18th century Egypt is one of the oldest communities in the
Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. It was settled as early as 1733. It was the first settlement in Pennsylvania north of
South Mountain. Egypt is one several
Lehigh Valley locations, including
Bethlehem,
Nazareth,
Emmaus, and
Allentown's Jordan Creek, whose name was inspired by locations referenced in the
Bible. Early
Pennsylvania German settlers of nearby present-day
Lynn and
Albany townships had named the area where they settled
Alle mängel ("all deficiencies") due to the poor quality of the soil on which they were trying to farm and raise crops. By contrast, the soil here was found to be quite fertile, and early settlers named this region "Egypta", since
ancient Egypt, with its fertile
Nile Delta, was the "granary of the world". The Reformed Congregation of Egypt Church was established in 1734, and a log church was erected in 1764. The cemetery of the Egypt church contains the graves of many of the region's earliest inhabitants, including 25 veterans of the
American Revolutionary War, 15 veterans of the
War of 1812, and nine veterans of the
American Civil War. Across the street from the church stands Egypt's
World War I monument, which honors the 76 men from Egypt who served during that war. Dedicated on June 10, 1923, the centerpiece of the monument is the pressed copper sculpture,
Spirit of the American Doughboy, by
E. M. Viquesney. One of the first settlers,
John Jacob Mickley (1697–1769), started farming here in 1745. In 1755, Jacob Kohler established a
gristmill, located along Coplay Creek just south of the church. and is today operated as a museum and historic site by the
Lehigh County Historical Society. The Egypt area was also the location of
Fort Deshler, a
French and Indian War era frontier fort established in 1760 to protect settlers from Indian attacks. The fort, which was near the present intersection of PA Route 145 and Chestnut Street, stood until about 1940. The site is commemorated by a
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission marker. A granite marker, located just outside Egypt at Scheidy's Road and Spring Street in North Whitehall Township, commemorates the last Indian attack in Lehigh County, which occurred on October 8, 1763, when nine settlers were murdered. The earliest hotel in the area was the Werley House, which operated from 1796 to 1815.
19th century The first "English school", as opposed to one that taught students in the
Pennsylvania German dialect, was founded in 1808.
20th century American Cement, which subsequently opened a number of mills in the Egypt area, operated until 1913, when it was purchased by Giant Portland Cement. In addition to the Egypt Mills plant, Giant Portland operated six other cement mills in Egypt (Pennsylvania, Columbia, Giant #1 & #2, Central, and Reliance), and had an annual production capacity of 2.1 million barrels of cement. Parts of the
New York City Subway were built using cement manufactured in Egypt's mills. Giant Portland ceased production around 1929, and mills were either closed or sold to other companies operating in the area. Today, cement production remains an important part of the local economy, and plants in the area are operated by
Nazareth-based ESSROC, a subsidiary of the Italian firm
Italcementi, and the French company
Lafarge. On June 2, 1947, the
Philadelphia Phillies came to the Egypt Park to play an Egypt area high school team of the old Twilight League. The Phillies came to entice
Curt Simmons, then a 17-year-old
Whitehall High School pitcher from Main Street in Egypt, to play for them. Simmons took the Phillies to the wire, and the Phillies came back and tied the Egypt team 4-4 on account of darkness. ==Notable people==