Pennwyn, PA

Pennwyn is a Berks County census-designated place in Cumru Township, just east of the borough of Mohnton. The 2010 census counted 780 residents. The place's name came from the farm of William and Amanda High; William called his farm Penwin. That name stayed with a small settlement that grew between older farms and the industrial edge of the Wyomissing Valley.

The Hendel family helped give Pennwyn its early shape. The first homes along South Wyomissing Avenue were built for workers at the Hendel wool felt hat factory, which began in 1879 and used a nearby dam and race for its water supply. Between 1879 and 1916, the settlement expanded; a two-story brick schoolhouse was built around 1907, and the school was called Pennwyn in 1916 at teacher Mabel Good's suggestion. Today the name sits on a township community with a Pennwyn playground, but the older map is still legible in the farm name, worker homes, factory waterway, and schoolhouse. The school name remains in use.