[6] Emmaus was settled in the early 1700s during the colonial era by German Protestants of the Lutheran and Reformed faiths who were fleeing religious persecution in Europe.

In 1741, the land on which present-day Emmaus is located was donated to the Moravian Church by Sebastian Heinrich Knauss and Jacob Ehrenhardt for the purpose of creating a closed faith-based village.

[7] At the time of its founding in 1759, Emmaus was one of four leading Moravian communities in the Thirteen Colonies; Bethlehem, Lititz, and Nazareth, each in Pennsylvania, were the three others.

Two years later, in 1761, Moravian Bishop August Gottlieb Spangenberg announced the town's new name would be Emmaus, saying "Now here we build a village small; toward its completion we give all.

From 1830 until 1938, however, the community used the Pennsylvania Dutch spelling of the name, "Emaus," with a macron line above the "m" to indicate a double letter.

As English began emerging as the prevalent language in Pennsylvania, however, the line often was often omitted, leading to confusion about the correct spelling.

Emmaus and the metropolitan Allentown area contributed considerable numbers of volunteers to the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Volunteers from the region comprised roughly 70 percent of the 47th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, which mobilized after the fall of Fort Sumter to Confederate forces in April 1861, and engaged Confederate forces in the Lower seaboard theater in southern states through the Civil War's conclusion.

On June 7, 1930, in recognition of the 47th Regiment's contributions to the preservation of the Union and Emmaus veterans who later served in the Spanish-American War and World War II, Emmaus erected the Emaus Honor Roll, using the borough's initial spelling, in a mini-park between 3rd and 4th Streets in their honor.

Outside the borough line, however, the local population continues to grow, especially in neighboring Lower Macungie Township.

Buckeye Pipe Line, a United States petroleum distributor, is headquartered locally, between Emmaus and Macungie.

Yocco's Hot Dogs, the Lehigh Valley-based fast food establishment known for their regionally-famous hot dogs and cheesesteaks, maintains its corporate headquarters on East Minor Street in Emmaus with four locations in the Lehigh Valley.

[23] Interstate 476, the most prominent highway passing through Emmaus, traverses the western portion of the borough along the Pennsylvania Turnpike's Northeast Extension.

The only numbered highway providing direct access to the borough is Pennsylvania Route 29, which enters from the southwest via Chestnut Street and exits to the northwest via Cedar Crest Boulevard.

Both highways have junctions with I-78, which spans from Lebanon County in the west to the Holland Tunnel and Lower Manhattan in the east.