A staple on Penn Avenue in West Lawn for nearly a half century, the owners of the Circle S Ranch House announced on March 30th that they would be closing permanently on April 8th, 2022.
The building was built in 1969 as a Schell’s. It replaced the location that was further east down Penn Avenue which was a casualty of the bypass construction of the early 1970’s.… Read Full Article
On 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 Intrepid were made from beryllium supplied by Kawecki-Berylco Industries, Inc.… Read Full Article
A quarter century ago this week we were hit with the biggest blizzard on record for the area. Snow started falling on January 6th 1996 and stopped on the 8th. Parts of Berks County recorded 34 inches of snow, but the raging winds caused major drifts which made the snow pile up to 100 inches high in certain areas. The weight of the snow proved to be a problem on rooves as there were many collapses in commercial and residential buildings alike.… Read Full Article
There is a dense, dark atmosphere on the windy roads that once led to old sanatoriums that graced the wooded South Mountain below Wernersville. If you have ever driven around up there after nightfall you probably know what I mean. The mountain is rich with history, but the oldest and some of the most frightening surrounds the Grand View Sanatorium.
Grand-View was the oldest health retreat on the mountain, dating back to 1847 when it was founded by Dr.… Read Full Article
The 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 an ideal for the young people attending it.… Read Full Article