Schools of Reading, PA and Berks County
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 [...]
The Fifth and Spring school house was an 8-room building erected in 1900. The school was adjacent to Church and Spring school, a 4-room building erected in 1894. Below: Fifth and Spring school located on the northeast corner of Fifth and Spring Streets, [...]
The Park School was formerly located at the intersection of Perkiomen Avenue with 12th and Franklin Streets. The building was constructed in 1899 and cost about $25,000. The school was built on the site of the Bechtel House which was razed in 1898. [...]
In the late 1800s, migrants and immigrants from around the world were flocking to U.S. cities to find jobs in the nation's booming industries. Many feared that workers, exhausted as they were from factory work and the stresses of urban life, would fall [...]
The West Lawn Elementary School was located at the corner of Riegel and Nobles Street. The handsome building, erected in 1914, generally housed 8 classes, from 1st to 6th grade. An Eagle article in 1917 commented: "Probably no single building erected in the [...]
