Wilbur “Lefty” Reeser was born on June 28th 1918 in West Lawn to Herbert and Mary Reeser. Judging from Lefty’s senior yearbook excerpt below, he was an all-around athlete during his adolescence. During his senior year at Wilson he led Berks County in boys basketball scoring and also took the Prexies baseball team to the county title serving as their pitcher and captain.… Read Full Article
Wilbur “Lefty” Reeser –
Dixie Tavern West Lawn

The Dixie Tavern was located at the corner of Dwight Street and Penn Avenue in West Lawn, where the Pizza Hut currently stands. Its grand opening was on July 16th, 1949. It remained a popular restaurant and bar in the area until it was replaced by a Pizza Hut in the mid-1970s.
Information about this establishment is hard to come by so if you have any relevant info to share about Dixie Tavern please drop it in the comments.… Read Full Article
Wilson High School

The original Wilson High School building was erected in 1929 on Grandview Boulevard above West Lawn. The first school year started in Fall 1929 and housed 7th-12th grades. The name of the school was chosen in the hope that the life of the man in whose honor it was named, Woodrow Wilson, might serve as an ideal for the young people attending it.… Read Full Article
West Lawn Printing – Then & Now – 1975


In 1975 a printing company sat at 2438 Penn Avenue (now 2834). It is now home to Zhuang’s Garden, a local Chinese food eatery. Zhuang’s Garden has been there since 2005. It is unclear when West Lawn Printing closed or if there was any other business in the building between.

According to Linda Reber on our facebook page.,… Read Full Article
National Cleaners – Penn Ave – West Lawn – Then & Now


A brief history from National Cleaners website:
National Cleaners was founded in 1945 by Theodore Roeberg, father of current owners Richard & Mickey Roeberg. He purchased a small wholesale dry cleaning plant in Reading and was quickly the first in the area to offer six-hour dry-cleaning. He expanded quickly opening six small stores and in 1955 began offering one-hour dry-cleaning and entered the shirt laundry business.… Read Full Article