Workers begin renovation of the Madison Building
The Madison Building at 400 Washington Street was sold for $2,500,000. Developer David Hasenfeld, owner of Madison 2020 LLC, [...]
Rainbow Historic District, Reading, PA
The Rainbow District of the city had a rather inauspicious start, though it later grew to house the seats [...]
Throwback to Pappy’s Pizza, Nichols Shopping Center
Pappy's Pizza was a restaurant chain based out of Newark, Delaware...the territory ran from Ohio to Delaware and Allentown [...]
The Cross and Star atop Mount Penn
In 1914, the youth group of First Baptist Church, Reading, began the annual Easter Dawn Service on top of [...]
Santa Claus Comes to Town
Coronavirus kept Santa from making his traditional appearance in the Reading Holiday Parade this year, but they made up [...]
Victor Emmanuel II Beneficial Society
The Victor Emmanuel II Beneficial Society was founded in 1915 by twenty-one men of Italian heritage who joined together [...]
Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center
In the early 1900s, when hosiery mogul Jacob Nolde acquired the land on which Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center [...]
The Goshenhoppen Registers
The Goshenhoppen registers of baptisms, marriages, and deaths are the sacramental records of the Catholic mission at Goshenhoppen, now [...]
A second parish for Polish Catholics in Reading, St. Anthony of Padua
As a number of immigrants from Eastern Europe continued to migrate to the shores of the United States in [...]
Solomon Boscov: From Peddler to Pioneer
In the annals of Reading, Pennsylvania’s commercial history, few stories capture the spirit of grit, humor, and community connection [...]
Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Shops, 7th & Chestnut Streets
The Reading Foundry, at 7th & Chestnut Streets, once housed the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad heavy duty shops prior [...]
Burn’s Department Store, Laureldale, PA
On Decembers, 1928, Catherine Burns opened The Rosedale Variety Shop at 1505 Elizabeth Avenue. The business was quite successful, [...]
Early Development of Southwest Reading, PA
After Reading was sketched out by Thomas Penn in 1748, most of the development centered around Market Square (present [...]
Layout of the Town of Reading
When Thomas Penn laid out the town in 1748, he chose the site of an old Indian ford on [...]
Roadside America closing and auctioning off pieces and buildings of its miniature village
Roadside America, known as the “world’s greatest indoor miniature village,” announced November 21, 2020 that it is permanently closing [...]
New Life for the Madison Building
The Madison Building at 400 Washington Street was recently sold for $2,500,000. Developer David Hasenfeld, owner of Madison 2020 [...]
Skyline Drive on Mount Penn constructed by laborers of the Works Progress Administration
Skyline Drive on Mount Penn was constructed by laborers of the Works Progress Administration, a federal program established in [...]
Hawthorne Mansion – House of Seven Gables
The Hawthorn Mansion at the corner of Clymer St. and Mineral Spring Rd. was built by George Frederick Baer [...]
Santa Banned from Annual Christmas Parade at Reading
In 1950, Santa Claus was banned from the Reading Christmas parade. Not that the city didn't believe in Santa. [...]
Mistletoe – Christmas Customs and Traditions
The mistletoe Americans are familiar with -- phoradendron serotinum -- grows primarily in the Southeast and as far west [...]
Koziar’s Christmas Village
William M. Koziar, the creator of Christmas Village, began decorating his home and property in 1948 for the pleasure [...]
