In 1904, Dr. Levi Mengel, a science teacher at the Reading School District, sought permission from the district to purchase scientific and anthropological materials to aid in his vision of providing a "sensory education" to motivate his students to participate and to enrich [...]
The city of Reading is bounded on the west by the Schuylkill River, on the east by Mount Penn, and on the south by Neversink Mountain. Overlooking the city on Mount Penn are two landmarks, a Japanese-style pagoda, and the William Penn Memorial [...]
Holy Guardian Angels Roman Catholic Church, Hyde Park, was established in 1929 for a group of Italian immigrant families who settled in Temple in the early 1920s. The nearest Italian Catholic church, Holy Rosary, located in Reading was about five miles away and [...]
On the west side of the Schuylkill River above the Bingaman Street Bridge sits an island with a narrow channel separating it from the shore that has been lost to the test of time. The little island near the foot of Bingaman St., [...]
The county commissioners were authorized by an Act passed April 23, 1829, to erect a bridge over the Schuylkill River at Gerber’s ferry, on the road from Reading to Lancaster. It was finished in 1831. The bridge was a one lane, two span [...]
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a public relief program for unemployed men ages 18 to 24 to provide unskilled manual labor for conservation and development of natural resources beginning in 1933. President Roosevelt promoted the CCC for youth unable to find jobs [...]
Berks County has the 3rd highest lead levels in the State, which is related to the amount of housing built prior to the creation of lead paint regulations and the high number of rental properties. Lead levels in Reading are three (3) times [...]
At one time, Reading was home to about 26 different pretzel bakeries, earning it the nickname Pretzel City. Julius Sturgis is credited with opening the first commercial pretzel company in the United States in 1861 in Lititz; later moving the enterprise to Berks [...]
By the beginning of the 20th century in Reading there was an urgent need for a Catholic secondary school. In order to meet the advanced academic needs of the Reading high school-age population, St. Peter High School was founded in 1911. St. Peter’s [...]
Ciotti Markets was started by the Ciotti family in their Summit Avenue home in Millmont in 1937. Their first full-fledged supermarket opened in 1947, at 330 Summit Ave. Below: Former Ciotti Market location at 330 Summit Ave., West Reading, PA. Ciotti’s Markets was [...]
