Slatington Borough

Lehigh County, Pennsylvania

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Slatington Borough Hall is located at 125 South Walnut Street, Slatington PA 18080.
Phone: 610‑767‑2131.

Beginnings [1]

The earliest development of the community occurred along what is known as "lower" Main Street, between Trout Creek and the Lehigh River.The first dwellings, of log, were built there, and were eventually joined by more substantial and permanent buildings, including the 1824 stone home/tavern of George Kern at 332 Main Street and the stuccoed stone and brick Jonas Kern tavern/general store of c.1830 at 356-362 Main Street.

The 1844 discovery of slate brought about increased growth to the community. Additional land for development was platted in "upper" Slatington in 1851 by Daniel D. Jones and Robert McDowell (for whom Dowell Street was named and who became Slatington's first Burgess when the new Borough was incorporated in the 1860s). Lower Slatington was settled primarily by the Kerns and their descendants, while the area southwest of Trout Creek, known as upper Slatington, was settled largely by members of the Remeley family. Ambrose Remeley had emigrated to America in 1749 with land warrants for several hundred acres, part of which became upper Slatington. His son, Michael, had at least eight children and his grandson, Charles, built the earliest extant building in the upper Slatington portion of the district, an 1842 log house located at 1217 Main Street. Other Remeley homes in the Slatington Historic District include the George Remeley House at 1010 Main Street and the hotel erected by John Remeley at 700 Main Street.

By 1860 the local population bad grown to about 500. As the settlement blossomed, a movement grew to partition a new municipality from unincorporated Washington Township. In 1864 a petition was delivered to the Lehigh County Court seeking the incorporation of the town, which by this time had shed its earlier Kernsport name was known as Slatington. The Court issued a decree of incorporation on September 7, 1864 and the Borough of Slatington was born. During the 1864-1865 winter the borough was surveyed by A. J. Hauman and the properly lines and street grades were established and depicted on a map which he published in 1866. The Borough Council met in a variety of venues including a slate company office, the community armory, and in a business block, until 1889 when a borough hall was erected at the corner of Third and Church Streets.

The Borough, togeter with the townships of Heidelberg, Lynn, Lowhill, Washington and Weisenberg, together adopt a multi-municipal comprehensive plan.

  1. Taylor, David, Brookfield PA, Slatington Historic District, 2003, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C.

Nearby Towns: Bowmanstown Borough • Lehigh Twp • Walnutport Boro • Washington Twp •


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