Reading, Pennsylvania, USA
1854 - Reading

Reading, a handsome city of Pennsylvania, and capital of Berks county, on the left, or east bank of Schuylkill river, and on the Philadelphia, Reading, and Pottsville railroad, 52 miles E. from Harrisburg, and 52 miles N. W. from Philadelphia. This flourishing town, the third of the state in respect to population and manufactures, is beautifully situated on a plain, which rises gradually from the river, and is enclosed on the E. by an eminence named Penn's Mount The city is compactly built, and intersected by straight and rectangular streets, which are remarkably clean and smooth. The most frequented of these are covered with a hard, white gravel, derived from the sandstone of the adjacent hill, forming a compact and durable road. Among the conspicuous public buildings, are the court house, which occupies a commanding situation, and has a handsome portico of sandstone ; the German Lutheran church is capable of containing about 1500 persons, and is remarkable for its steeple, about 200 feet in height, and the German Reformed church, a brick building, which has a steeple 150 feet in height. In addition to these, Reading has 10 or 12 churches, 1 academy, 2 market houses, 2 banks, and several public libraries. Nine or ten weekly papers are published here, of which 3 are in the German language. The streets and many of the buildings are lighted with gas, and sup plied with spring water, conveyed through iron pipes. The river is crossed here by 2 bridges, one of which is about 600 feet in length. Reading is a place of active trade, and is the market for a rich and populous agricultural district. The Schuylkill canal and the railroad above named open a ready communication with Philadelphia, on the one hand and with the coal region of Schuylkill county on the other, and the Union canal ex tends westward to the Susquehanna river. A railroad is also in progress from Reading to Harrisburg. This town is largely engaged in the manufacture of iron, hats, shoes, steam engines, and various other articles. The machine shops of the railroad company employ several hundred men. It has also 2 large rolling mills, 4 foundries, 1 anthracite furnace, a nail factory, a first-class cotton mill, and 2 flouring mills, in all of which steam-power is used. Reading was laid out by Thomas and Richard Penn, in 1748, and named from the town of Reading, in England. It was incorporated as a borough in 1783, and as a city in 1847. Population in 1840, 8410; in 1850,15,743; in 1853, about 17,000.

A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States: Giving a Full and Comprehensive Review of the Present Condition, Industry, and Resources of the American Confederacy ... Thomas Baldwin (of Philadelphia.) Joseph Thomas January 1, 1854 Philadelphia : Lippincott, Grambo & Company 1854.

Visit Reading, Pennsylvania, USA
Discover the people who lived there, the places they visited and the stories they shared.