Zinc, slate and limestone for cement have produced a legacy of distinctive industrial communities.  Slatington, capital of the Corridor’s slate belt, represents the exploitation of slate first enabled by the canal.

The nation’s first successful anthracite-fueled blast furnace began in Catasauqua in 1840, at the Crane Iron Works.

Cementon and Northampton became centers of the Portland cement industry following its invention in the late 19th century.
 
 
  *Bethlehem Steel*

A vast acreage of spectacular, enormous buildings, Bethlehem Steel is one of the most striking monuments to America’s industrial might.  From iron, coal and limestone, steel was milled and forged into the thousand-and-one shapes demanded as the Industrial Revolution matured in the late 19th century and transformed the nation.  Not only was steel made to arm and armor the Great White Fleet and American armies in World Wars, but also as the structural steel for countless landmark and prosaic buildings and bridges.

Such successful modern firms as Mack Truck, Rodale Press, Air Products and Day-Timers all received their start in and around Allentown.