How did Fricks, Pennsylvania get it’s name? This page provides a brief history about the naming of Fricks, Pennsylvania, the people who settled it, and the industry rising within it.
Village in southwestern Hilltown Township on the old Bethlehem Road (Route 919) between Line Lexington and Leidytown. The post office was established July 25, 1882, in the general store of Francis J. Frick, who was the first postmaster. The reason for the village name Fricks is evident from the fact that five families of that name reside there and control a major part of its industries and mercantile interests. It has been a business center of some importance for several decades. In a one-man shop in the kitchen of a clapboard log house built by his father, Jacob Lapp, in 1845, Henry B. Lapp launched his harness business in 1873. In the course of a few years it grew into a wholesale and retail factory employing as high as thirty-five expert journeymen and turning out road, track, coach, express, truck and team harness in immense quantities. Rapid expansion of the automobile industry forced the factory to close its doors in 1929. Since then the building has been rebuilt into a store for general merchandise and harness specialties by the son, A. B. Lapp. St. Peter’s Union Church (Lutheran and Reformed) is located near the village. The first building, stone, pleasing in design and substantial, 45 by 38 feet, was erected in 1804-5 on land donated by the heirs of Abraham Cope. In seventy years only $600 were spent for repairs. The present handsome edifice on the same site was dedicated in the spring of 1876. Hilltown Union Cemetery connected with the church and including the old church burying ground was incorporated May 6, 1870. Hilltown Evangelical Church, nearly in the center of the village, was built in 1843 on land presented by Zachariah Leidy. At present Fricks has 38 dwelling houses and a population of 145.
Source: MacReynolds, George. Place Names in Bucks County Pennsylvania, 2nd Edition. Doylestown, PA: The Bucks County Historical Society, 1955.