Hensingersville, also known as New Hensingersville, is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

located mostly in southwestern Lower Macungie Township in Lehigh County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It also extends into Longswamp Township in Berks Township near the intersections of

Pennsylvania Route 201 Pennsylvania Route 201, designated by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation as State Route 201, abbreviated PA 201, is a south-north state highway located in Southwestern Pennsylvania in the counties of Fayette and Westmoreland. The so ...

, Pennsylvania Route 3001 (Hensingersville Road), Chestnut Road, and Reservoir Hill Road. The community is located just south of the Alburtis and

Lock Ridge Park Lock Ridge Park is a park built around a historic iron ore blast furnace just outside Alburtis, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. History The park preserves portions of the former Lock Ridge Iron Works. The first ...

at the confluence of the west and east branches of

Swabia Creek Swabia Creek is a tributary of Little Lehigh Creek in Berks and Lehigh Counties in the eastern Pennsylvania region of the Lehigh Valley. Sources The primary (west) branch of Swabia Creek begins in the Bear Creek Mountain Resort, near Rittenho ...

. It is part of the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the no ...

, which has a population of 861,899 and was the 68th most populous

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...

in the U.S. as of the 2020 census.

History

19th century

In 1846, a hotel was built by Peter Hensinger and local residents named the area Hensingersville. A post office was opened in Hensingersville 12 years later, in 1858. However, that same year, the

Philadelphia and Reading Railway The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail. Commonly called ...

established a train stop several miles north in what later became Alburtis, and the post office was transferred to Alburtis. A ghost named Bucky is alleged to haunt the Old Hensingersville Hotel. Hensingersville Dam is located south of Hensingersville, off Reservoir Hill Road.

20th century

In 1936, Hensingersville Dam was built on the east branch of

in the

Lehigh River The Lehigh River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in eastern Pennsylvania. The river flows in a generally southward pat ...

watershed. The dam is owned by the Alburtis Borough Authority and used for recreation purposes. The dam is earth and concrete, 18-feet high and 135-feet long. Its capacity is . Normal storage is with a surface area of . It drains an area of . The dam's latitude and longitude are 40.4877, -75.5823.

Geography

The community's elevation is 489 feet. Hensingersville appears on the East Greenville U.S. Geological Survey Map and is designated by

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

as a

populated place Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

. It is split between the Alburtis ZIP Code of 18011 and the Macungie zip code of 18062.

Public education

Hensingersville is served by

East Penn School District East Penn School District is a large public school district in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. Established in 1952, it was initially known as the East Penn Union School District. East Penn School ...

Emmaus High School Emmaus High School is a large public high school located in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. The school serves grades nine through 12 in Pennsylvania's East Penn School District in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. Emmaus High School is loc ...

Emmaus Emmaus (; Greek: Ἐμμαούς, ''Emmaous''; la, Emmaus; , ''Emmaom''; ar, عمواس, ''ʻImwas'') is a town mentioned in the Gospel of Luke of the New Testament. Luke reports that Jesus appeared, after his death and resurrection, before tw ...

serves grades nine through twelve. Eyer Middle School and Lower Macungie Middle School, both in Macungie, serve grades six through eight.

References

External links

* {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Berks County, Pennsylvania Unincorporated communities in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania Unincorporated communities in Pennsylvania