Hensingersville, also known as New Hensingersville, is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

located mostly in southwestern Lower Macungie Township in Lehigh County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. It also extends into Longswamp Township in Berks Township near the intersections of Pennsylvania Route 201, Pennsylvania Route 3001 (Hensingersville Road) and Mountain Road. The community is located just south of the Alburtis and Lock Ridge Park at the confluence of the west and east branches of Swabia Creek. It is part of the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley () is a geography, geographic and urban area, metropolitan region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh and Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton counties in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a co ...

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

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...

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. That same year, the

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

established a train stop several miles north in present-day 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 Swabia Creek 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 ...

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 USGS survey as a

populated place In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community of people living in a particular place. The complexity of a settlement can range from a minuscule number of dwellings grouped together to t ...

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

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 Schoo ...

Emmaus High School Emmaus High School is a large public high school located in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. The school serves grades 9–12 in Pennsylvania's East Penn School District in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. Emmaus High School is located im ...

Emmaus Emmaus ( ; ; ; ) is a town mentioned in the Gospel of Luke of the New Testament. Luke reports that Jesus appeared, after his death and resurrection, before two of his disciples while they were walking on the road to Emmaus. Although its geograp ...

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