By 1910 it was clear to Reading’s leaders that the biggest progress was quickly moving beyond the City limits. A few new suburban industries were already finding their locations an asset. Lower land prices were attractive, there were fewer restrictions on developable land, [...]
Between the year in which Reading became a Third Class City and the year in which Reading’s prosperity is said to have reached its peak, the City underwent some major physical changes as it saw the years of its greatest progress. The underlying [...]
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 [...]
The Model Cities Program was an element of U.S. President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and War on Poverty. The concept was presented by labor leader Walter Reuther to President Johnson in an off-the-record White House meeting on May 20, 1965. In 1966, new legislation [...]
The Borough of Hamburg, located in the northeastern section of Berks County, is sixteen miles north of Reading. The land herein was taken up as soon as 1732, immediately after the territory had been released by the Indians and a patent was issued [...]
Birdsboro owes its origin to pioneer William Bird who here established the first iron works in this section and the second in Pennsylvania, the date being in 1740. It was at first a simple forge, to which the founder later added other iron [...]
Crossroads attract settlers, and five miles northeast of Reading five roads intersected: roads to Reading, to Kutztown, to Friedensberg, to Leesport, and one to Tuckerton and beyond. To many folks it was known as “Five Points,” a natural place to build a hotel. [...]
After World War II, GI’s came home to a dire housing shortage; little had been built during the years of the Great Depression and war. The federal government had foreseen the problem and a program was already in place that would guarantee financing [...]
The roots of Laureldale go back to the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1902 Edward Lauter purchased part of the Henry Gass farm north of Hyde Park and east of the East Penn Railroad, called it Rosedale and parceled it off into [...]
This Centre Park Historic District is located to the south of Charles Evans Cemetery, between Centre Avenue and North Fifth Street, and includes all the east-west streets between Greenwich and Robeson Streets. It is one of the largest historical districts in the City [...]
