One of the first business places in Reading was the store of Conrad Weiser at a little crossroads we now know as Fifth and Penn streets in Reading. Weiser moved to the Tulpehocken area in Pennsylvania in 1729, erecting a house upon a [...]
The Madison building was erected between 1926 and 1927 as the Metropolitan Edison building. During the middle years of the 20th century, from 1927 through 1982, this building was successively owned and occupied by two of the area's major institutions, Metropolitan Edison Company [...]
The former South of Penn pool, at Seventh and Laurel Streets, site of an old school building, was built in 1930 by voluntary subscriptions of money, materials and service through a subscription drive by the Reading Times Newspaper. The pool was 60 by [...]
The South Reading Market at 548 Bingaman (southwest comer of 6th and Bingaman) was one of the city's most recognized and enduring structures. It was one of a number of "sanitary market houses" erected just before the two Penn Square market buildings closed [...]
Nestled in the heart of the business district is the Washington Towers apartment building. The apartment building was part of the Court Street Urban Renewal Project. On July 21, 1960, $860,774 in federal capital grants and a federal loan of $1,598,704 was made [...]
On August 12, 1932 dedication services were held for the completion of a stairway to the Pagoda. The dedication address was delivered by the former Mayor John K. Stauffer. Other speakers were Councilman George M. Yocom and Superintendent of Recreation Thomas W. Lantz. [...]
The Reading Fire Department was officially organized on March 17, 1773, with the founding of the Rainbow Volunteer Fire Company. The Keystone Hook and Ladder Company No. 1, was organized on December 12, 1855. The company was known by various other names until February [...]
West of the Reading Hospital and Medical Center, between Seventh Avenue and Park Road, on the Wyomissing-West Reading border, stands the imposing Masonic Temple, dedicated in 1963. The square on which it is located gives little hint of the history associated with the [...]
Perched atop the old Hampden reservoir (now an athletic field) to the North and South were once two Civil War-vintage .62 bore "Bronze Napoleon" field guns. Viewed from the foot of the steep approach to Hampden Park they were formidable looking objects. Their [...]
he Penn Street Viaduct at Reading, PA is located at the foot of Penn Street. The viaduct begins at the west curb line of Second Street and extends westward a distance of 1,350 feet. When completed in 1913, the viaduct carried Penn Street [...]
