The Apple Dumpling Festival dates back to the summer of 1953. It actually came to be as a merging of two events; Spring Township’s 5-day community summer fair and the West Lawn Owls Baseball Club 2-day fundraising event. The Owls raised money for their club by selling Apple Dumplings and playing modest games like bingo. It was beneficial for both organizations to combine the two events into an even larger event, and thus the Festival was born at Owls Grove.… Read the rest
Wellers Tavern / Rasputin’s
Wellers Tavern (later Rasputin’s) was located on 2275 Reading Ave, right off of West Wyomissing Boulevard. It was a popular local haunt that had entertainment almost any night of the week. I can find no information online about when Wellers Tavern opened, so if you have any insight please comment below.… Read the rest
Sturgis Pretzel Co – Portland Ave – Then and Now
Victor Brand Sturgis Pretzel Company – There were Sturgis Pretzel Bakeries located in Lititz, Wyomissing and West Wyomissing (the above pictured location) opened under the Sturgis Pretzel Co. name, but these were opened and ran by sons and grandsons of the original Tom Sturgis. Source… Read the rest
Queen of the Valley Diner
The Queen of the Valley Diner was opened in 1954 at 1730 Penn Avenue in West Wyomissing, and sat just down from the old Iron Bridge that crossed the railroad. It was owned and operated by Charles and Gloria Schwambach, who also owned the Hitching Post Restaurant, also on Penn Avenue but further down in West Lawn, and Schwambach’s Diner on Route 61 in Temple.… Read the rest
West Wyomissing House Relocation
In the early 1970s (’70/’71) , houses were relocated in West Wyomissing to make way to the future Route 222 to be built. My mother was a kid living on Girard Avenue at the time, and remembers the houses from Reading Avenue and Cleveland being moved to both sides of the most eastern section of Reading Boulevard. She fondly remembers playing at “Dead Mans Cliff” and in the woods south of West Wyomissing, until one day she came home from school and it was all bulldozed by the State.… Read the rest