09/13/2026
Our home Andreas ❤️
Yes its pronounced "ANN-dreez" not "ahn-DRAY-us" 😄
Pretty cool history lesson that the pronunciation has been passed down for so many years!
The village of Andreas grew from the landholdings of the Andreas family.
The Lineage:
The family lineage in Pennsylvania began with Martin Andreas, who emigrated from the Alsace region along the Rhine and landed in Philadelphia in 1749.
The Settlement:
In 1793, his sons Jacob and Peter Andreas jointly bought and occupied a local farm tract in the area. Another brother, William Andreas, purchased an adjacent farm in the township in 1807. Later, a descendant named Adam Andrew established a prominent store along Lizard Creek.
As the community grew around these family homesteads and businesses, the settlement adopted their surname.
Andreas was not a coal town; it was a farming and quarry village that relied heavily on the railroad.
Geography and Economy:
While it is situated in the southeastern corner of Schuylkill County (a region heavily associated with anthracite coal mining), Andreas sits in the Lizard Creek Valley at the northern foot of Blue Mountain. The local geology and economy focused on agriculture and slate quarries rather than coal extraction.
The Railroad Connection:
It developed into a prominent local shipping hub because it served as a station and depot on the Lehigh and New England Railroad line, allowing regional farmers and slate quarry operators to transport their goods to larger markets.
Why is it Pronounced "Andreez"?
According to the official West Penn Township Government Historical Record, the name is locally pronounced "ANN-dreez". This phonetic shift is the result of Pennsylvania Dutch (Pennsylvania German) linguistic evolution. The region was heavily populated by German-speaking immigrants whose dialect altered the stress patterns of European names over generations. Instead of retaining the traditional German or biblical three-syllable pronunciation ("ahn-DRAY-us"), local speech patterns flattened the vowels and drew out the final syllable into a long "ee" sound, resulting in the distinct regional pronunciation used by locals. 💙♥️
The charming post office at Andreas.
