Category: Kids

  • Mount Penn High

    Mt. Penn High School

    The 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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  • Defunct Schools of Berks

    Berks Nostalgia Presents The Defunct Schools of Berks Collection

    Starting 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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  • Berkenstock's Store Sinky

    Berkenstock Store – “Berky’s”

    If you grew up in Sinking Spring during the 40s, 50, 60s, or 70s you probably remember Berkenstock’s Store, or just called it, “Berky’s” or “Fern’s”*. It opened August 1st 1941. The people who have mentioned it to me specifically remember it being a candy store and calling it Berky’s. There is absolutely no information…

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  • 4th of July 1969

    4th of July Through the Decades

    1957 West Reading’s Fourth of July celebration yesterday was a double event. Besides celebrating the holiday the citizens and various organizations in the borough joined in a program in observation of the borough’s 50th anniversary. A spectacular feature of the day was the parade which was held in the morning. Shown above is one of…

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  • Sno Kist Rt. 222

    Sno-Kist

    Sno-Kist was a beloved summer ice-cream place that was located along route 222, just south of Shillington. It was directly across the street from an Adult Video store called the RT. 222 News Outlet and was just north of Simotas Dairy Bar. The building had been an ice cream stand since the 1950s, always called…

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  • On this Day – June 19th 1972

    See what was happening in the June 19th 1972 Reading Eagle- Hurricane Agnes hits the Florida coast, 14 people were killed. The hurricane would hit Berks County hard just three days later, wreaking havoc on the area. This morning’s rain delayed until this afternoon the opening of Reading’s playgrounds, but it didn’t dampen things at…

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  • West Lawn Elementary School

    Take a look at how West Lawn and West Lawn Elementary School looked in 1932: The school looks like it was fairly new at the date of this photo, but I could not find an exact date of build. It sat at Riegel Ave and Nobel Street, a block in from Penn Ave. It functioned…

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  • KidSports

    This one is near and dear to my own heart, as I grew up going to KidSports. It was located along Penn Avenue, connected to the old Boscov’s West Department Store building. Before Kid Sports, it was an Acme and/or IGA Grocery store for many decades. According to this Washington Post article, KidSports was the…

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  • On this Day… Feb 14th, 1970s

    Happy Valentines Day! Lets take a look at past Reading Eagle’s to see if love was in the air in Berks in the 70s. If you recognize any of the faces in this article, comment! 1972: Valentine’s Day is extra special this year for Mr. and Mrs. Robert R. Wendling of 111 2nd St., Shillington.…

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Berks Nostalgia