The earliest settlers of the Lehigh Valley Region was a group of Native Americans known as the Lenni Lenape, a part of a large language group which spoke Algonquian.  Years of contact with Europeans weakened the tribes politically and culturally until their physical displacement by the late 18th century. 

In 1741, Moravians began settling in parts of Bethlehem and Nazareth almost by accident.  The sect initially planned to make a living for themselves in Georgia, but they encountered an inhospitable crowd and subsequently moved north into Pennsylvania.  From these beginnings grew a uniquely broad cultural environment in which music, art and education flourished, along with religious toleration.

Scots and Irish soon followed, farming and building small-scale rural industries to serve local needs: quarrying, ironmaking and charcoal production to name a few.

*American Revolution*
While most of the fighting during the American Revolution occurred outside the activity of Easton, Allentown and Bethlehem, the Lehigh Valley Region played a vital role in supporting the war for independence.  Local craftsmen produced dependable Pennsylvania rifles, and crop growers contributed many products to the needs of the Continental armies.  The Liberty Bell, a symbol of national pride, was transported to Allentown and hidden in the basement of Zion’s Reformed Church to prevent its capture.  An early entrepeneur of iron manufacturing in Easton and Catasauqua, George Taylor became the 30th man to sign the Declaration of Independence.

With the growth and development of transportation systems and the existing abundance of resources in the region, came a wave of European immigration that brought diversification and the necessary labor force.

To this day, the region boasts a mix of rich ethnicities including Irish, German, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Polish and Puerto Rican cultures.