The site that would eventually become Berkshire Mall spent much of its existence as productive farmland, woven into the agricultural fabric of Berks County. Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the area consisted of working farms where families cultivated the rolling Pennsylvania countryside. Stone and brick farmhouses dotted the landscape, accompanied by the barns and outbuildings essential to rural life. Property records and historical deeds preserve the names of these early landholders: Gring, Withers, Stilling, Frey, Freese, Barbey, Kalbach, and Evans—families whose stewardship shaped the land for generations.
As the twentieth century progressed, suburban development began encroaching on these agricultural holdings. The early 1900s witnessed the layout of small residential subdivisions that signaled the area’s gradual transformation. North Wyomissing Heights, East Addition to Wyomissing, Reshside Beach, and Northside emerged as neighborhood names, each representing a wave of development that carved house lots from former fields. A network of roads—Spring Street, Van Reed Road, Bern Road, and Penn Avenue—connected these growing communities to established thoroughfares like Warren Street and Tulpehocken Road. The landscape retained traces of earlier transportation networks as well: railroad lines including the Lebanon Valley Branch and the Reading Belt line crossed the terrain, while remnants of the historic Union Canal lingered in low-lying areas along the creek.
Industrial Acquisition: Textile Machine Works Assembles a Landholding
The trajectory toward commercial development accelerated when Textile Machine Works of Wyomissing recognized the strategic value of land adjacent to its manufacturing facilities. Beginning in 1934, the company—often operating through its subsidiary Delta Realty Corporation—embarked on a systematic acquisition campaign, purchasing parcels from the descendants of the original farming families. This consolidation continued through subsequent decades, with notable transactions including the 1946 purchase from Henry and Helen Koch and the 1952 acquisition from Glen-Gery Shale Brick Corporation.
By the mid-1960s, Textile Machine Works controlled hundreds of acres north and west of its industrial complex. The company commissioned planning studies and prepared the ground for future development, including street extensions and conceptual layouts for office parks. Documents dated between 1960 and 1967 reveal a methodical approach to land preparation, particularly along Woodland Road, where new roadways and building lots were laid out in anticipation of redevelopment.
Below: Mid-1960s aerial view of the future Berkshire Mall site, overlaid with today’s street map—showing how farmland and mills gave way to Wyomissing’s shopping corridor.
Below: 1970s aerial view showing the Berkshire Mall under construction, overlaid with today’s street map to highlight how the site developed.
Below: 1954 map overlaid with today’s street map.
From Vision to Reality: The Creation of Berkshire Mall (1967–1970)
In 1967, the Goodman Company of Allentown proposed a fully enclosed regional shopping center on roughly 61 acres. Between 1967 and 1969, Textile Machine Works sold the core parcels to Goodman, clearing the way for construction. Groundbreaking in November 1968 turned farmland into a job site, and about 15 months later—on February 10, 1970—Berkshire Mall opened to the public.
Wow, that’s really interesting how the mall was developed. Thanks for providing such interesting background on the area’s history.