left his post as superintendent at Lehigh Crane and was replaced by his son, David Jr. He became trustee of real estate, while his other son, Samuel, was appointed superintendent. Samuel Thomas began working for his father at Lehigh Crane in 1843, and he also supervised

720-604: The Catasauqua and Fogelsville and the Lehigh Valley Railroad at West Catasauqua , allowing it to receive ore and ship iron. Under the leadership of the Thomases, father and son, Thomas Iron produced record quantities of iron, and was looked upon as an exemplar of the iron industry. New furnaces were built at Hokendauqua: No. 3 was blown in on July 18, 1862 and No. 4 on April 29, 1863. On December 26, 1866, Samuel Thomas and other officials of Thomas Iron chartered

765-775: The Catasauqua and Fogelsville. Two more furnaces were built at Hokendauqua after the Civil War , No. 5 blown in on September 15, 1873 and No. 6 on January 19, 1874. The two Lock Ridge furnaces were later renumbered No. 7 and No. 8. After 1874, the company did not add any further furnaces at Hokendauqua. However, it purchased the Keystone Furnace from D. Runkle Company in early 1882 and the Saucon Iron Company in Hellertown, Pennsylvania on December 13, 1884, renaming its two furnaces No. 10 and No. 11. It leased

810-469: The Empire Steel and Iron Company. Though Peckitt was a shrewd businessman, he could not hide forever the fact that the 20th century brought changes to the iron industry, and that the company was beginning to lose money. The last furnace at the Crane Iron Company ceased operation in 1921; by 1935, most of the plant had been demolished, and little remains of the company's plant today. What does still exist

855-472: The Lehigh Valley and mines in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey . Changes in the iron industry in the early 20th century left Thomas Iron struggling to compete. After a failed attempt at modernization and revival between 1913 and 1916, the company's assets were sold and largely dismantled during the 1920s. David Thomas , a Welsh ironmaster, arrived in the United States in 1839, where he introduced

900-644: The Thomas Railroad was merged into the Ironton, which by this time primarily carried cement instead of iron ore. In 1918, the No. 11 stack (former Saucon Iron) was rebuilt, but No. 10 was abandoned. Dismantling of the company now began in earnest. The last iron was made in Alburtis in 1921, and Hokendauqua had already discontinued iron production. No. 11 at Hellertown produced a small quantity. On June 30, 1922,

945-413: The U.S. as of 2020. Hellertown is home to Lost River Caverns , a natural limestone cavern. Hellertown is located at 40°35′3″N 75°20′17″W  /  40.58417°N 75.33806°W  / 40.58417; -75.33806 (40.584099, -75.338139). According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the borough has a total area of 1.3 square miles (3.4 km ), all land. The area of present-day Hellertown

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990-806: The Yniscedwyn Works, in Ystradgynlais in the Swansea Valley , that he devised the process which would advance the Industrial Revolution . On February 5, 1837, Thomas used a hot blast to smelt iron ore and anthracite coal . The result was an easy method to produce anthracite iron , which revolutionized industry in the Swansea Valley. This type of iron had been patented by Edward Martin of Morriston , Wales in 1804. In 1839 he relocated to Pennsylvania , where

1035-519: The birth of the Industrial Revolution in the United States. David Thomas was born in Cadoxton , near Neath . He went to school at nearby Alltwen and at Neath, and worked on his father's farm before going into the iron industry. He married Elizabeth Hopkins in 1817. As an adult, he was widely regarded as one of the foremost ironmasters in the United Kingdom . It was while employed at

1080-546: The borough was 98.20% White , 0.30% African American , 0.07% Native American , 0.20% Asian , 0.68% from other races , and 0.55% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.48% of the population. There were 2,448 households, out of which 24.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.2% were married couples living together, 10.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.8% were non-families. 30.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.2% had someone living alone who

