William H. Luden (1859-1949) was the developer of the menthol cough drop and founder of the Luden's company and brand. The son of an immigrant father from the Netherland’s, Luden quit school at the age of 15 and became an apprentice candy maker. [...]
In 1970, M.O. Lee, then-president of VF Corp., introduced the outlet concept. But it was Kitty Solomon who helped spawn the outlet industry. Under the leadership of Kitty Solomon, the Berks County Pennsylvania Dutch Travel Association turned to tourism to increase area earnings. [...]
On Dec. 15, a ribbon cutting ceremony was held for a new A-Plus convenience store at the corner of Fourth and Washington Streets. The 3,500 square-foot store, which sits across the courtyard of the Washington Tower apartment building's lobby, features typical products, such as [...]
In 1890, observing that the braiding industry had rapidly developed in the United States during the last 20 years of the 19"' century, Ferdinand Thun and Henry Janssen rented a suitable brick building, at 222 Cedar Street, Reading for a modest $40.00 [...]
At one time Reading was dominated by textile manufacturers. By the 1960s and early 1970s most of the textile companies moved south, but a couple that remained - Talbott and David Crystal – had outlets, mainly for women’s clothing. Under the leadership of [...]
While three different brewers lived in this former “brewery mansion” over the years, people generally referred to the place as “the Stocker Mansion,” named for the brewer who built it. It stood on the northwest corner of 11th and Exeter. On this site [...]
When the oldest citizens were boys, and even before, there were summer gardens and other popular resorts in Reading and vicinity. Before the law was enforced prohibiting the selling of strong liquors on Sunday, there were “summer gardens” in connection with some of [...]
The Penn Square Pedestrian Mall was originally a component of a much larger urban renewal plan. Sasaki Associates' Downtown East Urban Renewal Plan of 1971 proposed an enclosed shopping mall in downtown Reading to compete with shopping malls being built in the suburbs. [...]
The 750,000 sq ft Fairgrounds Square Mall was developed by Interstate Properties in the late 1970’s. Recognizing the potential of the Berks retail trade area and the need for a pleasant climate-controlled atmosphere the mall was constructed at the former location of the [...]
Around 1992, 8 million people used to shop the Reading area outlets each year. People would drive from near and far to shop in the old knitting and textile mills that were converted into more than 300 outlet stores. The number of shops [...]
