Category: 1950s
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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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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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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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Berks Nostalgia Presents The Defunct Schools of Berks Collection
Read more: Berks Nostalgia Presents The Defunct Schools of Berks CollectionStarting tomorrow, and over the course of the next 9 weeks Berks Nostalgia is going to be publishing articles on each of Berks County’s High Schools that were defunct due to the consolidation of school systems into the larger districts we have come to know today. Most of these schools and the memories that were…
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The Apple Dumpling Festival
Read more: The Apple Dumpling FestivalThe Apple Dumpling Festival dates back to the summer of 1953. It actually came to be as a merging of two events; Spring Township’s 5-day community summer fair and the West Lawn Owls Baseball Club 2-day fundraising event. The Owls raised money for their club by selling Apple Dumplings and playing modest games like bingo.…
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Paper Mill Road Covered Bridge
Read more: Paper Mill Road Covered BridgeThe following images were taken in 1957 and I believe them to be depicting around the then-countryside of Wyomissing Borough. The first image has been identified, but the remaining two are up in the air. EDIT: The second image is now believed to be a covered bridge that sat in the area of the old…
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Shillington Theatre
Read more: Shillington TheatreThe 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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The Glockenspiel Restaurant
Read more: The Glockenspiel RestaurantThe Glockenspiel was a landmark Pennsylvania Dutch restaurant in northern Berks County. It originally dated back to 1751, built as a two-story farmhouse and later added on dining facilities and offices. It was located along Route 222 between Fleetwood and Kutztown. The restaurant specialized in Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine, and served a famed fruit & cheese…
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A 100 Year Review of Berks – Happy New Year 2020!
Read more: A 100 Year Review of Berks – Happy New Year 2020!Happy New Year Berks County! Not only is it a new year but also the beginning of a new decade. As we leave behind the 2010s, let’s look back on the beginning of the last 10 decades, and some of the events that we experienced together as a community during them. The past is important…
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Miracle Mart – 2101 Centre Ave
Read more: Miracle Mart – 2101 Centre AveMiracle Mart was a 50,000 square foot department store on Route 61/Centre Ave in North Reading. There is very little information online about Miracle Mart or its origins, besides that there was a more well-documented and unrelated Canadian department store chain by the same name. Looking at aerial photos of the area leads me to…