1125-590: The company's Richard Mine was the largest producer of ore in New Jersey. The declining importance of local ore also prompted Crane and Thomas to divest themselves of the Catasauqua and Fogelsville: 60% of the stock in the railroad was sold to the Reading in 1890, which leased it in 1893. In 1891, the company began another round of upgrades, adding Durham -style regenerative-heating stoves to No. 6 and No. 7 stacks. In 1893, No. 1 and No. 2 stacks were abandoned: No. 1

1170-570: The company's stock was sold to Drexel & Company , which disposed of its assets over the next few years. Railroad stocks were sold to the Reading, Lehigh Valley, and Central Railroad of New Jersey, the first two becoming joint owners of the Ironton Railroad. The furnaces and other assets, including the Richard Mine, were sold to the Reading Coal and Iron Company, which sold the Alburtis and Hellertown plants for scrap. No. 1 stack

1215-664: The construction and blowing-in of a furnace at the Boonton Iron Works in Boonton, New Jersey in 1848. Under his direction, the company built two furnaces on the Butz farm along the Lehigh River in present-day Hockendauqua . Furnace No. 1 was put in blast on June 3, 1855, and Furnace No. 2 on October 27, 1855. Some ore was supplied from local limonite deposits. In 1875, Thomas Iron owned four of these mines and held

1260-408: The first church in the borough of Catasauqua, in which residents still worship. He installed its first public water system, founded its first fire company, and served as its first burgess. He provided a number of neat, attractive homes for his employees, many of which are still standing today. Additional accolades were presented to "Father Thomas" for his transformational ideas and vision. He was named

1305-659: The first president of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (then known as the American Society of Metallurgy), and was one of the founders of the American Association of Industrial Engineers. Thomas died from pneumonia in Catasauqua on June 20, 1882. He, his wife Elizabeth, and generations of their descendants are all buried in the Thomas family vault,

1350-469: The first successful anthracite iron furnace in the United States began operation. Thomas's iron works was extremely successful, even though the iron industry in the rest of the Lehigh Valley had begun to decline. The company was incorporated in 1839 as the Lehigh Crane Iron Company , and in 1872 the name was changed to the Crane Iron Company. By that time the community was no longer known as Craneville, but as Catasauqua; Thomas had named both his company and

1395-492: The furnaces, until now obtained from local dolomitic limestone quarries, was now replaced by high-calcium lime from Annville, Pennsylvania , eliminating the last local source of raw materials. Sweetser resigned on July 1, 1916, and was succeeded by William A. Barrows Jr., but the company was now in terminal decline. Keystone Furnace was sold off to the Northern Ore Company on June 28, 1917. On December 4, 1917,

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1440-656: The owners of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company in Lehigh County wanted Thomas to build a furnace for the production of anthracite iron. The Lehigh Valley region, being rich in both anthracite coal and iron ore, was the perfect setting for Thomas's creation. Thomas and his son, Samuel, walked into the infant community of Catasauqua, Pennsylvania , on the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company's towpath on July 9, 1839. Less than one year later, on July 4, 1840,

1485-411: The same fashion at the end of 1881. The other furnaces of the company were remodeled as they came out of blast. In 1882, Thomas Iron took over the Ironton Railroad. During the 1890s, as the local limonite industry declined and railroad transportation improved, Thomas Iron switched from using local ore to hematite from Michigan or overseas. However, they continued to use New Jersey magnetite. By 1891,

1530-414: The shift from local to foreign ores, coke largely replaced anthracite as the principal furnace fuel. No. 7 and 8 stacks in Alburtis were reputedly the last furnaces in the country to use anthracite, converting to coke in 1914. The shift away from local ores and fuels eliminated much of the original competitive advantage of the Lehigh Valley furnaces. Fackenthal resigned on May 1, 1913, after recommending

