The Reading Girl’s High School was established in 1895 at the old Reading Academy building on 4th and Court Streets. The building was originally built in 1839, and occupied by an all-boys private school called the Reading Academy until 1853. Between 1853 and 1894 it was a public school institution named City Union High School.… Read Full Article
The original Mt. Penn School building was the precursor to Mt. Penn High School and was built in 1885 at 24th and Grant Streets. By 1923 there were 8 elementary grades and 4 high school grades in the building with 240 elementary children and 70 high school students. It had been outgrown and a new building needed to be built.… Read Full Article
Starting tomorrow, and over the course of the next 9 weeks Berks Nostalgia is going to be publishing articles on each of Berks County’s High Schools that were defunct due to the consolidation of school systems into the larger districts we have come to know today.
Most of these schools and the memories that were made in them have fallen into somewhat of obscurity, with their last graduating students (in most cases) being 70+ years old today.… Read Full Article
In 1925, the new Shillington High School was constructed on East Lancaster Avenue on land that was part of the Berks County Almshouse complex. An addition of twelve rooms was completed in 1930 and four more rooms were completed in 1936. Their sports teams were known as the Shillington Speeders. Boys teams adopted the name the Speedboys and the girls teams called themselves the Speedgirls.… Read Full Article
The West Reading High School building was built in 1914 at the corner of 4th and Franklin Streets. It was the beginning of the secondary education for youth in the Borough of West Reading. It housed 7th-12th grades.
In 1923 an addition to the original building was added to accommodate an expanding population. An auditorium, gymnasium, study hall, science labs and additional classrooms were added to the high school.… Read Full Article