Category: 1940s
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Chef’s Inn – Sinking Spring | Monday Mystery
Read more: Chef’s Inn – Sinking Spring | Monday MysteryUPDATE: This building sat on the lot that the now abandoned bank building sits on next to McDonalds. In the 40s/50s it changed names to the “Blue Lantern Inn” and finally the “Piccadilly Restaurant“. It was demolished to make way for the construction of the People’s Trust City Bank in 1961. Does anyone remember this…
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May Day Tradition
Read more: May Day TraditionMay Day was a spring celebration tradition amongst public school kids and teenagers during the mid-20th century in Berks. The day would be marked by outside activities, singing, dancing and the crowning of a May Day Queen and court, similar to homecoming today. It seems like May Day peaked as a tradition in the 1940s…
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Farview School Fire
Read more: Farview School FireOn February 23rd 1949 Farview Elementary school in Kenhorst was heavily damaged by fire. It was built in the 1930s. The school had a student population of 485 and was part of the greater Cumru Township School system. Aid was offered by neighboring Shillington and Reading school districts. Classes were held in Oakbrook and Millmont…
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Pensupreme Soda Machine Mystery
Read more: Pensupreme Soda Machine MysteryA reader wrote to me regarding a piece in their possession which was once used by Penn Dairy for trade shows. It is an automated soda fountain with characters which move when plugged in. It still functions and as you can see from the photos below appears to be in impeccable condition. Roughly three feet…
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Woomert’s Store | West Reading
Read more: Woomert’s Store | West ReadingAccording to a 1931 Reading Times article Woomert’s Store was located at Third Avenue and Sunset Road in West Reading and owned by a William H. Woomert. The building is still standing but has been renovated since the above image. From street view you can tell that some of the brickwork has been altered to…
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Sinking Spring Speedway
Read more: Sinking Spring SpeedwaySinking Spring Speedway was located along Fritztown Road, between Old Fritztown and Montello Roads. It opened in August of 1948 and was a quarter-mile semi-banked dirt racetrack about a half-mile southwest of Sinking Spring. It was ran by Harry D. Weil. They hosted afternoon and night races under lighting over the summer months. The twice-deffered…
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Dixie Tavern West Lawn
Read more: Dixie Tavern West LawnThe Dixie Tavern was located at the corner of Dwight Street and Penn Avenue in West Lawn, where the Pizza Hut currently stands. Its grand opening was on July 16th, 1949. It remained a popular restaurant and bar in the area until it was replaced by a Pizza Hut in the mid-1970s. Information about this…
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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…
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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…
