Schools and churches
Churches
Almost all of the settlers here were Lutheran and Reformed (today’s United Church of Christ), and a few were Moravian. The first religious observations were held by neighbors privately in each others’ homes, or with an itinerant pastor if one was in the area. Lehigh (Zion’s) Lutheran Church on today’s Spring Creek Road was built here in 1750, the first church building in Lower Macungie. It became a Union church, hosting Lutheran and Reformed congregations, in 1843. Other nearby churches, such as St. Paul’s in Trexlertown (1784) and Jerusalem Western Salisbury (1741), were also Union churches.
Today we have numerous faiths and religious practices among the citizens of the Lower Macungie community, but the centers of worship here have all been one form or another of Protestant Christian until recently.
Schools
Look across Hamilton Boulevard, and across the road from the log house in Wescosville Park you can see what was formerly the biggest two-room schoolhouse in the Lower Macungie Township School District. It has been converted to business uses. Other former schoolhouses have been converted into private homes or torn down.
Small private schools here began in the 1700s. One-room public schools were built and teachers were hired in the mid-1800s after Pennsylvania passed a law that made education free. Schoolhouses were scattered around each township so children would not have to walk more than about two miles from home. Students learned reading, spelling, writing, and arithmetic with all ages in one room. Older children often helped younger ones with their lessons. The five-month school year was extended to six in 1888, then seven, eight, and by 1922, nine months with a holiday during potato-picking season. Teaching was mostly in the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect. Although teaching in English was increasingly encouraged, it was not required until 1911.
The Lower Macungie Township School District and several neighboring districts merged in 1951 to form what became the East Penn School District.
Lehigh Church on Spring Creek Road is the oldest church in Lower Macungie. The first church building of the Lutheran congregation was a small log structure built in 1750. It was replaced in 1784 with the larger stone building seen here, onto which a tall bell tower was added in 1860. The present church is a brick structure built in 1894.
1876 map with schoolhouses marked in blue. Caption:
Each dot on the 1876 map of Lower Macungie marks the location of a one-room or two-room schoolhouse. At the end of the Civil War a number of new schools were built, using designs provided by Pennsylvania’s Superintendent of Common Schools.
Each dot on the 1876 map of Lower Macungie marks the location of a one-room or two-room schoolhouse. At the end of the Civil War a number of new schools were built, using designs provided by Pennsylvania’s Superintendent of Common Schools.
Many of the schools were named after the person who donated the land for the building. Kiechel’s School on Lower Macungie Road was the only school built during the Civil War. It’s now a private home. On the last half day of school the students clean and washed
