16 05, 2020

Reading Railroad: Coal Age Empire

2020-05-16T18:11:03-04:00May 16th, 2020|Planes-Trains-Automobiles|0 Comments

Decades ago, Reading was a mighty manufacturing town where the Reading Railroad — once the world's largest company, now a spot on the Monopoly board — built a 19th-century transportation empire, and factories produced everything from hats to hardware. At one time, the [...]

16 05, 2020

Shikellamy Boy Scout Reservation

2020-05-16T16:40:08-04:00May 16th, 2020|Nature & Outdoors|0 Comments

Camping has always been essential to Scouting, and was embraced by even the earliest Boy Scouts of Berks and Schuylkill counties, who flocked to summer Scout camps even before Councils had formed to support their fledgling troops. Throughout the years many camps have [...]

16 05, 2020

Pomeroy’s Department Store, Reading, PA

2020-08-10T00:29:56-04:00May 16th, 2020|Department Stores|0 Comments

In the 1870s, three young men, salesmen for Brown, Thomson and McWhirter, at Hartford, Conn., had a dream. They dreamed the dream of every ambitious youth that of owning a business establishment of which they might be proud of. They had only a [...]

16 05, 2020

Reading/Berks Drive-in Theaters: A History

2020-05-22T00:57:12-04:00May 16th, 2020|Entertainment-Recreation, Theaters-Drive-Ins|0 Comments

Drive-in theaters were hugely popular after World War II and, on special summer occasions featured all-night shows. Among its advantages was the fact that older adults with children could take care of their infant while watching a movie, while youth found drive-ins ideal [...]

16 05, 2020

Rio Theatre, Schuylkill Avenue, Reading, PA

2020-05-24T15:03:34-04:00May 16th, 2020|Theaters-Drive-Ins|0 Comments

Ben Zerr opened the Olivet Theatre at 647 Schuylkill Ave., near Oley, on Thanksgiving Day 1911. The initial attraction was “The Landing of Columbus.” In 1913, this “motion-picture house” was renamed the Schuylkill Avenue Theatre. Below: Schuylkill Avenue Theatre, 647 Schuylkill Ave. [...]

16 05, 2020

May Day at Charles S. Foos Elementary School in 1956

2020-05-16T14:34:54-04:00May 16th, 2020|Schools|0 Comments

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 [...]

16 05, 2020

Holiday Inn, 2nd and Penn Streets, Reading, PA

2022-06-21T08:52:27-04:00May 16th, 2020|Hotels|0 Comments

Early in 1972 reports were circulating in regard to construction of a new motel-hotel on the site where not long before were scattered remains of 18th century industry, small storage sheds, and piles of scrap metal. The project was proceeding without delay despite [...]

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