Friedensville, Pennsylvania

Friedensville, Pennsylvania
Unincorporated community
Friedens Evangelical Lutheran Church in Friedensville
Friedensville Location of Friedensville in Pennsylvania
Coordinates: 40°33′33″N75°23′41″W / 40.55917°N 75.39472°W / 40.55917; -75.39472
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
County	Lehigh
Township	Upper Saucon Township
Elevation	130 m (420 ft)
Population
•  Metro	865,310 (US: 68th)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP Code	18017
GNIS feature ID	1175250 [1]

Friedensville is an unincorporated community which is located in Upper Saucon Township in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Lehigh Valley, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th-most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. as of the 2020 census.

The community's name is derived from the German : Friedenskirche, "Church of peace". ^[2] Zinc mining was once a key industry in the area.

History

Friedensville Zinc Mines, founded in 1845, were an important operation in Friedensville. ^[3] Jacob Ueberroth (1786–1862), a local farmer, first discovered the zinc mineral, around 1830. ^[4]

In 1881, Franklin Osgood purchased the Lehigh Zinc Company’s mines and formed the Friedensville Zinc Company. He built a zinc oxide plant and zinc smelter in Friedensville. ^{[5] [6] [7]}

References

1. "Friedensville". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
2. Espenshade, A. Howry (1925). Pennsylvania Place Names. State College, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State College. p. 310.
3. "History". Upper Saucon Township, Pennsylvania.
4. Kaas, L. Michael (2016). "The History of Zinc Mining in Friedensville, Pennsylvania". The Mining History Journal. 23: 17–42.
5. "Richard W. Pascoe, Mine Superintendent by L. Michael Kaas" (PDF). mininghistoryassociation.org. p. 42. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
6. "Friedensville". The Allentown Democrat. Allentown, Pennsylvania. May 25, 1881. p. 2. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
7. "Death of Franklin Osgood". Greensboro North State. Greensboro, North Carolina. January 26, 1888. p. 4. Retrieved June 28, 2021.