Category: Places
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Stichter Hardware Company – 505 Penn Street
Read more: Stichter Hardware Company – 505 Penn StreetStichter Hardware was a well-known name amongst Reading merchants for over a century and a half. To get the full picture of the history of this specific site, we need to go back to the Berks County’s colonial period. The lot where this building sits was once owned by Conrad Weiser, who erected the first…
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Speicher’s Bridge and the Reroute of Church Road
Read more: Speicher’s Bridge and the Reroute of Church RoadThis is another installment in the “Before Blue Marsh” series, where I explore the remains of various properties that were razed in the 1970s to make way for the Blue Marsh Lake Project. See more here. Speicher’s Bridge was constructed in 1878, spanning the Tulpehocken Creek along Church Road connecting the townships of Penn and North…
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Lamm / Speicher Farm
Read more: Lamm / Speicher FarmThis is another installment in the “Before Blue Marsh” series, where I explore the remains of various properties that were razed in the 1970s to make way for the Blue Marsh Lake Project. See more here. My ongoing Blue Marsh mapping project led me to the remains of the Speicher farm which sat off of…
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Astor Theatre – 732 Penn Street, Reading
Read more: Astor Theatre – 732 Penn Street, ReadingThe Astor Theatre was constructed at the cost of half a million dollars on the south side of the 700 block of Penn Street. It was built on the site of the Arcadia Theatre, which was Reading’s oldest theatre, and opened on October 3rd, 1928. The Astor’s stunning art deco interior finishes are emblematic of…
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Skinner Farm – Lamb’s Pasture
Read more: Skinner Farm – Lamb’s PastureThis is another installment in the “Before Blue Marsh” series, where I explore the remains of various properties that were razed in the 1970s to make way for the Blue Marsh Lake Project. See more here. At the beginning of “Skinner’s Loop” trail which leads to Fox Lake, you will find the remains of the Skinner…
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Lamm’s Mill & Farm
Read more: Lamm’s Mill & FarmThis is another installment in the “Before Blue Marsh” series, where I explore the remains of various properties that were razed in the 1970s to make way for the Blue Marsh Lake Project. See more here. Lamm’s Mill was a three and a half story limestone masonry grist and saw mill which was built in 1844…
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Staudt’s Justa Road Farm
Read more: Staudt’s Justa Road FarmThis is another installment in the “Before Blue Marsh” series, where I explore the remains of various properties that were razed in the 1970s to make way for the Blue Marsh Lake Project. See more here. At the end of Justa Road in Lower Heidelberg Township stood a farm that surprisingly stayed in one family for…
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Himmelberger Homestead to Tani Kennels
Read more: Himmelberger Homestead to Tani KennelsThis is another installment in the “Before Blue Marsh” series, where I explore the remains of various properties that were razed in the 1970s to make way for the Blue Marsh Lake Project. See more here. My trekking has taken me to the remains of a farm that once sat at the end of Tulpehocken…
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Fox Lake: remnants of a Berks County Summer Community
Read more: Fox Lake: remnants of a Berks County Summer CommunityBefore Blue Marsh there was Fox Lake Before Blue Marsh Lake was even a thought, Fox Lake was a small man-made lake along the Spring Creek right before it merged with the Tulpehocken Creek in North Heidelberg Township. It was a popular summer destination in Berks County beginning in 1928 through the mid-century. Initially developer…
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Colonial Trust Company Building
Read more: Colonial Trust Company BuildingThe Colonial Trust Company was established in May 1900. It was formed by a handful of local capitalists including the likes of William McIlvain, John Barbey, Frank Lauer, E. W. Alexander, B. F. Owen, S.B. Keppel, Walter Rigg, and Howard Saylor. They opened for business officially in August 1900 and Louis F. Kraemer was the…
