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Recent Posts
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Berks County Plays Historic Part in 2024 Election
Read more: Berks County Plays Historic Part in 2024 ElectionHowever you may be feeling this morning, its impossible to deny the part Berks County has played in the 2024 election. This is a departure from my usual analyzing of the past; but I also find it important to document the present historical moment. As…
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Peter Wanner Mansion – Fraught by Failure
Read more: Peter Wanner Mansion – Fraught by FailureThe Peter Wanner Mansion sits at the very east end of Walnut Street in Reading, at the base of Mount Penn. The Victorian mansion was designed by Edward K. Mull and built in 1889 for Peter D. Wanner. Wanner was born on a farm near…
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Membership to Berks Nostalgia
Read more: Membership to Berks NostalgiaI am at a crossroads with Berks Nostalgia. The past 7.5 years my creative and communication skills have flourished here. I would love to make this somewhat of career, though I have no delusion that it will be a particularly lucrative one. Luckily my situation…
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Harry Truman Visits Reading On This Day 1948
Read more: Harry Truman Visits Reading On This Day 1948On October 7th, 1948 President Harry S. Truman made a campaign stop in Reading where he addressed a crowd of roughly 20,000 on Penn Square at 10:45am. He spoke from a platform which was erected on the southeast corner of 5th & Penn. The city…
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Stichter Hardware Company – 505 Penn Street
Read more: Stichter Hardware Company – 505 Penn StreetStichter Hardware was a well-known name amongst Reading merchants for over a century and a half. To get the full picture of the history of this specific site, we need to go back to the Berks County’s colonial period. The lot where this building sits…
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Pagoda Update 9/10
Read more: Pagoda Update 9/10If you follow along on facebook you are probably aware that back in January I joined the board of the Foundation for the Reading Pagoda. The iconic structure has been closed to the public since COVID related closures back in 2020. A building and grounds…
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Shillington Hotel & Bank
Read more: Shillington Hotel & BankThis was originally posted on July 29th, 2024 to Berks Nostalgia’s facebook page, I have since added some more info and am reposting it here. Everyone likes to dump on Reading for its blighted properties (and it’s generally warranted) but lets put Shillington in the…
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Follow Up and Thank You
Read more: Follow Up and Thank YouI would like to thank each of you that reached out and have given me support over the past few days. It’s been kind of a dark time both physically and mentally. Last Thursday as all of this played out I started displaying symptoms and…
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North 3rd Street Building Collapse
Read more: North 3rd Street Building CollapseOn the evening of Thursday August 22nd, 2024 it was reported by Berks Weekly that a building had collapsed on North 3rd street and that children may have been inside. Firefighters used thermal drone imaging to confirm that no one was buried in the rubble…
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What Happened to Reading, Pennsylvania?
Read more: What Happened to Reading, Pennsylvania?Without fail every time I post an old photo of Penn Street there are multiple comments asking, “what happened to Reading?” (and this is putting it nicely). Generally these comments are rhetorical and negative in nature, but sometimes I believe folks are genuine in wanting…
