Category: Wyomissing
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A Century of Progress with the Junior League of Reading
Read more: A Century of Progress with the Junior League of ReadingIn 1901 the Junior League was founded in New York City as the Junior League for the Promotion of Settlement Movement. It was founded within a time of great social unrest and an emerging feminist movement. On August 6th, 1923 ten wives and daughters of Reading’s elite industrialists met in the living room of Mrs.…
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Miller’s Ice Cream, Candy & 5 – 10 – 1.00 Stores
Read more: Miller’s Ice Cream, Candy & 5 – 10 – 1.00 StoresMiller’s is an establishment that has eluded me for the entirety of my six-year “career” chronicling beloved places of the past in Berks County. I came to know of the name through my Mother telling me of her own memories at the Miller’s Drive-In which was located in Sinking Spring at 4700 Penn Avenue. Today…
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Bertrand H. Farr and his Dream Garden
Read more: Bertrand H. Farr and his Dream GardenForeward Roughly a year ago I was contacted by a man named George Edmonds. He wanted to talk to me about books he wrote revolving around his home town of Wyomissing. George was kind enough to share photos with me as well as send me a copy of one of those books, “Dream Gardener –…
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The Deadly Berkshire Knitting Mill Strike of 1936 – Part 3
Read more: The Deadly Berkshire Knitting Mill Strike of 1936 – Part 3This is the third part in a series that will be concluded at a later date. Consider subscribing to receive an email alert when it is published. If you haven’t, read parts one & two for context. In the wake of the violence on Thursday October 1st, 1936, the weekend kicked off surprisingly calm. Calls for peace and…
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The Deadly Berkshire Knitting Mills Strike of 1936 – Part 2
Read more: The Deadly Berkshire Knitting Mills Strike of 1936 – Part 2By the time dawn broke on the morning of October 1st, 1936 temperaments of the picketers were developing from bad to worse. A Reading Eagle reporter who arrived to the scene at 5:30 a.m. described what he saw as a “bitter bloody battle at the gates of the Berkshire Knitting Mills“. Thousands of picketers turned…
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The Deadly Berkshire Knitting Mill Strike of 1936 – Part 1
Read more: The Deadly Berkshire Knitting Mill Strike of 1936 – Part 1A Storm is Brewing It is dawn on October 1st, 1936. It’s a crisp fall morning and a damp rain adds to the heaviness of the air. The sun begins rising at 5:52 a.m. and thousands of workers are gathering in the morning light around the Berkshire Knitting Mills plant in Wyomissing to protest what…
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Warren Street Bypass | 1959 and Today
Read more: Warren Street Bypass | 1959 and TodayBefore the Reading Motor Inn, or Berkshire Mall, there was sprawling farmland and a highway system that was still being integrated into the rural roads of Spring Township. On this day in 1959 the Warren Street Bypass reopened after the construction depicted below closed the roadway for an extended period. The bridge branching off from…
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Happy Hollow Playground – Wyomissing
Read more: Happy Hollow Playground – WyomissingOn April 10, 1910 a meeting was held in the Borough Hall building at the corner on Penn Avenue and Wyomissing Boulevard. Various speakers spoke about the need for a public recreation area, and it was decided officials would be elected to form a a committee to organize a playground association. On May 16th, 1910…
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Grand Blvd – Wyomissing’s Casualty of the Bypass
Read more: Grand Blvd – Wyomissing’s Casualty of the BypassI had previously written a post about the effect the construction of the bypass had on West Wyomissing. The stories about house-moving intrigued me due to the fact that my mother and her family lived on Girard Avenue at that time and got to witness the spectacle firsthand in the early 70s. Yet there was…
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Wyomissing Post Office Explodes – On this Day 1979
Read more: Wyomissing Post Office Explodes – On this Day 1979At about 9:50 p.m. on Tuesday February 20th 1979 a gas leak caused the Wyomissing post office to explode. UGI workers were searching for the leak at the time, and luckily no workers were present in the building when the incident occurred. One witness said he had just dropped a letter in the mailbox out…
