Category: Decades
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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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West Lawn Printing – Then & Now – 1975
Read more: West Lawn Printing – Then & Now – 1975In 1975 a printing company sat at 2438 Penn Avenue (now 2834). It is now home to Zhuang’s Garden, a local Chinese food eatery. Zhuang’s Garden has been there since 2005. It is unclear when West Lawn Printing closed or if there was any other business in the building between. According to Linda Reber on…
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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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Bethel High School
Read more: Bethel High SchoolThe Bethel education system served the youth of the township beginning in 1911 on a two-year school program. The first class, numbering just two students, graduated in 1913. They first met in the Bethel Grade School building in a small room with two instructors. In 1923 the high school was changed to a 4-year program.…
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Penn Township High School – Bernville
Read more: Penn Township High School – BernvilleOn 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…
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Far East Chinese Restaurant
Read more: Far East Chinese RestaurantIn 1920, the very first Chinese cuisine restaurant opened in Berks County at 739 Penn Street in Reading by Chee Yuen Hong and his father Sik Que Hong. Back then it was called the Far East Tea Garden and was ran by various members of the Hong family through the following decades and moves. In…
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Holy Name High School
Read more: Holy Name High SchoolHoly Name High School’s history is directly entwined with the first catholic high school institution in Berks County; St. Peter’s Reading Catholic High. In the late 50s and early 60s enrollment at Reading Catholic High was declining, as it did not have the space or facilities it needed to attract new students. During this same…
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Central Catholic High School
Read more: Central Catholic High SchoolLuden’s mansion at 1400 Hill Road was purchased by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Philadelphia in October of 1939 for $45,000. Renovations were made to make the home into a school, and on January 2, 1940 Central Catholic High School of Reading opened its doors. It was the second catholic high school in the city…
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St. Peter’s Reading Catholic High School
Read more: St. Peter’s Reading Catholic High SchoolBefore Holy Name, or even Central Catholic, there was another Catholic High School in the city of Reading. St. Peter’s Reading Catholic High, or more well known as just “Reading Catholic High” was located at 225 South 5th Street in Reading. St. Peter’s Reading Catholic High was founded in 1911 and in 1914, the first…
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Reading Girl’s High School
Read more: Reading Girl’s High SchoolThe first school building at 4th and Court streets was originally built in 1839, and occupied by an all-boys private school called the Reading Academy until 1853, when the boys public school program began. In September of 1857, thirty-eight girls began attending classes in an upper room of the Boy’s Academy building. The boys and…
