History of Easton, Pennsylvania

Easton is the easternmost city in the Lehigh Valley, a 731-square-mile region that is Pennsylvania's third-largest and the nation's 68th-largest metropolitan region, as of the U.S. Census of 2020, with 861,889 residents. Easton is the smallest of the Valley's three main cities, Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton, with roughly one-fourth the population of Allentown, the Valley's largest city.

The city of Easton, three municipalities (Forks, Palmer, and Williams), and three boroughs (Glendon, West Easton, and Wilson) comprise the greater Easton area. The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, a memorial for Easton area veterans slain during the American Civil War, is located in Centre Square, the city's town square, in its downtown neighborhood. Locals in the first half of the 20th century referred to Centre Square as the Circle. The Peace Flame, a structure resembling a flame, is assembled and disassembled annually for the Christmas season atop the Civil War monument.

The Lehigh Line of Norfolk Southern Railway, formerly the primary line of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, passes through Easton en route to Bethlehem and Allentown before crossing the Delaware River and arriving in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. 14 miles to the northeast of Allentown, 51 miles north of Philadelphia, and 64 miles west of New York City is Easton. Learn about the geography of Easton.