The 750,000 sq ft Fairgrounds Square Mall was developed by Interstate Properties in the late 1970’s. Recognizing the potential of the Berks retail trade area and the need for a pleasant climate-controlled atmosphere the mall was constructed at the former location of the [...]
If we would awaken love of our city and make it permanent, we must make our city lovely and lovable. But this better city must first take shape in the mind and heart. It is in the beginning little more than in a [...]
In 1913, the textile magnates Ferdinand Thun (1866-1949), Henry Janssen (1866-1948), and Gustav Oberlaender (1867-1936), formed the Wyomissing Development Company and began three years of preparatory work leading to the selection of Hegemann and Peets in 1917 to plan a “Modern Garden Suburb” [...]
In the summer of 1939, the Wilmer and Vincent theatre chain, purchased the Ruth estate at Sixth and Penn Avenues in West Reading for the purpose of building a theatre on the site. According to an article which ran in the Reading Eagle on [...]
On November 10, 1939, Eugene Deeter bought a ticket to the show in the newly-opened Wilmer and Vincent theatre at 23rd and Filbert Streets in Mount Penn. That theatre was the Majestic. Sixteen years later, Mr. Deeter would take over its management Below: [...]
Electric lines came early in Berks, the East Reading Electric Railway enjoying the distinction of being one of the oldest electric lines east of the Mississippi, and dating from 1888, the year of Frank Sprague’s successful electrification of the Richmond, Virginia Street Railway [...]
By the dawn of the 20th century Reading was undergoing notable industrial expansion. The lure of jobs brought significant population growth to the area. Among the newcomers were many Catholics. Monsignor George Bornemann of St. Paul’s Parish recommend to Edmund F. Prendergast, Archbishop of [...]
In 1886, the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad (P&R) decided to provide a safe pedestrian route across its main line and yard tracks east of the Outer Station in Reading. With the closest underpass located two blocks north of the station, pedestrians coming from [...]
Around 1992, 8 million people used to shop the Reading area outlets each year. People would drive from near and far to shop in the old knitting and textile mills that were converted into more than 300 outlet stores. The number of shops [...]
In 1927, Rev. Theodore Hammeke, rector of St. Paul's Church, established St. Paul's Commercial School as a department of the parochial school. In 1928 Rev. William Hammeke, brother of Fr. Theodore Hammeke, who died that same year from pneumonia, became the new pastor [...]
