Historic Catasauqua Preservation Association

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Historic Catasauqua Preservation Association

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Our Mission
HCPA was created in 1984 to encourage an appreciation of the historical and architectural heritage of the Borough of Catasauqua Welcome!

HCPA traces its beginnings to 1983 when a small group of residents banded together to prepare applications for the establishment of two national historic districts in the Borough of Catasauqua (Lehigh County, Pennsylvania); the Biery's Port Historic District and the Mansion District. Since then, HCPA has worked to revive and maintain the towpath along the canal thru Catasauqua and has preserved The Biery House at 8 Race St, its Summer Kitchen, and the Deily Coal Yard, Scale House and Mule Barn – all between Union and Race St along the Canal. They have secured 6 of the 7 State Historic Markers in the borough and created an art gallery and museum at their 8 Race St headquarters featuring the borough’s history and architecture. HCPA remains active as an organizer and volunteer in the community for events such as Fest O’Fall and the recent Old Home Week celebration. In addition, our members enact their passion for historic preservation through biennial home and garden tours that highlight Catasauqua's rich history. HCPA's webpages are hosted by the Borough of Catasauqua; where HCPA creates and maintains the History pages for the borough. Included are Block by Block Walking Tours in addition to links to history resources. You can visit them by appointment or by stopping by 8 Race St the first and third Sundays of each month from May through September. History

Located at the center of the Lehigh Valley, Catasauqua is one of the smallest, but most densely populated municipalities in the Valley. Now a quiet residential community, the borough once was home to the Crane Iron Works, the first commercially successful anthracite iron furnace. Its first blast in 1840 marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in America. The iron and allied industries brought much wealth to the town; such that by the early 1900s, Catasauqua had the highest concentration of millionaires per capita in the nation. Industry waned after WWI and commerce declined with the introduction of malls in neighboring Whitehall in the 1960s. With the purchase of the old Crane Iron site, the borough is targeting a development of the canal front and revitalization of downtown areas.

10/30/2026

The engineer behind this coal fired steam locomotive was Hopkin Thomas. He became the chief engineer at the Crane in 1850, lived at 3rd and Pine (SE corner). His son, James Thomas was a partner in the Davies & Thomas Iron Co and Wahnetah Silk and built the first coke furnace in Alabama just before the civil war. More on Hopkin & James Thomas can be found at TheHopkinThomasProject webpage.
https://www.thehopkinthomasproject.com/TheHopkinThomasProject/TheHopThomasProject.html
The webpage was created by John McVey CHS1951, Hopkin's 5th great grandson, who grew up in the McKee Mansion at 605 Fourth St.

10/25/2026

The Bachmann Players of Easton will present an original play – “Edge of Revolution” – at Hellertown Historical Society's Heller-Wagner Grist Mill Tavern with two performances on November 19 and 21 (November 19 is SOLD OUT). “Edge of Revolution” takes place in the wake of the Boston Tea Party, after the British Parliament has closed the port of Boston and imposed a series of harsh new laws upon Massachusetts. Now, the citizens of Easton and Northampton County must decide where they stand. In a recreation of a meeting that occurred in the Courthouse on Easton’s Centre Square in June, 1774, Patriot George Taylor, outspoken loyalist Louis Gordon, and their fellow townsmen gather to debate the crisis.

Tempers rise, alliances shift, and the future of the colonies hangs in the balance. Blending drama, humor, history, and audience participation,“Edge of Revolution” invites you into a divided colonial community at the moment when protest is becoming rebellion—and ordinary citizens must choose between loyalty, conscience, and independence.

Attendees will be served a traditional colonial tavern dinner of chicken pot pie in individual pans, carrot cake muffins, a salad, and apple cobbler for dessert. Cheese and cracker trays will be placed at each table, and adult beverages will be provided

EDGE OF REVOLUTION WITH THE BACHMANN PLAYERS
Thursday, November 19: SOLD OUT
Saturday, November 21, 6 p.m. - TICKETS SELLING FAST
Tickets: $70 for Public Patrons | $60 Members
Purchase: https://hellertownhistoricalsociety.org/product/edge-of-revolution/
Location: 170 West Walnut Street, Hellertown, PA.

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10/24/2026

Our museum will be open on the second floor of 8 Race St, the Biery House, during the holiday shoppe. Parking is in the rear, off of Union Street, in the Deily Coal Yard. Hours for the museum and shoppe are weekends, Nov 14th thru Dec 6th. Saturday hours ae 9-3 and Sunday hours are 10-3. We are located along side the canal/tow path just north of the Race St Bridge in Catasauqua.

10/20/2026

Our website - historiccatasauquaHCPA. Org - is currently undergoing an update. We are also updating TheHopkinThomasProject website. Website calendar and events are not current. Follow us here on fb for what’s happening in the meantime.

10/17/2026

Come see us today at the North Catty Autumnfest

10/05/2026

09/30/2026

The words of the Puddler Poet still resonate today.

LABOR'S CAUSE.

(Read at a labor mass-meeting in Youngstown sympathizing with the Homestead strikers)

We meet today to sympathize
With Homestead men who seek redress;
To soothe with hope the widow's cries
And aid them in their sore distress….
Send forth the words on spirit wings
That wealth no longer shall maintain
In this free land, its petty kings.
With armed thugs to guard their reign.
With justice in this noble fight
Wealth's private armies we defy;
With votes as weapons wielded right,
The cause of labor shall not die.

Michael McGovern named himself “The Puddler Poet”; he worked as a “puddler” or steel mill labourer in
Yorkshire (England) & Pennsylvania and Ohio (U.S.A.); workers across America were imbued by his verse.

Throughout his life Michael McGovern wrestled to reconcile
one of the great contradictions of American life; the gulf
between enormous wealth and grinding poverty. He was
deeply concerned by the unequalness of society in what was
then the richest country in the world. This was wealth
created by surging industrialization; driven by scientific
breakthroughs and invention and the labor of millions of
immigrants pouring into the United States from almost
every corner of the globe.
To Michael McGovern the enormous wealth generated from
the genius of America’s giant industrial strides was
sequestered by the rich and powerful denying workers a fair
share of what their labor had generated. Many of his song
poems grew out of his sense of anger at this greatest divide in American life.

09/21/2026

George Taylor lives at the Catasauqua library on September 30th, 7 pm

09/14/2026

HCPA is seeking a website manager to combine the The Hopkin Thomas Project and HCPA's existing website. Preferably local with an interest in history. Site must be user friendly enough for us to edit content ourselves. Recommendations?

Address

8 Race Street
Catasauqua, PA
18032

Telephone

+16102310603

Website

http://www.historiccatasauquahcpa.org/

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