Macungie Borough

The Borough of Macungie, Pennsylvania, is located in the southwestern part of Lehigh County about nine miles west of Allentown. It is the second oldest borough in Lehigh County and is approximately one square mile in size with a population of 3079 residents. The American Indian word "Macungie" means "bear swamp" or "feeding place of the bears". The American Indians were attracted to the Macungie are because of the flint and jasper deposits located here. Jasper was important to American Indians because they used it to make skinning knives, spears and arrowheads.

In 1776, the year of the Declaration of Independence, Peter Miller from Montgomery County purchased 150 acres of land and then laid out and founded Millerstown. Millerstown was situated on the Kings Highway leading from Philadelphia to Fogelsville.

After the coming of the coming of the railroad in 1859, ore mining gained a foothold and in the early 1860s was the principle source of revenue in the area. The railroad proved to be a real boon to Macungie. There was no railroad in the Perkiomen Valley at that time so freight for that growing agricultural community was shipped to Macungie and from there by horse and wagon to its destination.

The ore located in a mine near town brought Thomas Alva Edison to Macungie. Many times he got off the train, walked up Depot Alley, hired a rig from the Macungie livery main and was driven to the mine.

In 1875, residents changed the name of Millerstown to Macungie (taking the name of the township surrounding the town) because there was another Millerstown in Perry County. Also in 1875, an election for Borough officials was called and that marked the beginning of Macungie's history as the Borough of Macungie.