Easton

Town and administrative headquarters of Talbot County, Maryland; population (1990) 9,400. It is situated on Maryland's Eastern Shore, 45 km/28 mi southeast of Annapolis. An agricultural trade centre, it also has light manufacturing and commercial businesses, and has long been surrounded by summer homes. Its Quaker meeting house dates from 1683. The county courthouse gave birth to the Talbot Resolves (1765), protesting the British Stamp Act. Black writer and statesman Frederick Douglass was born nearby in 1817.

Easton

Town in Bristol County, southeast Massachusetts; population (1998 est) 21,300. It is located to the southwest of Brockton. Incorporated in 1725, it was a manufacturing centre, drawing originally on local (bog) iron, and is part of an industrial district including Brockton and Taunton. Cars were made here 1902–14.

The land was bought for settlement in 1668 by the Taunton North Purchase Company and settled from 1694. Its name derives from it being in the eastern part of the land purchase.

The Ames Shovel Company, whose products were used to build the Union Pacific Railroad, donated several fine 19th century buildings to Easton. The town of North Easton is home to Stonehill College (1948) and to US architect Henry Hobson Richardson's noted Ames Library (1877).

Easton

Town and administrative headquarters of Northampton County, east Pennsylvania; population (1990) 26,300. It is situated at the confluence of the Delaware and Lehigh rivers, 77 km/48 mi north of Philadelphia. It is part of the Lehigh Valley industrial complex, which also includes Allentown and Wilson. Situated in a rich farming area, Easton has diversified manufactures that include machinery, textiles, and electrical, paper, and chemical products. The town is home to Lafayette College (1826).

Easton is situated on land previously owned by the Delaware American Indians and was laid out at the direction of Thomas Penn (1750). It was the site of several peace councils during the French and Indian War, and was an American Revolution war centre.