Newspapers:  How Our Towns Were Named: Town & Country, Pennsburg, Montgomery Co., PA - Saturday, January 19, 1901

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Ref: Town & Country, Pennsburg, Montgomery Co., PA - Saturday, January 19, 1901

HOW OUR TOWNS WERE NAMED

     One of the most unfortunate failures of our schools is that they teach
little or nothing of local history, and the result is that our young people
know very little of the events which took place in their own neighborhood
years ago. Especially is this true of the manner in which the towns and
villages of this part of the country received their names. Few persons know
why and when certain towns received certain names, and it should be a matter
of pride with every well-informed person to know all there is to know of the
locality in which he lives.
     In this short article it is purposed to give briefly the story of how
several towns and villages in the upper end of the county were baptized.  Some
months ago we printed the history of the naming of the borough of Pennsburg,
and hereafter we will give articles dealing with the naming of towns not
included in this list.
     The village of Hoppenville, in Marlborough township, was named after
Goshenhoppen, a name supposed to have been discovered from Shakhoppa, a chief
of a small tribe of the Delaware Nation which occupied this region before the
coming of white men. Before the name Hoppenville was given to the village,
which occured about the year 1864, the place was known by the name "Die
Schmais Gasse", which being translated meant "The Lard Road". It was stated
that a man carrying a jug of lard once became intoxicated in the local hotel
and was obliged to spend the night in the hotel in consequence. When he awoke
some fun-loving farmer had disappeared with the Sleeper's lard, whereupon
they called the place the "Lard Road".
     Sumneytown, which is one of the oldest towns in the county, having been
in existence long before 1763, was named for Isaac Sumney, who in that year
bought a farm of more than one hundred acres in the neighborhood and
conducted the tavern in the town. During the Revolutionary War, Sumneytown
became noted for its gunpowder factories, the first one having been built at
that place in 1780 by Jacob Dast.
     East Greenville, it is said, received its name from a green spruce tree
which stood alone on Mill Hill, north of the town and in plain view of every
part of the place. At first the village was known as Greenville, but there
being a town with that name in the State the post office authorities ordered
that it should thereafter be known as East Greenville. The tree which was the
cause of this baptism disappeared about fifteen years ago.
     Schwenksville was named for the families of that name who lived there at
the time it was named, but it is thought that it was particularly named for
Jacob G. Schwenk who was successful in 1849 in having a post office by the
name of Schwenk's Store established. The name Schwenksville did not originate
until 1872 when the government so named the local post office.
     Red Hill, received its name from the color and contour of the earth upon
which it is situated though it is not definitely known who the genius was who
gave it such an inartistic name. The place has been rechristened several
times, once having been called Hillegassville, a name it received through the
fact that George Hillegass erected a hotel there about seventy years ago.
     How or when Palm received its name is not definitely known, but it is
not a wild conjecture to say that the Schwenkfelder's named it after a feast
day of the church. Certain it is that no palms ever grew wild in the village,
from which it could have secured its name.
     Hillegass, which was known as Milltown for many years, received its name
from Jacob Hillegass who lived there many years, though it was so named some
time after that gentleman's death. Kleinsville is another village that was
named for persons who resided there. It was named for two brothers who owned
large farms in the neighborhood.
     Salfordville received its name from that of the township in which it is
situated. The township which was formed as early as 1727 was named after a
town and several parishes of that name in England, whence the first settlers
of it came. The name Marlborough is also of English origin it having been
derived from the Duke of Marlborough, who was a famous fighter of that time.
     Limerick, was named after a city and county in Ireland and it may
therefore be presumed that the settlers of it were Irishmen.
     The name Franconia comes from an old dutchy which afterward formed a
circle of the Germanic Empire and means "Land of the Franks" on a map printed
in 1682 it was called the Dutch township, wherefore we may believe that
Germans were its earliest settlers.
     All the Hanovers are named after a kingdom in Germany whence came many
of their settlers. New Hanover which was first settled, has many places of
Revolutionary interest. Frederick township was also probably named after a
German source. The name was probably selected because it had been borne by
German emperors in the Middle Ages and because the first inhabitants were of
Teutonic origin.
     Green Lane, one of the oldest towns in the upper part of the county,
derived its name from the Green Lane iron works which existed for many years
before the town was created. The iron works received the first part of their
title from the green foliage of the surrounding hills and the narrow lane
that led from the main road around the hill to where the works were located.
     The town and township of Hereford were named after a well-known district
in England. Douglass is also of English deriviation.
      Few of the local names are of Indian origin although it might be
expected that such should be the case. Perkiomen, in the Indian language,
meant "cranberry patch", Skippack meant "a dark, muddy pool of water", and
Macoby of uncertain meaning. Goshenhoppen, as stated, is probably the outcome
of Shakhoppa, the name of an Indian chief.
     Last, but far from least, comes that travesty upon a name - Hosensack.
May history never record the name of the person who inflicted such a name
upon a civilized community. There is a current story that of how the place
received the name and as might be expected, it tells of the troubles a
certain man had with the pocket of his vestments. Literally translated from
the dialect the word means "trousers' pocket", but why any community should
wish to continue to live under such a name when the post office department
is ever ready to adopt new ones is past the understanding of every person
except those who live in Trousers' Pocket. If this article does a little good 
in any direction, may that direction be toward the eradication from the map of 
the name Hosensack.