Category: History

  • Happy Hollow Playground – Wyomissing

    On April 10, 1910 a meeting was held in the Borough Hall building at the corner on Penn Avenue and Wyomissing Boulevard. Various speakers spoke about the need for a public recreation area, and it was decided officials would be elected to form a a committee to organize a playground association. On May 16th, 1910…

    Read more: Happy Hollow Playground – Wyomissing
  • Reading North West Jr. High

    Reading’s North West Jr. High 10th Graders | 1942

    This photo was sent in by reader Katie; found in a home she recently purchased. The photo states the students are the 10th grade class at North West Jr. High school in 1942. Do you recognize anyone in this class photo? At this point any remaining members of this class would be roughly 97-98 years…

    Read more: Reading’s North West Jr. High 10th Graders | 1942
  • Ronco’s Pharmacy

    Michael Ronco, RPh first opened his pharmacy in June of 1956. The original pharmacy was located at the corner of Dwight Street and Cleveland Avenue in West Lawn. In 1967, the pharmacy moved to 3311 Penn Avenue in West Lawn, where it remained for nearly half a century. Michael retired from his pharmacy business in…

    Read more: Ronco’s Pharmacy
  • A.T.V. Bakery

    Their beginnings can be traced back over a century ago when Paolo Alberti came to America from Palermo, Sicily and opened “Alberti’s Bakery” in the early 1900s. In the beginning Alberti’s competed with two other local Sicilian bakers; Tomasi and Vecchio. Paolo’s son, Joe, decided to join forces with the rival bakers and in 1941,…

    Read more: A.T.V. Bakery
  • Millionth Case of Reading Beer in 1965 – On this Day

    The millionth case of beer this year rolled off the assembly line at the Reading Brewing Co. yesterday and Harry Fischman, president of the company, right, was there to mark the occasion. Fischman is seen showing the case to Thomas Ames, left, packaging engineer, and E. Edward Messer, center, brewmaster. Fischer noted that the millionth…

    Read more: Millionth Case of Reading Beer in 1965 – On this Day
  • The Trexler Mansion / Reading Elks Lodge 115

    The mansion that sits at 5th and Franklin streets was built in 1869 by a man named Horatio Trexler. He used the home as a private residence for his family until his death on March 19, 1900 at 87 years of age. After his passing his two surviving children, daughters Mary Ann Eckert and Emma…

    Read more: The Trexler Mansion / Reading Elks Lodge 115
  • Fatal Plane Crash at Reading Airport – On this Day, June 5th 1969

    On Wednesday, June 5th, 1969 the Reading Air Show was at the Reading Municipal Airport. Shortly after 6:30 pm, Capt. Richard Schram was performing a routine he had done for 23 years involving him pretending to be a professor who high-jacks a plane without knowing how to fly it. A few minutes into the routine…

    Read more: Fatal Plane Crash at Reading Airport – On this Day, June 5th 1969
  • The Luden Family & the Ghost of Bon Air

    Last summer I wrote an extensive article on Central Catholic High School as a part of a greater “Defunct Schools of Berks” series. It has been a decade since the merger of Central Catholic and Holy Name into Berks Catholic. So it is time to dive into some tangible research to answer a few of…

    Read more: The Luden Family & the Ghost of Bon Air
  • Happy Mothers Day

    Happy Mothers Day to all the Moms, Grandmoms and Great-Grandmoms out there. I have been blessed to come from a long maternal line of strong women who filled those aforementioned roles for me. This Mothers day is the first without one making it bittersweet. Its been nearly 4 months since my Grandmother died unexpectedly. There…

    Read more: Happy Mothers Day
  • May Day Tradition

    May 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…

    Read more: May Day Tradition
Berks Nostalgia