Reading was founded in 1748 by Thomas and Richard Penn (sons of William Penn). In 1752 a modest chapel was built on the east side of Duke Street (lot number 321), now Seventh Street, between Franklin and Chestnut Streets, just opposite the site [...]
For more than half of our nation's history, social services were not provided by the government, but by benevolent and religious institutions. As the number of Catholics in Berks County grew, so did the establishment of a number of convents of women religious [...]
St. Catharine's Orphan Asylum for Girls was founded due to the generosity of Mrs. Catharine Madary, a Reading widow who passed away on May 22, 1871. Below: The photo below shows the small beginning of St. Catharine's Female Orphan's Asylum. Due to her [...]
Around beginning of the twentieth century, the first Ukrainian immigrants came to Reading from Western Ukraine and from the Southwestern part of the Carpathian mountain region, mainly from Lemko region. Deeply religious and closely attached to their Church, the Ukrainian immigrants were reluctant [...]
In 1920, St. Joseph's Church, 8th and Spring Streets, was the only Catholic Church in Reading north of Walnut Street. To accommodate the growing population in the northwest section of the city, Archbishop (later Cardinal) Dennis Dougherty, established St. Margaret's Parish on February [...]
In the early 1900’s only a few Italian families were to be found scattered throughout the City of Reading. But their number increased so rapidly that it soon became necessary to look after their spiritual needs and organize them into a congregation. In [...]
On June 10, 1874; the Reverend A.D. Filan of St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church, Reading, bought from the Reading Railroad Company the property on which St. Joseph's Church is situated today. The lot was 100 feet front by 115 feet deep, and on [...]
Around 1880, the first Slovaks came to Reading from Saris, Spis and Zemplin, areas in Czechoslovakia, and later from Trencin, Orava and Nitra, also in Czechoslovakia. During their first years in Reading, they attended Mass at St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church, and then [...]
A skyline landmark in the southern section of the city, the steeples of St. Mary's Catholic Church rise above Twelfth and Spruce streets. Polish immigrants began arriving in Reading around 1850, seeking work and livelihood in the iron foundries here. The majority [...]
Catholic education was in its prime in the early 1960s. Overcrowding at Central Catholic High School and St. Peter’s High School necessitated the need for another High School. In 1961, Bishop Joseph McShea, of the newly created Allentown Diocese, inaugurated a massive building [...]
