Category: Rt. 422
-
Seafood Shanty
Read more: Seafood ShantyThe Seafood Shanty was a popular restaurant in Berks County for 23 years. It was technically a chain, with other locations being around the greater Philadelphia area and into New Jersey. The first location in Berks was opened in Exeter township on Perkiomen Avenue. The second location was opened on Penn Avenue in West Lawn.…
-
Perkiomen Avenue – 1978
Read more: Perkiomen Avenue – 1978Flash back to Perkiomen Avenue in 1978. Apparently this was an area prone to accidents. Popular places of the past pictured are King Hamburgers, Fecera’s Furnture, Sweet William Restaurant and Pathmark. Drivers Beware – Uncontrolled intersection, confusing entrances and exits, and the lack of a median strip make this five-mile stretch of the Philadelphia Pike…
-
Penn View Motel
Read more: Penn View MotelThe Penn View Motel was part of a chain of nine establishments called Host Ways Motels. It was built in 1965, and along with the other 8 locations boasted the mid-century modern pyramid. It was located on the block between 2nd and 3rd Streets on Penn Avenue in West Reading. The striking blue pyramid would become a landmark of…
-
Train Derailment Wyomissing
Read more: Train Derailment WyomissingPhotos Courtesy of Jere Stamm On Sunday morning, December 4th, 1977, 26 cars of a Conrail freight train derailment occured in Wyomissing right near the intersection of Clayton and Penn Avenue. The train was bound for Bethlehem from Harrisburg, and was carrying coal. Workmen this morning were still clearing away the tangled metal and spilled…
-
The Road to Nowhere
Read more: The Road to NowhereThe Road to Nowhere. If you are a native of Berks County you have likely heard the phrase. It was used to refer to a stretch of highway that quite literally dead ended. Slowly over the course of a few decades the road was extended to create a complete Route 222, which also interchanged with…
-
600 Block Penn St – 1960s
Read more: 600 Block Penn St – 1960sImage from “Berks Countians; The Wonderful Way We Live” Stores pictured from left to right:Manning-Armstrong – Foot-Craft ShoesJ&T Brakelmann JewelersMinros – Golden Rule JewelersDaniel’sBeverlyDeLuca’s Camera CenterJ.C. MummaThom McAn Shoes
-
Ye Olde Spring House
Read more: Ye Olde Spring HouseThe Ye Olde Spring House building is now Bean Funeral Home, and its address is 3825 Penn Avenue. The restaurant’s address was formerly 425 Penn Avenue. According to Bean’s website, “Our Sinking Spring funeral home has a fascinating history. The two story early-colonial structure was constructed in 1802 as a farmhouse, and was used through…
-
Freeman’s Esso – Sinking Spring – 1954
Read more: Freeman’s Esso – Sinking Spring – 1954Anyone know where this gas station stood? The addresses have changed since the 50s so it doesn’t pinpoint a location, though I’m thinking on the corner of Penn and Cacoosing Ave’s, where Lesher’s Service Center once stood.
-
Brown’s Diner
Read more: Brown’s DinerA reader wrote to me about Brown’s Diner (Later changed to “Restaurant”) that sat at the bottom of the hill, on the curve of Penn Avenue, just before the Penn Street Bridge. Currently, it would have stood where the interchange to the 422 bypass is now standing, and would have been demolished to make way…
-
Stoudt’s Restaurant
Read more: Stoudt’s RestaurantStoudt’s Restaurant was located at 602 Penn Avenue in Sinking Spring (now the 4000 block and a parking lot). It was opened in 1951 and owned by Edward and Ada Stoudt. Edward’s son, also named Edward, worked for his father starting in 1960, and eventually split off and opened Stoudt’s Black Angus; which is still…
