Funkstown originally was 88 acres of land sold to German immigrant Henry Funck by Frederick Calvert in 1754. The town was laid out by Henry and his brother Jacob in 1767; they named the place “Jerusalem.”
Jerusalem was a center of activity for the frontier in its early years. The local commerce during those years included, besides the flour mill and powder mill, a paper mill, a sawmill, a woolen mill, a wagon yard, and several inns and taverns. The National Pike was constructed through Jerusalem in 1823, contributing further to the commercial activity of the town. The community became a favorite stopping place for travelers. But the prosperity withered when the railroad was built a mile to the west of the town in 1832. Nevertheless, the community incorporated as a municipality in 1840 under the name “Funkstown,” a shortening of Funck’s Jerusalem Town, the name by which the community had come to be known early in the 19th century.
