Category: 1900s

  • Mohnton High School

    Defunct High Schools Series – The Comprehensive Conclusion

    I hope you have enjoyed the last several weeks as we have gone on a journey of the high school education system here in Berks County. This idea came to me when I considered that the senior class of 2020 has a less than ideal end to their high school career. Nothing exactly like this…

    Read more: Defunct High Schools Series – The Comprehensive Conclusion
  • Penn Street Bridge History

    This photograph of Reading, Pennsylvania was taken around the turn of the 20th century from Leinbach’s Hill in West Reading. Pictured in the foreground is the third Penn Street Bridge crossing the Schuylkill River. Across the bridge and to the left is the Pennsylvania Railroad station. A large big portion of Leinbach’s Hill, including the…

    Read more: Penn Street Bridge History
  • Mohnton High School

    Mohnton High School

    In 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…

    Read more: Mohnton High School
  • Penn Township High

    Penn Township High School – Bernville

    On 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…

    Read more: Penn Township High School – Bernville
  • 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…

    Read more: Wyomissing Borough Streets – 1890, 1935 and Today
  • Earl Building – 525 Penn St

    The M. J. Earl Building pictured around the turn of the 20th century at 523/525 Penn Street in Reading. The Earl Building was built around 1880 on the site of famous Revolutionary War Doctor Bodo Otto’s home and practice. It appears there were a few offices inside. One was home to an office of Prudential…

    Read more: Earl Building – 525 Penn St
  • Wyomissing Swimming Pool – Happy Hollow

    Happy Hollow Park still sits tucked away in Wyomissing, though the swimming pool is no longer in existence. Happy Hollow was built with community bonds sold, and the land was donated by Henry Janssen and Thun, prominent owners of the Wyomissing Industries in 1910. The land for the pool was also donated by Thun and…

    Read more: Wyomissing Swimming Pool – Happy Hollow
  • 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 engineers considered building the subway. So to construct it, crews…

    Read more: Spring Street Subway
  • Berkshire Knitting Mill

    Berkshire Knitting Mills

    In 1892, “Textile Machine Works” was founded by Ferdinand Thun and Henry Janssen on Cedar Street in Reading. In 1896 they accepted an offer to relocate to Wyomissing, where they were sold a site for $1, in hopes their industry would spur interest in building lots. In 1899 they incorporated as the “Reading Glove and…

    Read more: Berkshire Knitting Mills
Berks Nostalgia