A Brief History of Kutztown

The seeds of Kutztown were sown on June 16, 1755 when George (Coots) Kutz purchased 130 acres from Peter Wentz (who patented much of what is now known as Maxatawny Township on December 1, 1724).  Kutz first laid out his plans for the town in 1779.  The first lots in the new town of Cootstown (later named Kutztown) were purchased in 1785 by Adam Dietrich and Henry Schweier.  The town was located on the Easton Road, a main road in colonial Pennsylvania, and was a lodging place for many travelers as it was a one-day ride from both Reading and Allentown.

Kutztown grew throughout the colonial period and during the early years of the United States.  It was incorporated as a borough on April 7, 1815.  It is the second oldest borough in Berks County (Reading became a borough in 1783, then became a city in 1847).

As with the rest of Berks County, Kutztown was settled mainly by Germans, most of whom came from an area in southwest Germany called the Palatinate, which borders the Rhine River.

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The Kutztown area, broadly defined, encompasses an area of land also known as the East Penn Valley, a broad limestone valley situated in northern and eastern Berks County, bounded by the Blue and South Mountain ranges to the north and south, respectively, by the Lehigh County border to the east, and by the Ontelaunee (Maiden) Creek to the west.  This region includes the townships (or portions thereof) of Albany, Greenwich, Longswamp, Maidencreek, Maxatawny, Perry, Richmond, Rockland, and Ruscombmanor; the boroughs of Kutztown, Fleetwood, Topton, Lyons, and Lenhartsville; and the villages or settlements (clockwise from Kutztown) of Monterey, Maxatawny, Mertztown, Kutzville, Schofer’s, Farmington, Hancock, Longswamp, Shamrock, Ringtown, Oreville, Klines Corner, Five Points, Hinterleiter’s, Longsdale, Maple Grove, Red Lion, Pilgerts, Seisholzville, Henningsville, Sally Ann Furnace, Fredericksville, New Jerusalem, Dryville, Bowers, Walnuttown, Blandon, Maiden Creek, Molltown, Evansville, Kirbyville, Moselem, Kempsville, Virginville, Windsor Castle, Dreibelbis, Greenawald, Albany, Kempton, Mountain, Stony Run [Wessnersville], Klinesville, Krumsville, Grimville, Eagle Point [Kroningersville], and Mill Creek. 

Additionally, it contains the valleys (“Thals”), homesteads, cemeteries, and/or roads associated with such establishing and early families as Adams, Albright/Albrecht, Angstadt, Arndt, Bailey, Balthaser, Barnet, Bast, Bauer/Bower, Berk, Bieber, Biehl, Bolich, Bond, Boyer, Breininger, Butz, Christ, Christman, Cox, Cronrath/Conrad, Deisher/Deysher, DeLong, DeTurk/DeTurck, Dietrich, Donat, Dreibelbis, Dressler, Druckenmiller, Drumm/Trump, Dry, Dunkel, Dunkelberger, Esser, Fegely, Fenstermacher, Fink, Fisher, Fister, Fox, Frederick, Fritch, Geehr, Gehret, Geisinger, George, Gerasch, Glasser, Graeff/Groff, Grim, Gross, Gruber, Grünewald/Greenawalt, Guldin, Haring/Herring, Haak/Hauck, Haas, Heffley, Heffner, Heinly, Heist, Helffrich, Henninger, Henry, Herbein, Herman, Hertzog, Hilbert, Hoch/High, Hottenstein, Humbert, Hummel, Kauffman, Keifer/Kieffer, Keim, Kelschner, Kemp, Kerschner, Kistler, Klein/Kline, Knittle, Kohler/Koller, Koser/Kover, Krause, Kressley, Kunkel, Kutz, Laub/Lobb, Leibelsperger/Leibensberger, Leiby, Lesher, Levan, Luckenbill, Ludwig/Ludwick, Mengel, Merkel, Miller, Mohr, Moll, Moyer, Oswald, Peters, Petri, Rabenold, Rahn, Rauch, Reber, Reidenauer, Rhoads/Rhodes, Rohrbach, Rothermel, Sassaman, Sander/Sanders, Saul, Schaeffer, Schappell, Scheidt, Schlegel, Schlenker, Schmidt/Smith, Schoedler, Schollenberger, Schneider/Snyder, Schwoyer/Zwoyer, Seibert, Seidel, Sell, Sharadin/Ghirardan, Siegfried, Sittler, Sontag/Sunday, Sousley, Stein/Stine, Stitzel, Strasser, Stump/Stumpf, Sunday, Trexler, Unger, Wagenman/Wagaman, Wagenhorst, Wanner, Warmkessel, Wessner, Wiltrout, Wink, Yenser, Youse, Zettlemoyer, and Zimmerman.