Until the mid-17th century, Lenape Native American tribes hunted and inhabited the land of Lower Saucon Township.

European traders first arrived in the area in the 17th century, and the Lenape peacefully traded with them with the exception of several periodic skirmishes.

However, Penn soon realized that he needed to purchase the land from the Native Americans to maintain clear ownership.

Sometime before 1737, Nathaniel Irish established a farm, built a grist and saw mill, and opened a land office for William Penn.

Irish was the first justice of the peace in the area, and the first King's Highway, from Philadelphia to the Lehigh Valley, built in 1737, led to his property.

The name Saucon comes from the native Unami language word sakunk, meaning “at the mouth of the creek.”[3] The township also included South Bethlehem until 1865 and Hellertown until 1872.

German immigrants, convinced by Penn's favorable description of the New World, settled Lower Saucon Township in large numbers, beginning in the 1730s.

Some of the surnames of the early German settlers were Boehm, Wagner, Appel, Riegel, Brunner, Lerch, Laubach, Oberley, Heller, Shimer, and Lutz.

Other early industry included lime kilns and the extraction of zinc and iron ore. During the Revolutionary War, many German farmers enlisted in the Continental Army to fight the British.

At a time when the Continental Army's reserves were depleted, they offered to sell wheat and rye on credit.

In 1777, soldiers of the Continental Army transporting the Liberty Bell to Allentown, passing through Lower Saucon and spending a night in Leithsville.

The Marquis de Lafayette stopped at Wagner's Tavern in Hellertown on his way to Bethlehem during the Revolutionary War.

There are nine villages in the township: Bingen, Colesville, Leithsville, Lower Saucon, Redington, Seidersville, Steel City, Wassergass, and Wydnor.

Lower Saucon Township has a hot summer humid continental climate (Dfa) and the hardiness zone is 6b.