Emmaus, borough, Lehigh County, eastern Pennsylvania, near Allentown; incorporated 1859. It is chiefly residential, with a variety of small-scale industries whose products include furnaces, clothing, and printed materials. Settled in 1723, Emmaus was a closed Moravian community until the late 1830s. In 1742 a Moravian church (still standing) was erected here. The congregation purchased additional land in 1758, and the community was laid out. It was named for the biblical village of Emmaus, near Jerusalem, in 1761; the borough's name was spelled Emaus from about 1830 to 1938. Population 11,001 (1980); 11,157 (1990); 11,313 (2000).
