In 1729, Conrad Weiser came over with Germans from the Palatinate and settled near Womelsdorf, where he is buried in the family burial ground; marked by boulder; his granddaughter was married to the “Patriarch” Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg; farm and burial ground of Conrad Weiser, purchased by the Burks County Historical Society, is to be maintained as a Memorial Park. The Dutch came in 1730; their descendants still reside on their ancestral estates; they named the river, flowing through the county, Schuylkill (hidden creek); Indian name was Manai-unk. When war was declared between England and France, the French found the Indians eager to join them against the British, and after Braddock’s defeat at Fort Duquesne in 1755, they devastated these peaceful settlers, by fire and slaughter, until 1778, when they were driven beyond the Alleghenies. This region has become famous for wine making; vines are grown on Mount Penn, Neversink, and the Alsace Mountain slopes; over fifty years ago, George L. Reiniger left the fertile vineyards of Wurtemberg and settled here, where the soil, scenery, and environment seemed so much like the fatherland; these vineyards are now used for the cultivation of dahlias.
Reading, county seat; population 107,784; was laid out in 1748 by agents of Richard and Thomas Penn; named for Reading, in Berkshire, England. Courthouse on Penn Common, Fifth and Penn Streets, built, 1762; present building in 1840, on north Sixth Street; colonial with Ionic porch; cupola eighty-four feet above the roof. In the park are equestrian statue of General David McMurtrie Gregg, by H. Augustus Lukeman, New York; the Firemen’s Monument; “The First Defenders”; and Frederick Lauer, all designed and made by P. F. Eisenbrown, Sons & Company, Reading; the bronze statue of President McKinley, reliefs and eagles, was designed by Edward L. A. Pausch, Buffalo, New York. Prison, Penn Street and Perkiomen Avenue, red sandstone, castellated Gothic, built, 1846; architect, John Haviland. A two story building, northeast corner of Fifth Street and Penn Square, was built in 1764 for a tavern; Washington stayed here in
THE JAIL AT READING
John C. Haviland, Architect
1794, en route to join troops against the Whiskey Rebellion; now Farmers’ Bank; it is marked as the oldest building in town. The Hessian camp ground, southwest of Reading, is also marked.
Trinity Church, most important Lutheran Church in this country, is a fine example of Georgian architecture, northwest corner of Sixth and Washington Streets; was built, 1791. Christ Protestant Episcopal Cathedral, Gothic, brownstone; built in 1864; architect, Potter, New York; has good windows. The Reading Museum and Art Gallery, Eighth and Washington Streets, has a good collection of paintings, representing foreign and American artists, including sixty paintings given by Mrs. William Littleton Savage, as memorial to her parents, Mr. and Mrs. George DeBenneville Keim, and other works of art and natural history; it is open free to the public. The Historical Society of Berks County, 38 North Fourth Street, has a good historical collection. Among the notable artists who have lived in Reading are Christopher H. Shearer, represented in permanent collection at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Benjamin F. Austrian, noted still-life painter, born here, 1870; James A. Benade, landscape; F. D. Devlan, animal painter and cartoonist; during the Civil War he furnished many cartoons for Frank Leslie’s illustrated newspaper; George Seiling, mural decorator, born in Bavaria, 1818, his paintings are in St. James’ Church, “The Transfiguration,” and Calvary Church, “Christ Bearing the Cross.” Calvary Reformed Church has stone mosaic decoration in chancel by H. Hanley Parker.
Charles Evans Cemetery, acquired by gift in 1864, has Gothic gateway, dark sandstone; made in 1847; architects, Calver & Hall, Philadelphia; the chapel is brownstone, Gothic, built, 1854; architect, John M. Gries, who was a major in the Union Army, killed in battle of “Fair Oaks”; here is the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, with bronze tablets; erected, 1889.
Reading was the resort of many fugitives families from Philadelphia while British were there in the winter of 1776-77, and became the scene of much gayety. General Mifflin, afterwards governor, had his country seat at Cumru, three miles southeast of Reading, now used as the County Almshouse and Hospital buildings. In the different wars of this country Berks County men were among the first to offer their services; the Ringgold Light Artillery, Captain James McKnight, is said to have been the first company that reported at Harrisburg in response to President Lincoln’s Proclamation in 1861, and was one of five Pennsylvania companies to arrive first at Washington in defense of the Capital.