Category: 1930s
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The Deadly Berkshire Knitting Mills Strike – Part 5 – The Conclusion
Read more: The Deadly Berkshire Knitting Mills Strike – Part 5 – The ConclusionWhat a better time to wrap this up than Labor Day weekend? If you haven’t, read the first four parts for context. As the weeks following the general hosiery strike played out, Berks County’s other 21 knitting mills folded one after another into signing agreements with the American Federation of Hosiery Workers. Rosedale plant was…
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The Deadly Berkshire Knitting Mills Strike of 1936 – Part 4
Read more: The Deadly Berkshire Knitting Mills Strike of 1936 – Part 4This is the 4th part in the series. Read parts 1, 2 & 3 for context. Secretary of Labor Report on the Berkshire Conditions Shortly after the deadly first day of picketing, Governor Earle tasked Pennsylvania Labor Secretary Ralph M. Bashore with investigating the strike that was taking place at the Berkshire Knitting Mills. By…
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The Deadly Berkshire Knitting Mill Strike of 1936 – Part 3
Read more: The Deadly Berkshire Knitting Mill Strike of 1936 – Part 3This is the third part in a series that will be concluded at a later date. Consider subscribing to receive an email alert when it is published. If you haven’t, read parts one & two for context. In the wake of the violence on Thursday October 1st, 1936, the weekend kicked off surprisingly calm. Calls for peace and…
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The Deadly Berkshire Knitting Mills Strike of 1936 – Part 2
Read more: The Deadly Berkshire Knitting Mills Strike of 1936 – Part 2By the time dawn broke on the morning of October 1st, 1936 temperaments of the picketers were developing from bad to worse. A Reading Eagle reporter who arrived to the scene at 5:30 a.m. described what he saw as a “bitter bloody battle at the gates of the Berkshire Knitting Mills“. Thousands of picketers turned…
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The Deadly Berkshire Knitting Mill Strike of 1936 – Part 1
Read more: The Deadly Berkshire Knitting Mill Strike of 1936 – Part 1A Storm is Brewing It is dawn on October 1st, 1936. It’s a crisp fall morning and a damp rain adds to the heaviness of the air. The sun begins rising at 5:52 a.m. and thousands of workers are gathering in the morning light around the Berkshire Knitting Mills plant in Wyomissing to protest what…
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Reading Fairgrounds & Speedway Plaque Dedication
Read more: Reading Fairgrounds & Speedway Plaque DedicationOn Saturday May 21st, 2022, a plaque commemorating the Reading Fairgrounds & Speedway was ceremonially dedicated to the drivers who lost their lives there. The brainchild of Jeff Hartman, Saturday’s event has been over a decade in the making, with a few bumps along the way. He originally pursued the idea back in 2010, when…
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Stokesay Castle
Read more: Stokesay CastleStokesay Castle has been a staple of formal dining and event space in Berks for a long time. But how does an old English castle end up nestled in the woods of Mount Penn, of all places? You have probably heard in passing that the place is haunted, and being a Castle on a road…
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Berks Beryllium Lands on Moon – On this day in 1969
Read more: Berks Beryllium Lands on Moon – On this day in 1969On November 14th 1969 the second crewed flight to the moon, known as Apollo 12, launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It successfully made contact with the moon on this day, November 19th 1969. When it landed, so did small but significant pieces from Berks County. A number of components on the lunar lander…
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Wilbur “Lefty” Reeser –
Sports Star to Sporting GoodsRead more: Wilbur “Lefty” Reeser –Wilbur “Lefty” Reeser was born on June 28th 1918 in West Lawn to Herbert and Mary Reeser. Judging from Lefty’s senior yearbook excerpt below, he was an all-around athlete during his adolescence. During his senior year at Wilson he led Berks County in boys basketball scoring and also took the Prexies baseball team to the…
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Christman’s Ice Cream
Read more: Christman’s Ice CreamChristman’s Ice Cream was located along the west side of 4th Street (what now is Rt. 61 before the split) in South Hamburg. It was incorporated on May 25th, 1933 by Charles T. Christman. There were two other shareholders listed as well on 1933 business charter; Robert B. De Godt of Reading and Irene Steffy…
