The Reading Renaissance, a proposed 43-story skyscraper threatens to dwarf what traditionally has been the area’s largest high-rises. The 280-foot-high courthouse at 6th and Court streets in Reading, as well as Allentown’s 23-story Pennsylvania Power & Light Building stand to be humbled. The [...]
The earliest known imagery of the Easter bunny in America came from Berks County. It was drawn near Orwigsburg (West Brunswick Township). Hand drawn and colored on laid paper (8 x 9.6 cm.), Johann Conrad Gilbert created this fractur near Orwigsburg, PA. The [...]
A recent post by GoReadingBerks on Facebook sparked the interest of the public and attracted the attention of Reading City Council as to the status of repairs to Reading's Pagoda. The iconic building on Duryea Drive has been closed since the start of [...]
Officials from Reading, England, and Reutlingen, Germany recently visited Reading, PA as part of the city’s 275th anniversary celebration. One of our English delegates said, “Reading has an aching potential.” The statement struck a chord with City Councilwoman Donna Reed in regards to [...]
In 1815 two Reading businessmen, Charles Kessler and John Spade, erected a substantial stone factory at the lower approach to the Rosenthal or Rose Valley glen which stretches between present day Egelman’s Park and Pendora Park. The glen is formed by the depression [...]
The first industries in Muhlenberg Township developed in Temple. The Mount Laurel Furnace for the manufacture of iron began in 1836 on Mount Laurel Road. Built in 1836 by John Bertolet, Mayberry Bertolet and Francis Palm, Mount Laurel typified the small, standard charcoal [...]
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., [...]
