Skyline Drive on Mount Penn was constructed by laborers of the Works Progress Administration, a federal program established in 1935 to help decrease unemployment. Under this program, those on relief were assigned to works that would be of direct benefit to the public. Men were paid 40 cents an hour for a 40-hour week Other county projects included Pendora Park, Schlegel Park Baer Park, Egelman Park and the Angelica Water System.
Construction of Skyline Boulevard, as it was initially called, began on February 1, 1932 and was completed and opened on June 24, 1935.
The first section of the Reading’s Skyline Boulevard, from the Pagoda to the tower, was formally dedicated on July 1, 1932.
In addition to the roadway, workers built a stone wall running most of the distance along the city side of the road from the Pagoda to the tower. Stone from the old tower (destroyed by fire on April 23, 1923) was used in the walls and the new road.
