A walking tour of the historic town of Hokendauqua, originally scheduled for Oct. 27, had to be postponed because of rain.

Whitehall Township Commissioner Jeffrey Dutt said the free tour, hosted by Whitehall Historical Preservation Society, will be rescheduled in the spring.

The purpose of the tour is to make people aware of the historical significance of the area that was created as a “company town” for the 19th-century Thomas Iron Works.

Dutt said there had been a good response to the tour with more than 40 people registered.

Whitehall Township has proposed designating the community as a historic preservation district, which would be the first such district in the township. Dutt said, at the November township board meeting, the process of getting the area around the Thomas Iron Works recognized on the National Register of Historic Places already was underway.

The register is the official list of historic places worthy of preservation, and being on the register would help the township identify, evaluate and protect the area.

“We have started working on the grant proposal,” Dutt reported.

The grant would pay for a consultation and start the process to get the area on the National Register.

The area includes approximately 100 factory homes built for workers of the iron plant in the 1880s and comprises the area from Front Street to Third Street and from Quigg Street to Carbon Street.

Thomas Iron Works was built by David Thomas, a Welsh ironmaker who came to the Lehigh Valley in 1839 to pioneer hot-blast ironmaking in the region.

Thomas, who was born in 1794, emigrated from South Wales to the township, where he built the first successful anthracite-burning blast iron furnace in the country. Thomas began the Thomas Iron Company in 1854 on 185 acres of farmland, which he bought for $200 per acre, along the Lehigh River.

In 1854, he and his son Samuel designed the street plan for the new village, which they named after Lenape Indian words “Hockin,” meaning “land,” and “Dochwe,” meaning “searching or seeking.”

Thomas established Hokendauqua after the English concept of a company town, in which an employer owned all the housing and businesses, which it provided for its workers.

The advantage for workers was the two-story brick twin homes were nicer than they could have afforded elsewhere, with yards, fences and outhouses.

Notable structures in the area include First Presbyterian Church of Hokendauqua, built in 1867; Geiger’s Store, site of the original company store opened in 1870; Hokendauqua Fire Company No. 1, the original fire house for the Iron Works; and “Pen-y-Bryn,” the Victorian mansion at Center and Front streets, homestead of Thomas’ son John, who was made the first company superintendent in 1867.

The township board plans to move forward with the historic district designation in 2019.