Category: Decades
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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…
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Mt. Penn High School
Read more: Mt. Penn High SchoolThe original Mt. Penn School building was the precursor to Mt. Penn High School and was built in 1885 at 24th and Grant Streets. By 1923 there were 8 elementary grades and 4 high school grades in the building with 240 elementary children and 70 high school students. It had been outgrown and a new building…
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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.…
