Berks Nostalgia

Category: Towns

  • McGinty Motorcars

    Back in October Pat McGinty of McGinty Motorcars was kind enough to give me a tour of his building at 1041-43 Washington Street in Reading. The structure sits on the east end of Washington near the foot of City Park. In 1882 the deed for this property was transfered to a George Schroeder, who died…

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  • Blind Hartman’s Tavern

    Blind Hartman’s Tavern was established in 1822 by Jacob Hartman on Pricetown Road in Alsace Township. Hartman was blinded in 1786 at age four while he was playing with his baby brother when the child grasped an awl, and playfully jabbed it into Hartman’s eye, resulting in total blindness in both. This tragedy didn’t appear…

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  • The Stewart School: A Legacy of Coeducation

    This article originally appeared in the Spring 2023 edition of the Historical Review. The roots of Reading High School can be traced to the formation of the all-boys Reading Academy in 1852. A female equivalent public school was founded in 1857. By 1859 both sexes were consolidated in one classroom under one principal, Joseph Valentine,…

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  • Olive Leaf Union Chapel

    The Olive Leaf Union Chapel sits on Fritztown Road just beyond Weitzelville and right before you get into Fritztown if traveling toward Lancaster. It is home to the Olive Leaf Sunday School, which has been congregating since July of 1890, previous to this in what the Reading Times described as a “nearby school” in Montello.…

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  • Peter Wanner Mansion – Fraught by Failure

    The Peter Wanner Mansion sits at the very east end of Walnut Street in Reading, at the base of Mount Penn. The Victorian mansion was designed by Edward K. Mull and built in 1889 for Peter D. Wanner. Wanner was born on a farm near Kutztown in 1840. Despite his humble roots Wanner was driven…

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  • Harry Truman Visits Reading On This Day 1948

    On October 7th, 1948 President Harry S. Truman made a campaign stop in Reading where he addressed a crowd of roughly 20,000 on Penn Square at 10:45am. He spoke from a platform which was erected on the southeast corner of 5th & Penn. The city was already decorated in celebration of Reading’s Bicentennial anniversary, and…

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  • Stichter Hardware Company – 505 Penn Street

    Stichter 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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  • Pagoda Update 9/10

    If you follow along on facebook you are probably aware that back in January I joined the board of the Foundation for the Reading Pagoda. The iconic structure has been closed to the public since COVID related closures back in 2020. A building and grounds assessment was conducted in 2023 which determined the building itself…

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  • Shillington Hotel & Bank

    This was originally posted on July 29th, 2024 to Berks Nostalgia’s facebook page, I have since added some more info and am reposting it here. Everyone likes to dump on Reading for its blighted properties (and it’s generally warranted) but lets put Shillington in the spotlight and examine the building on the southwest corner of…

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Berks Nostalgia