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The Glendon Iron Company was started in 1842 as the second anthracite-fueled iron furnace to be built in the Lehigh Valley. It was controlled by capitalists from Boston and Hazleton, and its pig iron was shipped via the Lehigh Navigation, Morris Canal and coastal shipping to Boston where it was rolled into finished products for foreign markets. 

Under the capable management of ironmaster William Firmstone, Glendon became one of the largest and most productive iron furnaces in Pennsylvania. Much of the iron ore that was utilized by its furnaces was mined in nearby Williams Township while the remainder was brought via the Morris Canal from New Jersey. The surrounding community of Glendon, along with other houses in what is now West Easton, were developed to provide dwellings for its iron workers. 

The decline in the market for pig iron, coupled with economic hard times. resulted in the decline of the Glendon Iron Company, which was finally closed in 1896. Its structures were demolished early in the Twentieth Century, and only scattered ruins remain to mark its site.