Fort Deshler

Fort Deshler, located near Egypt, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, was a French and Indian War era frontier fort established in 1760 to protect settlers from Indian attacks.[1] The fort was near the location of what is now the intersection of Pennsylvania Route 145 and Chestnut Street, between Egypt and Coplay.

Fort Deshler
Whitehall Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, near Egypt, Pennsylvania
Engraving of Fort Deshler (1895).
Fort Deshler Former location of Fort Deshler
Coordinates	40.672°N 75.520°W
Type	Fort
Site information
Controlled by	Province of Pennsylvania
Site history
Built	1760
Built by	Adam Deshler
Materials	Stone
Battles/wars	French and Indian War
Pennsylvania Historical Marker
Designated	October 7, 2001

The fort was built by Adam Deshler, who was employed during the French and Indian War furnishing provisions for provincial forces.[2] The fort was actually a fortified stone blockhouse, 40 feet (12 m) long and 30 feet (9.1 m) wide, with walls 2.5 feet (0.76 m) thick, that also served as Deshler's home. Adjoining the building was a large wooden building, suitable as barracks for twenty soldiers and for storing military supplies.[3]

There appears to be no evidence that the fort was either garrisoned with provincial troops or served any military purpose beyond functioning as a place of refuge and rendezvous for settlers of the region.[4]

The fort remained in the Deshler family until 1899, at which time the building and its remaining 151 acres (0.61 km²; 0.24 sq mi) of property were sold to the Coplay Cement Company for $100,000.[5]

Historian Charles Rhoads Roberts, in his 1914 History of Lehigh County Pennsylvania and a Genealogical and Biographical Records of its Families, wrote the following about Fort Deshler:

This old stone mansion, the only building standing in Lehigh County which was used as a fort in the colonial period, should by all means be preserved and marked as a historic spot, not only as a memorial to the pioneers of this location but also as a reminder to the coming generations of the hardships which their staunch and sturdy ancestors were compelled to undergo.

Fort Deshler was not preserved, and stood in ruins until it collapsed around 1940. Its location is commemorated by a Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission marker.[6]

See also

• Lehigh County Historical Society
• List of Forts in the United States
• Whitehall Parkway

Notes

1. Roberts, Charles Rhoads; Rev. John Baer Stoudt; Rev. Thomas H. Krick; William J. Dietrich (1914). History of Lehigh County Pennsylvania and a Genealogical and Biographical Records of its Families. 1. Lehigh Valley Publishing Company.Page 111.
2. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1896). Report of the Commission to Locate the Site of the Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania. Harrisburg: Clarence M. Busch, State Printer of Pennsylvania.Page 175
3. Roberts, Page 111.
4. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pages 174–175.
5. Roberts, Page 113.
6. "PHMC: Historical Markers Program - Fort Deshler". Retrieved 2008-06-21.

References

• Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1896). Report of the Commission to Locate the Site of the Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania. Harrisburg: Clarence M. Busch, State Printer of Pennsylvania.
• Roberts, Charles Rhoads; Rev. John Baer Stoudt; Rev. Thomas H. Krick; William J. Dietrich (1914). History of Lehigh County Pennsylvania and a Genealogical and Biographical Records of its Families. 1. Lehigh Valley Publishing Company.