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.
On February 23rd 1949 Farview Elementary school in Kenhorst was heavily damaged by fire. It was built in the 1930s. The school had a student population of 485 and was part of the greater Cumru Township School system. Aid was offered by neighboring Shillington and Reading school districts.
I had previously written a post about the effect the construction of the bypass had on West Wyomissing. The stories about house-moving intrigued me due to the fact that my mother and her family lived on Girard Avenue at that time and got to witness the spectacle first hand in the early 70s. Yet there was a part of this story I was not aware of, and it’s name was Grand Blvd.… Read Full Article
My Mother and Aunt are in the process of going through my Grandmother’s possessions and cleaning out her house. They came across these photos of children and their mothers waiting in line to sit on Santa’s lap. My Grandmother is the young woman in the white coat and black hat, holding the hand of my young Mother with the curly blonde hair.… 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