Category: PA Dutch

  • How the Fairgrounds almost ended up in West Wyomissing

    The earliest years of the Reading Fair were held at City Park and then a plot on North 11th street. During the early 1910s the Berks County Agricultural Society was tired of leasing the land at North 11th Street and wanted a more permanent location they could call their own. On April 3rd, 1914 it…

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  • Sunset Diner – Route 422

    Sunset Diner (Now Family restaurant) is located on route 422 in Exeter. It has been in business since at least the late 1950s.According to the ad below they had the best Dutch Cooking. Quite a bold claim!

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  • On this Day – Feb 7th 1967 – Blizzard Staggers Berks

    16 inches of snow dumps on Berks, closing schools across the county. Lets see a movie…

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  • Lenhartsville Log Cabin Mystery

    An 18th century log cabin owned by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Berger of Allentown, and formerly located in the Blue Marsh Dam project area, has been moved to the rear of the old Lenhartsville Hotel. The Bergers donated the cabin to the Pennsylvania Dutch Folk Culture Society in Lenhartsville. Above, Marvin Werley of Orefield stands…

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  • Glockenspiel Restaurant

    The Glockenspiel Restaurant

    The Glockenspiel was a landmark Pennsylvania Dutch restaurant in northern Berks County. It originally dated back to 1751, built as a two-story farmhouse and later added on dining facilities and offices. It was located along Route 222 between Fleetwood and Kutztown. The restaurant specialized in Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine, and served a famed fruit & cheese…

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  • Dempsey's Dutch Boy Stolen

    Dempsey’s Dutch Boy Stolen

    On this day, April 7th 1990 the Dempsey’s Dutch Boy statue was stolen from it’s location on the 5th Street Highway in Muhlenberg. The 6-foot, 250-pound Dempsey’s Dutch boy statue outside the restaurant at Fifth Street Highway and Bellevue Avenue was lifted right out of its shoes about 3 a.m. Wednesday. The “victim”, however, apparently…

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  • Stoudt’s Restaurant

    Stoudt’s Restaurant was located at 602 Penn Avenue in Sinking Spring (now the 4000 block and a parking lot). It was opened in 1951 and owned by Edward and Ada Stoudt. Edward’s son, also named Edward, worked for his father starting in 1960, and eventually split off and opened Stoudt’s Black Angus; which is still…

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  • The Reading Fair

    The Reading Fair had it’s first fair in 1854 at Penn’s Commons, in what is now City Park. It wasn’t until 1915 that the Fair was held at it’s most remembered location in Muhlenberg Township. They built a Horse Race Track and grandstands which were opened to the public in 1916. The fair was hugely successful,…

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  • Outen the Light

    You know you’re from Berks Caaaahnty when…

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  • The Shillington Diner

    The Shillington Diner can trace its roots back to the farmers market located at Museum Road and Lancaster Ave that opened in 1935. The Shillington Diner (later Restaurant) was built onto the market at 100 W Lancaster Ave and opened in 1948. In the beginning it just sold simple lunch foods for hungry customers visiting…

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