In 1909, the city leaders celebrated with much fanfare the opening of the Spring Street Subway, a rail bridge that eliminated a dangerous Reading Railroad crossing – first for pedestrians and later for cars. The Reading Railroad was well established in the area [...]
After years of standing vacant, the former Saylor store at 401 Penn Street was razed in June 1980 to make way for the CNA Insurance Building. CNA would erect a large complex on the western half of the square, supplanting four existing buildings [...]
In September 1987 Joseph M. Eways, of Mast Management in Wyomissing, proposed the construction of a 20-plus-story ultramodern skyscraper called” The Reading Renaissance Center” at the former site of C. K. Whitner Co. Inc. Department Store. Below: Southwest corner of 5th and Penn [...]
The Madison Building at 400 Washington Street was sold for $2,500,000. Developer David Hasenfeld, owner of Madison 2020 LLC, New Castle, Delaware, has an adaptive reuse plan to create 85 high-end apartment units with both one and two-bedroom floor plans. [...]
Roadside America, known as the “world’s greatest indoor miniature village,” announced November 21, 2020 that it is permanently closing after 85 years in business. Roadside America Corporate was unable to disclose the buyer or the buyer’s plans for the property but said that [...]
The Madison Building at 400 Washington Street was recently sold for $2,500,000. Developer David Hasenfeld, owner of Madison 2020 LLC, New Castle, Delaware, has an adaptive reuse plan to create 85 high-end apartment units with both one and two-bedroom floor plans. The Madison [...]
Skyline Drive on Mount Penn was constructed by laborers of the Works Progress Administration, a federal program established in 1935 to help decrease unemployment. Under this program, those on relief were assigned to works that would be of direct benefit to the public. [...]
The Hawthorn Mansion at the corner of Clymer St. and Mineral Spring Rd. was built by George Frederick Baer as a summer vacation home around the turn of the 20th century. George Frederick Baer (September 26, 1842 – April 26, 1914) was born [...]
The beautiful mansion, known as "Bon - Air", located at Hill Road and Clymer Street, is a monument to Reading's glory days, a testament to when William Luden put Reading on the map with his candy and cough drop company. The building was [...]
On the southwest corner of Lancaster Ave. and Morgantown Rd., Reading, once sat the imposing George F. Boyer mansion, erected in the 1880s. Henry, whose great-grandfather started Boyertown, was born in Reading, in 1837. After a sound education and marriage to Mary Ann [...]
