Entrepreneur Asa Parker founded the Lehigh Valley Railroad in 1853 to move anthracite coal to market more efficiently, and a freight and passenger station was built at this site in 1862. The railroad’s Slatedale Branch opened in 1870 to transport slate from western quarries, and by the 1890s the line extended from New York Harbor through the Lehigh Valley to Buffalo, New York. Its most famous passenger train was the Black Diamond Express. Passenger service ended in 1961, closing the Slatington Railroad Station. On February 1, 1969, 31 cars of a Lehigh Valley Railroad freight train derailed just north of Main Street, severely damaging the station and forcing its demolition. The railroad’s main line now serves as a rail trail along the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, and the Slatedale Branch has been converted into the State Heritage Trail. The site now functions as the Slatington Trailhead, providing access to the D & L Trail, the State Heritage Trail, the Lehigh River Water Trail, the Lehigh Canal Towpath in Walnutport, the Lehigh Gap Nature Center Trails, and the Appalachian Trail. The Borough of Slatington leases the trailhead property from Lehigh County, and Lehigh County, the borough, and local nonprofit organizations have improved and maintained it for residents and visitors.