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 surrounded on three sides by Antietam Creek, which accounts for the fact that its principal industry was milling. There were mills of various kinds—including a powder mill that supplied Washington’s army during the Revolutionary War. The largest of them was a flour mill built by Henry Funck in 1762 in the area to the rear of the town’s present fire hall. It operated until 1929, when it was destroyed by fire. The powder mill blew up in 1810.

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.

On July 10, 1863, during the Confederate Army’s retreat from Gettysburg, a diversionary battle was fought at Funkstown while General Lee established a nine-mile battle line from Williamsport to St. James. The battle that was fought around the town and in the vicinity of today’s town park resulted in 479 soldiers killed or wounded and the use of residences in Funkstown as hospitals. In the end, General George Meade was unable to move his men fast enough from Chambersburg to engage the Confederate forces before Lee retreated across the Potomac River on the night of July 13.

A major element of life in Funkstown in the early part of the 20th century was the electric trolley. By 1904, the final section of track from Boonsboro across South Mountain to Myersville was completed, and travellers could then enjoy a scenic two-hour, 29-mile trip between Hagerstown and Frederick. That section closed down in 1938, although other sections of the 87.5-mile Hagerstown and Frederick Railway survived until mid-century.

Today, still straddling a remnant of the old National Pike and with 250 years of history to savor, Funkstown is a growing, vibrant residential community. The natural beauty of the area draws new residents just as it attracted the early German settlers. The many historic houses and other buildings still in use add to the town’s allure.