On 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.… Read Full Article
I 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 a part of this story I was not aware of, and its name was Grand Blvd.… Read Full Article
At 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 front of the building and was driving away as it exploded, which sent a brick of the building through his windshield.… Read Full Article
One hundred years ago today – February 4, 1921, six armed men stormed into the Peoples Trust Company of Wyomissing shortly before noon demanding everyone get on the ground. Three jumped the counter and forced clerks to open the vault by gunpoint. The audacious robbers didn’t even try to obscure their faces and were unmasked for the duration. It would end up being the largest bank heist of the 20th century in Berks.… Read Full Article
If you grew up in the Wyomissing Borough in the early and mid 20th century you might recall Old Man Echo. It was an entrance to the sewer water drainage system which could be followed for miles underneath the streets of Wyomissing. Presumably getting its name from the effect ones voice had when speaking or yelling into the opening.
There is also allegedly some Pennsylvania German lore surrounding the drain opening.… Read Full Article