EDIT: The second image is now believed to be a covered bridge that sat in the area of the old Paper Mill on what is now Paper Mill Road and crossing the Tulpehocken Creek.
The following images were taken in 1957 and I believe them to be depicting around the then-countryside of Wyomissing Borough. The first image has been identified, but the remaining two are up in the air.… Read the rest
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.
… Read the restThe Reading Railroad was well established in the area before city engineers considered building the subway.
So to construct it, crews had to dig under the railroad tracks and install steel and concrete to support the tracks and not disrupt the dozens of trains that moved through Reading daily.
We all have driven on route 422…the stretch of highway that runs past Reading and along the Schuylkill River down to Pottstown. This stretch of road did not always exist. In fact it wasn’t until the 1960s that US 422 in the Reading area was rerouted from surface streets through downtown Reading onto bypasses built south of the city. The former routing of US 422 through the city became US 422 Business.… Read the rest
Built in 1874 by the same firm that designed the Brooklyn Bridge, Reading’s rail bridge was heavily used by pedestrians to get over the train yard to Reading’s Outer Station. According to this Reading Eagle article,
… Read the restThe Outer Station, which stood off North Sixth Street, handled passenger and freight service on Reading Company lines.
and yes, the bridge did swing…
“You and your friends could actually make it swing if you had the right rhythm,” he explained.
Before the current Penn Street bridge (also known as the Penn Street Viaduct) was constructed in 1913, a steel bridge led traffic back and forth from West Reading to Reading. It was constructed in 1885, and spanned a total of 1128ft. It was designed for ordinary traffic of the late 1800s, which rendered it outdated by the increased availability of the automobile in the 1900s.… Read the rest