Category: Roadways
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5th Street – 1971 Then & Now
Read more: 5th Street – 1971 Then & NowBelow are Aerials shots from 1971, showing what Fifth street highway/Route 61/Kutztown Road looked like just north of the city. A few of the notable structures are the Reading Fairgrounds, Bellevue Diner, and Gethsemane Cemetery. The Warren Street Bypass was also noticeably not extended past 5th street at the time of this photo. Five years…
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West Lawn Elementary School
Read more: West Lawn Elementary SchoolTake 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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Harvey’s Hamburgers
Read more: Harvey’s HamburgersHarvey’s Hamburgers was located on the 1500 block of Lancaster Ave in Shillington, where Friendly’s parking lot now is. I could find no additional information about when this place opened or closed, so if you know, please leave a comment. Way before all the well known “Icons’ in the hamburger business like “MacDonalds”, “Burger King”,…
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Furlow’s Food Market
Read more: Furlow’s Food MarketFurlow’s Food Market was located at 3940 Penn Avenue (then 542 Penn Ave) in Sinking Spring. It was owned by Rufus Furlow and Morton Heim. It was opened in late 1927 as the September 14th 1927 Reading Times clipping below foreshadows. I could not find a hard date on when the market closed, though Morton’s obituary…
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Two Guys Department Store
Read more: Two Guys Department StoreTwo Guys was a discount store founded in 1946 by New Jersey brothers Sidney and Herbert Hubschman. This location in Shillington was constructed during the summer of 1962. The entire company went defunct by 1982, so I am guessing this store location shuttered sometime shortly before then. These photos below were sent in by Ron…
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Queen of the Valley Diner
Read more: Queen of the Valley DinerThe Queen of the Valley Diner was opened in 1954 at 1730 Penn Avenue in Wyomissing Hills, and sat just down from the old Iron Bridge that crossed the railroad. It was opened and first operated by a man named Clyde F. Snyder. Later it was bought by Charles and Gloria Schwambach. The Schwambach’s later…
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KidSports
Read more: KidSportsThis 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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Reading Municipal Memorial Stadium
Read more: Reading Municipal Memorial StadiumMunicipal Stadium hosted it’s first baseball game in 1951. On March 28, 1945, Reading City Council voted unanimously to purchase 27 acres of ground known as Cathedral Heights at a cost of $64,491 for the purpose of building a municipal stadium. In 1947 the grading of the land began and by 1949 the initial stages…
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Shillington Shopping Center
Read more: Shillington Shopping CenterThe Shillington Shopping Center has been around for many decades. It is located along Lancaster Avenue in Shillington. Pictured below is the Food Fair and W. T. Grant Co. stores from the 1950s. Did you ever shop here? The only thing that appears the remain the same in the past 60 years are the entrance…
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West Reading Then & Now
Read more: West Reading Then & NowBelow is an aerial photo of Penn Avenue and the surrounding streets in West Reading from 1932. A few notable structures are the then-brand new Buttonwood Street Bridge, West Reading Hotel, West Reading High School in it’s prime and many others.
