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Borough of Red Hill

56 West Fourth Street
215-679-2040

Red Hill was originally a part of Upper Hamover Township. During a period when villages usually sprang up at a crossroads, this village , once known as Hillegassville, spread itself along the present Main Street. The roadway was planned in 1735 as the "Great Road leading into Philadelphia" with the assumption that it was laid out over an indian trail and quite straight. In 1851, the Green Lane and Goshenhoppen Turnpike Company was formed to raise funds by the sale of stock and the collection of tolls so improvements could be made. The incorporation of the Red Hill Borough took place on November 13, 1902. The population was approximately 350 at that time. Like many other emerging communities, the borough had a railroad station (known as Hanover in 1875), the village hotel, and a public school. Cigar making was a major industry then. The geographical draft accompanying the petition for incorporation listed the area of Red Hill as 427 acres and 34 perches and showed about 93 buildings. The first election of borough officers took place on December 2, 1902 at the public house of Jesse Z. Hillegass. Today that public house is known as the Red Hill Hotel.

In 1947, the ninth and tenth grade classes were assigned to East Greenville High School as part of a reciprocal agreement between the two boroughs. Sixth grade pupils from East Greenville attended Red Hill under the arrangement. This was, perhaps, the first step that led to a merger of the Upper Perkiomen area schools five years later. In 1948, a cafeteria was installed to accommodate the children transported here. In 1952, Red Hill became part of the Upper Perkiomen Joint Schools and retained instruction for only grades one through six in its own building.Ten years later, the need for expanded facilities led to the erection of a twelve-room addition to the 1932 Red Hill building. Classes for grades one through four were taught at Red Hill in 1981. Pupils in grades five through eight attended the Upper Perkiomen Middle School in East Greenville. High school students in grades nine through twelve went to the Upper Perkiomen High School building erected in 1968 at Eleventh Street and Walt Road on land that was formerly the Charles Huntzinger farm, a landmark that dates back to the early eighteenth century.


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