Congo, Pennsylvania
Unincorporated community
Union Jack's Olde Congo Hotel.
Union Jack's Olde Congo Hotel.
Congo is located in Pennsylvania
Congo
Congo
Coordinates: 40°21′03″N 75°35′02″W / 40.35083°N 75.58389°W / 40.35083; -75.58389
CountryUnited States
StatePennsylvania
CountyMontgomery
TownshipDouglass
Elevation
427 ft (130 m)
Time zoneUTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP Code
19504
Area code(s)610 and 484
GNIS feature ID1172326[1]

Congo is a village in Douglass Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. Congo is located at the intersection of Hoffmansville Road and Congo Road, northeast of Boyertown. It is drained by the Swamp Creek into the Perkiomen Creek and uses the Barto ZIP Code of 19504.

Name origin

The village was named Cedarville until the 1880s, when the US Post Office decided to rename it due to the existence of at least three other Pennsylvania post offices with "cedar" in their names. The Congo Basin was in the news at the time due to conflicting European claims and measures to settle them. While the Congo post office closed around 1925, the name has remained with the community ever since.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Congo". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  2. ^ Douglass Township Bicentennial Historical Committee. "A History of Douglass Township: 1700 to 1976." 1976, p. 32.
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