Category: Culture

  • Wyomissing Borough Streets – 1890, 1935 and Today

    Wyomissing Borough is a community that is rich with history and ties to industry in the late 1800s and turn of the 20th century. It was a community built by the founders and businessmen who ran the knitting mills; Henry Janssen and Ferdinand Thun. It became an opportunity to house their workers so they could…

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  • Ice City

    Ice City – Sinking Spring / Douglassville

    Ice City was a Pool & spa supply store first located on 422 in Douglassville, and then added a second location Penn Ave in Sinking Spring. The company was originally started and owned by Richard Muller in 1958. Muller in 1956 bought the Pure Ice and Coal Co. at 17th and Tilghman streets, Allentown. “Back…

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  • Shillington Theatre

    Shillington Theatre

    The Shillington Theatre was located at 29 E Lancaster Ave between Liberty and Brobst St. It opened Sept. 3rd, 1949. It was not until the late 1960’s that the Shillington was able to run movies on Sundays due to the local municipality refusing to repeal and continuing to enforce Pennsylvania’s antiquated “blue laws”. Blue Laws…

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  • Sammy’s Steaks

    Sammy’s Steaks was a pretty popular sandwich joint that was founded in 1946. The “Original” shop was at 12th and Buttonwood Sts. While under family ownership they sliced their own meats from fresh formed ribeyes and NEVER used anything but; unlike the emulsified meat that most others use today. They also made their own sauce…

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  • Monterey Inn

    Monterey Inn

    The Monterey Inn was built in the 1920s on the foundation of a building destroyed by a fire. It was located along Route 222, right before Church Road bears right in Maxatawny Township. It was originally built sometime after the 1830s by Isaac L. Bieber. Before and after burning in the 20s, it served as…

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  • Sinking Spring Borough Hall

    Sinking Spring Borough Hall

    The former Sinking Spring Borough Hall building held stores and a restaurant until the Sinking Spring Bank opened there in 1922, according to Borough of Sinking Spring 100th Anniversary by Paul and Kathy Miller. The borough then bought the building in 1963 from People’s Trust City Bank. The Sinking Spring Borough Hall was dedicated during…

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  • Rasputin's

    Wellers Tavern / Rasputin’s

    Wellers Tavern (later Rasputin’s) was located on 2275 Reading Ave, right off of West Wyomissing Boulevard. It was a popular local haunt that had entertainment almost any night of the week. I can find no information online about when Wellers Tavern opened, so if you have any insight please comment below. This place was notably…

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  • Miller's Cafe Birdsboro

    Miller’s Cafe – Birdsboro

    Warm Inside – The steps are icy, but the welcome was always warm in the Miller’s Cafe in Birdsboro. The business grew over the last 100 years from a grocery store, which sold homemade ice cream and roasted peanuts, to a bar and restaurant that specialized in soups and seafood. – Eagle Photos Miller’s Cafe…

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  • Living through History

    When I was a kid, learning about history in class, I always wondered if the common people living through the events we were studying had any idea of the significance of what they were living through. How did they feel about it? Were they afraid? To them, it was an uncertain time, but many trudged…

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