Fogelsville is named after Judge John Fogel, who built the first building in the area, a hotel, in 1798.

The village surrounds a number of large industrial parks and corporate centers.

Major roads servicing Fogelsville include Interstate 78 and Pennsylvania Route 100.

These two roads intersect in a cloverleaf, which is one of the busiest in the western Lehigh Valley.

Fogelsville was once the terminus of the Catasauqua and Fogelsville Railroad, later extended to Rittenhouse Gap, and the site of extensive iron ore mining to supply the Lehigh Valley's iron furnaces.