Berks Nostalgia

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Recent Posts

  • Berks County Christmas – Day 1 – Center Square

    Happy December 1st! Over the course of the next 25 days, we are going to take a trip back in time to old Penn Street Christmas scenes. Check back every day now through Christmas to see a new picture. Fifth and Penn, the town Christmas…

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  • Quick Clean Carsonia

    Pictured is the Quick Clean Laundromat on 747 Carsonia Ave in Mount Penn in the 1960s. It is still currently a laundromat and goes by “Jakes Coin Laundry“. Jake’s is a chain of laundromat’s all over Berks and Lehigh Counties since 1995.

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  • Dutch Colony Motor Inn

    The Dutch Colony Motor Inn once sat on route 422 in Exeter Township. It began operations in 1964 by Erna and R. Harding “Breity” Breithaupt. Breity Breithaupt was an aviation pioneer and owned Reading Aviation Service at Reading Regional Airport. A few years after opening they added…

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  • Moore’s Diner & Queen City

    In the 1930’s and ’40s, Walter J. “Bill” Moore operated Moore’s Restaurant chain in Reading. He opened the first location in 1937 at the present site of Reading’s post office. The post office was constructed only two years later in 1939, in which he moved…

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  • Rosedale Knitting Mill

    Rosedale Knitting Mill was once Berks County’s third largest knitting mill, behind Berkshire and Textile. It was opened in 1914 as a manufacturer of men and women’s stockings by a man named William C. Bitting. By 1921, Rosedale employed nearly 3,000 people who settled close to…

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  • West Wyomissing House Relocation

    In the early 1970s (’70/’71) , houses were relocated  in West Wyomissing to make way to the future Route 222 to be built.  My mother was a kid living on Girard Avenue at the time, and remembers the houses from Reading Avenue and Cleveland being…

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  • Triangle Factory Outlets

    This interestingly shaped building is located at 1010 N. 9th Street, right where 8th and 9th streets split on the north end of the city. At one point it apparently held outlet stores. This was likely due to the close two block-proximity to the Reading…

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  • Berkshire Mall Clock

    The Berkshire Mall was opened in 1970, and had an interesting clock “tower” located In front of what was then a Rite Aid in the south wing of the mall. It was removed at some point, however the same benches remain.  Above you can see…

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  • Spring Street Subway

    In 1909, the city leaders celebrated with much fanfare the opening of the Spring Street Subway, a rail bridge that eliminated a dangerous Reading Railroad crossing – first for pedestrians and later for cars. The Reading Railroad was well established in the area before city…

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  • Doe Mountain Ski Area

    Winter is coming…which means the snow sports season is almost upon us. There is only one ski resort in Berks County, and it is currently known as Bear Creek. The resort opened in 1967 and it was known as the Doe Mountain until 1999, when…

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Berks Nostalgia