In 1830, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania enacted a law requiring all municipalities to have separate school districts. Muhlenberg Township became a municipality in 1851. At this time the Muhlenberg School District was officially established with a one-room school called Schlottman School which was located on Kutztown Road.
Muhlenberg Township High School was built in 1924-1925 at the price of nearly $335,000, which would equate to almost $5 million in 2020.… Read Full Article
Kmart has been a staple nationwide big box store since the 60s. The company, originally called S. S. Kresge Corporation, dates back to 1899. It wasn’t until 1974 when it broke into the Berks County market, opening a store at the 94,500-square-foot Cumru Township location in Shillington Plaza.
According to the Reading Eagle, it featured an auto service center, a garden shop and a self-service snack bar.… Read Full Article
The roots of General Battery can be traced to 1921, when Bowers Battery & Spark Plug Co. was founded in Reading by Clarence P. Bowers. Bowers sold it in 1956 and it was renamed General Battery and Ceramic. Source
General Battery was bought by Exide in 1987.
Exide operated a lead smelter and recycled lead batteries.… Read Full Article
Below 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 after this photo, the bypass was connected up to Pricetown Road, as it is still today.… Read Full Article
Rosedale Knitting Mill was once Berks County’s third largest knitting mill, behind Berkshire and Textile. It was opened in 1914 as a manufacturer of men and women’s stockings by a man named William C. Bitting. By 1921, Rosedale employed nearly 3,000 people who settled close to the site of operations within areas that eventually became Laureldale Borough. – source
Laureldale Borough was officially incorporated as a municipality in 1930.… Read Full Article