Category: Culture
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Lenhartsville Log Cabin Mystery
Read more: Lenhartsville Log Cabin MysteryAn 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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Wernersville High School
Read more: Wernersville High SchoolUntil 1858, the school at Hain’s Church was the only school available to residents of theWernersville area. The first grade school in the town was built in 1858. In the 1860s,another school was erected in the west portion of the town. In 1893 a two story building, serving as both an elementary and a high…
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Wilson High School
Read more: Wilson High SchoolThe original Wilson High School building was erected in 1929 on Grandview Boulevard above West Lawn. The first school year started in Fall 1929 and housed 7th-12th grades. The name of the school was chosen in the hope that the life of the man in whose honor it was named, Woodrow Wilson, might serve as…
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6th & Penn Street Reading
Read more: 6th & Penn Street ReadingPictured above is 6th & Penn Streets in 1949. On the immediate right is Pomeroy’s Department Store. A block north in the background is the Berks County Court House. All of the buildings between the photographer and the Court house were razed in the 1970s as a part of downtown Reading’s revitalization efforts. Can you…
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Sinking Spring High School
Read more: Sinking Spring High SchoolThe Sinking Spring School was established on the plot of land next to the railroad tracks, between Vester Place, Columbia Avenue and Woodrow Avenue in 1894. Four additional rooms were added in 1902 and high school classes began being offered in 1904. Unfortunately, the original structure was gutted by a fire in the early Monday…
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West Lawn Printing – Then & Now – 1975
Read more: West Lawn Printing – Then & Now – 1975In 1975 a printing company sat at 2438 Penn Avenue (now 2834). It is now home to Zhuang’s Garden, a local Chinese food eatery. Zhuang’s Garden has been there since 2005. It is unclear when West Lawn Printing closed or if there was any other business in the building between. According to Linda Reber on…
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Mohnton High School
Read more: Mohnton High SchoolIn June of 1907, the School directors met and secured the second story of the Knights of Pythias Hall for a high school room. John S. McCurdy was elected principal. The first class to graduate from the institution numbered just four. Mohnton was incorporated as a Borough the following year in 1908. This was the…
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Bethel High School
Read more: Bethel High SchoolThe Bethel education system served the youth of the township beginning in 1911 on a two-year school program. The first class, numbering just two students, graduated in 1913. They first met in the Bethel Grade School building in a small room with two instructors. In 1923 the high school was changed to a 4-year program.…
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Penn Township High School – Bernville
Read more: Penn Township High School – BernvilleOn Monday, September 2, 1907, the Bernville High School began its first classes. Many local schools established around the turn of the 20th century were the result of borough funds, but that is not the case for Bernville High. It was only introduced by an act of the state legislature appropriating money for township high…
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Far East Chinese Restaurant
Read more: Far East Chinese RestaurantIn 1920, the very first Chinese cuisine restaurant opened in Berks County at 739 Penn Street in Reading by Chee Yuen Hong and his father Sik Que Hong. Back then it was called the Far East Tea Garden and was ran by various members of the Hong family through the following decades and moves. In…
