The Three-Mile House and the Reading Driving Park (Shillington Speedway)

The history of the Three-Mile House and the adjacent Reading Driving Park is a richly layered narrative that traces Berks County’s transformation from colonial frontier to early automotive experimentation.

Built in 1761 by George Riehm, the Three-Mile House was originally a two-story sandstone tavern located exactly three miles southwest of Reading along the Lancaster Pike. A third floor of brick was added in 1855. The tavern was not only a waystation for travelers but also served as a social and military gathering point. During the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, it hosted politicians, tradespeople, and soldiers. In 1861, members of the Ringgold Light Artillery of Reading, under Captain James McKnight, trained in nearby fields in preparation for Lincoln’s first call for Union troops.

Below: This 1905 photograph captures the entrance to the former race track that once stretched alongside Lancaster Avenue on its north side. To the right, the cluster of wooden frame buildings stood where Klee Funeral Home is now located at 1 East Lancaster Avenue. On the left stood the Three-Mile House Hotel, which occupied the corner that is today home to a bank at 1 West Lancaster Avenue.

By 1868, the site transitioned from military staging ground to harness racing venue. Aaron Einstein, then proprietor of the Three-Mile House, recognized the need for a formal racing space after witnessing riders informally tearing down Lancaster Pike. He built a half-mile dirt oval for trotting races using sulkies—two-wheeled carts pulled by Standardbred horses. Opened in 1869 as the Shillington Speedway, the track featured a grandstand, judge’s stand, stables for over 100 horses, a blacksmith shop, and barns. It was among the first tracks in the region to host night races, first using gas arc lamps and later electric lighting. The park attracted well-known horses such as Democracy, which clocked a track record of 2:08¼, and Waverly, which posted a time of 2:10 in 1909. Prominent trainers and owners frequented the park, and weekend crowds dressed in their finest attire flocked to the venue.

Below: The Three-Mile House Barn was a huge building used to house all the necessities needed to operate a half- mile race track.

Below: Horse-racing at Speedway Park.

Below: This 1888 photograph captures members of the Reading Bicycle Club gathered on the racetrack at the historic Three-Mile House. Behind them stands the judge’s stand, a key feature of the grounds during racing events.

The Driving Park also hosted a range of other activities beyond harness racing, including ox roasts, pigeon shoots, Reading Bicycle Club races, baseball games, carnivals, and medicine shows. From 1905 to 1907, the Pennsylvania State Constabulary, Troop C, even used the grounds for training. However, the most dramatic chapter in the park’s history came on news when the Reading Automobile Racing Association hosted Berks County’s first organized auto and motorcycle races. Over 4,000 people attended, watching vehicles like the Stanley Steamer, Buick, Duryea, and Pope-Toledo race on the dirt track. The event ended in tragedy when a Buick driven by William Nolan Jr. struck and killed 15-year-old George Pierce, a spectator perched too close to the fence. The accident prompted the immediate and permanent end to automobile racing at the park.

Compounding the venue’s decline, the historic Three-Mile House tavern burned to the ground on November 5, 1909. Though some horses continued to be stabled there until 1910, the destruction of the tavern and the emergence of better racing venues led to the park’s closure. The property was transferred from Mary Ann Brobst to her son, John B. Brobst, who sold the land to the Franklin Real Estate Company of Reading. In 1912, the site was subdivided for a suburban development named Speedway Park, with over 400 residential lots marketed as a cleaner, quieter alternative to urban life. The real estate office was built directly atop the ruins of the Three-Mile House, and buyers were drawn in by graded streets, cement sidewalks, water mains, and a direct trolley line to Reading.

The land’s next transformation came in 1925, when George Fedden of New York purchased multiple Speedway Park lots to build a full-fashioned hosiery mill. The Fedden Brothers—George, John H., and Henry W.—operated hosiery plants in New York and England and completed a modern brick and steel-sash factory in Shillington in 1926. The The location of the plant was at N. Wyomissing Ave., Walnut and Elm Streets. Known for its vast daylight windows, the facility employed up to 200 workers and included employee recreational areas such as a baseball diamond and tennis courts. The plant played a civic role too, taking second place in the 1928 Shillington anniversary parade with a float promoting “The Stocking Beautiful.” Though some claim the Fedden plant made parachutes during World War II, that remains local legend. In 1952, the Fedden factory was sold to St. John Baptist de La Salle Catholic parish and used as a parochial school until the 1980s. Sold again in 1989, the building eventually fell into disrepair.

Below: Fedden Brothers Hosiery Mill, 1926, and vacant building 2025.

Beneath the streets and weathered structures of Shillington endures the legacy of a place that once echoed with the clatter of hooves, the cheers of crowds, and the rumble of early engines. From a colonial tavern and Civil War training ground to a harness track and the birthplace of Berks County’s first auto race, this ground witnessed generations of change. What remains today is more than a neighborhood—it is the imprint of a space that shaped the rhythm, spirit, and progress of a growing region.