George (Coots) Kutz purchased 130 acres (53 ha) of land that became Kutztown on June 16, 1755, from Peter Wentz who owned much of what is present-day Maxatawny Township.

The first lots in the new town of Cootstown, later renamed Kutztown, were purchased in 1785 by Adam Dietrich and Henry Schweier.

Like most of Berks County, Kutztown was settled predominantly by Germans, most of whom came from the Palatinate region of southwest Germany, which borders the Rhine river.

The Kutztown area encompasses an area of land also known as the East Penn Valley, a broad limestone valley situated in northern and eastern Berks County, bounded by the Blue Mountain and South Mountain ranges to the north and south, respectively, by the Lehigh County border to the east, and by Ontelaunee Creek (Maiden Creek) to the west.

Deisher Knitting Mill and Kutztown 1892 Public School Building are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

[4] Since 1950, the Kutztown Folk Festival has been held in early July celebrating the culture, artistry, and culinary delights of the Pennsylvania Dutch.

[3] Kutztown has a hot-summer humid continental climate (Dfa) and average monthly temperatures range from 28.9 °F (−1.7 °C) in January to 73.7 °F (23.2 °C) in July.

The Kutztown area is home to an Old Order Mennonite community consisting of about 160 families.

There are several farms in the area belonging to the Old Order Mennonite community and a meetinghouse is located south of Kutztown.

The university, which is one of the 14 schools of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, has an enrollment of 7,391 undergraduates and 918 postgraduates.

[16] U.S. Route 222 skims the northern and western edge of the borough on a freeway called the Kutztown Bypass, heading northeast to Allentown and southwest to Reading.

[18] Kutztown University of Pennsylvania has a zero-fare shuttle bus service that serves the campus and the adjacent town when school is in session, consisting of four routes operating at different times and to different locations.

[19] Klein Transportation provides bus service from a stop at Kutztown University to Douglassville, Reading, Wescosville, Hellertown, and Midtown Manhattan in New York City.

[30] The borough also provides cable, internet, and telephone service through Home Net, a division of Hometown Utilicom.