1575-595: The southern foot of the Lehigh Mountain along the Saucon Creek and constructed the family plantation named "delay". In 1820, the town contained thirteen houses, eighteen families, three taverns , two stores, one grist-mill , and seventy-three inhabitants. The town specialized in the production of linseed oil . The first school in Hellertown was built in 1845 following the donation of a plot of land by resident John Reutzheimer. Prior to this all schooling

1620-604: The still-existing structures which were created using Crane iron are the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels in New York City. Thomas's industry helped the small town to become quite prosperous, and he himself became a wealthy landowner. Thomas's wealth and generosity with it endeared him to his neighbors. He and his wife, Elizabeth, were known as "the father and mother of Catasauqua", and frequently addressed as Mother and Father Thomas. A devout Presbyterian , Thomas founded

1665-475: The town in which he founded it after his former employer in Wales. Iron produced at the Crane Iron Company was used in a number of products, many of which were made elsewhere in Catasauqua. The neighbouring company of John Fritz's Iron Foundry used Crane iron to build the first American-made cast-iron construction columns, while the nearby Davies and Thomas Foundry turned Crane iron into pipes and tunnel tubes. Among

1710-452: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.85. In the borough, the population was distributed, with 20.2% under the age of 18, 6.6% from 18 to 24, 29.0% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 23.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 89.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.2 males. The median income for

1755-489: Was abandoned in 1902. The company began to reorganize its railroad interests, incorporating the line from West Catasauqua to Coplay as the Thomas Railroad on December 21, 1906. The line was leased to the connecting Ironton Railroad on January 1, 1908. Old stack No. 8, at Alburtis, was fitted with a Durham-style stove in 1910. By the beginning of the 20th century, the iron industry was rapidly evolving. In addition to

1800-475: Was also obtained from mines at Rittenhouse Gap , at the south end of the Catasauqua and Fogelsville. The Hokendauqua site had its own plant railroad, constructed in the 1860s, which included a line of about a mile and a half to connect with the Ironton Railroad at West Coplay . The mines served by this railroad at Ironton were mostly operated by Thomas Iron. The plant railroad also connected with

1845-468: Was built in 1874 and a furniture factory and flour mill in 1875. In 1870, the original school house built in 1845 was purchased and turned into an Evangelical Church , the first church in the town, prior to which all religious services where held on a rotational basis in people's houses. Since 1867, the town has had an Odd Fellows lodge, and they were joined in October 1869 by the second ever chapter of

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1890-538: Was demolished and rebuilt with the new stoves, which were also added to No. 10 and No. 11 furnaces (former Saucon Iron). 1893 also marked the accession of Benjamin Franklin Fackenthal Jr., as president of the company: he would oversee the last halcyon period in the history of Thomas Iron. Modernization continued, with No. 3 stack being rebuilt in 1897, and No. 5 abandoned. New Taws & Hartman stoves were fitted to No. 1 in 1898, and No. 3 in 1899. No. 4

1935-467: Was inhabited by various American Indian groups and European settlers. Hellertown was founded in 1742 by Christopher Heller and his brother Simon. The family were Palatines that left Rotterdam on September 5, 1738 and landed in Philadelphia . Christopher obtained the patent for his land September 8, 1742, and Simon received his patent October 14, 1746. Together they owned a 176 acre property at

1980-488: Was performed on a rotation basis in local homes. In the late 1840s, the town would shift from a small farming community to a burgeoning industrial center, with coal yards being built in 1848, and the Lower Saucon Ironworks opening in 1849. This growth was expedited in 1856 the North Pennsylvania Railroad was built through Hellertown and Rudolphus Kent, of Gwynedd , purchased a plot of land to build

2025-460: Was quickly abandoned in 1924, leaving only No. 3, renamed "Mary Furnace" in operation at Hokendauqua. It, too, was abandoned in 1927, and the Hokendauqua plant was sold to Bethlehem Steel , which scrapped it in 1936. The company surrendered its charter in June 1942. David Thomas (industrialist) David Thomas (November 3, 1794 – June 20, 1882) was a native of Wales who was influential in

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