Lahaska, Pennsylvania

How did Lahaska, Pennsylvania get its name? This page provides a brief history about the naming of Lahaska, Pennsylvania, the people who settled it, and the industry rising within it.

Lahaska is a small town at the intersection of York Road (Route 202) and Street Road, partly in Buckingham and partly in Solebury Township. The southwestern end of the town begins at the brow of Buckingham Meeting House Hill, where the York Road forks. It became a post office March 18, 1874, with Thomas Betts as first postmaster, and at that time it comprised 15 houses, store, hotel, coach factory and a few shops. In olden times Edmund Kinsey’s scythe and axe factory, less than two miles north of the village, was a notable industry. The Orthodox Friends’ Meeting House, near Meeting House Hill, was built in 1830 and was probably closed as a meeting house about 1880. Some twenty-five years ago it was sold and for a time used as a carriage emporium. Lahaska Methodist Episcopal Church, was built in 1853 and rebuilt in 1861. Seneca W. Ely, of Cincinnati, Ohio, a native of Bucks County, says Lahaska in 1820 bore the prosaic name of Hentown. There is no other authority for this name except Mr. Ely’s word, but he was a newspaper editor and consequently his veracity is above question. The origin of its present name, which is recent as applied to the town, is discussed elsewhere. Lahaska has grown in importance in recent years. It has its Midway Fire Company and Ladies’ Auxiliary and other organizations that take good care of the welfare of the community.

Source

MacReynolds, George. Place Names in Bucks County Pennsylvania, 2nd Edition. Doylestown, PA: The Bucks County Historical Society, 1955.