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 [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
The Embassy theatre was constructed on the properties owned by Ad. and Samuel Kutz and E. I. Kaufmann, 739-749 Penn Street, which at one time was the site of the Berks County House and the Bubp grocery store. Before the buildings were razed [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
