It was a warm Saturday morning in June 1914, and Sarah Mitchell stood at Fifth and Penn Streets in downtown Reading, clutching her fare for the Temple line. The bustling intersection—where nearly every trolley line in Berks County converged—hummed with activity. The familiar [...]
Edwin R. “Eddie” Brunner, a modest yet beloved motorman from Reading, Pennsylvania, was at the helm of history when he guided Streetcar No. 807 on its final journey on January 7, 1952. That day marked not just the end of trolley service in [...]
The town of Reading was chartered as a borough by the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1783, and granted a new Borough Charter in 1813, with the legal boundaries set beyond those of the original town plan. The northern and southern boundaries were still [...]
This famous locomotive was the first built by Matthias W. Baldwin, founder of the Baldwin Locomotive Works. It was constructed for the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad in 1832, and since that road became a part of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad in [...]
For decades, locals and visitors alike marveled—or rather chuckled—at the so-called “Road to Nowhere,” a rare breed of Pennsylvania roadway that, for years, led travelers absolutely nowhere of significance. Built in 1964, this four-lane wonder began as a strip of asphalt in the [...]
From day one of the 20th century it was recognized that the future well-being of the development of center-city Reading was inextricably tied to the Reading Company train tracks cutting right through the very heart of the city at Seventh and Penn. Below: [...]
In 1900, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad began construction of the sprawling railroad shops along North Sixth Street in Reading. They were the largest railroad shops in America, and unlike most railroads, allowed the Reading to make its own engines. The Reading shops [...]
The Reading Foundry, at 7th & Chestnut Streets, once housed the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad heavy duty shops prior to 1904. Below: The Reading Foundry, at 7th & Chestnut Streets. The construction of the railway in 1836 immediately stimulated enterprises of various kinds, [...]
From September 20, 1924 to June 29,1979, dirt-track racing fans crowded the 80 acre site of the Reading Fairgrounds located in Muhlenburg Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania which was home to a half-mile oval that was known as “The Home of Champions” Modified stock [...]
On April 20, 1915, two adjoining tracts of land in Muhlenberg Township, totaling 54 acres, were purchased for $20,750 for the site of the Reading Fairgrounds. Several subsequent purchases increased the area to approximately 78 acres. The site was ideal since it was [...]
