Reading, Pennsylvania
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| City of Reading | |
|---|---|
| City | |
 View from Pagoda atop Mt. Penn
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| Country | United States |
| State | Pennsylvania |
| County | Berks |
| Area | 10.1 mi² (26.2 km²) |
| - land | 9.8 mi² (25.4 km²) |
| - water | 0.2 mi² (0.5 km²) |
| Center | |
| - coordinates | |
| - elevation | 305 ft (93 m) |
| Population | 81,207 (2000) |
| Density | 8,270.2 /mi² (3,193.1 /km²) |
| Founded | 1748 |
| Mayor | Thomas McMahon |
| Time zone | EST (UTC-5) |
| - summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| Area code | 610 |
  Location of Reading in Pennsylvania
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 Location of Pennsylvania in the United States
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| Website : http://www.readingpa.gov | |
Reading (pronounced redd'-ing) is the county seat of Berks County, Pennsylvania. In the 2000 census, the city had a population of 81,207, making it the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, and Erie, and the sixth largest municipality after Upper Darby Township.
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[edit] Overview
Overlooking the city on Mount Penn is Reading's symbol, a Japanese pagoda visible from everywhere in town and referred to familiarly as "the Pagoda".
Duryea Drive, which ascends Mount Penn in a series of sharp bends, was a testing place for early automobiles.
The city lent its name to the now-defunct Reading Railroad, which brought anthracite coal from the Pennsylvania Coal Regions. The railroad is one of the four railroad properties in the classic English-language version of the Monopoly board game.
Reading was one of the first localities where outlet shopping became a tourist industry.
Reading has a Double-A Eastern League baseball team, the Reading Phillies, an East Coast Hockey League ice hockey team, the Reading Royals, and an American Indoor Football League team, the Reading Express. The Phillies play in the city's 9,000-seat FirstEnergy Stadium, while the Royals and Express play in the 7,000-seat Sovereign Center. Among the athletes native to the Reading area are Brooklyn Dodger outfielder Carl Furillo, "the Reading Rifle," and Baltimore Colts running back Lenny Moore.
Five institutions of higher education are located in Reading: Albright College, Alvernia College, Berks Technical Institute, Pace Institute and Reading Area Community College. The city's cultural institutions include a symphony orchestra and museum, GoggleWorks art gallery. Poet Wallace Stevens was born in Reading on October 2, 1879, and John Philip Sousa, the March King, died there March 6, 1932.
The current mayor, Tom McMahon, was elected in November, 2003. He will be up for re-election in November, 2007.
Since the November, 2006 relocation of St. Joseph's Medical Center, Reading no longer has any hospitals within its city limits. There are, however, two hospital satellites in downtown Reading: The Reading Hospital Health Dispensary on Penn Street, and St. Joseph's Medical Center Community Campus on 6th Street.
[edit] History
In 1743, Richard and Thomas Penn (sons of William Penn, for whom Pennsylvania is named) planned the town of Reading. Taking its name from Reading, England, it was established in 1748. Upon the creation of Berks County in 1752 the town became the county seat.
During the French and Indian War, Reading was a military base for a chain of forts along the Blue Mountains. Meanwhile the region was being settled by emigrants from southern and western Germany.
By the time of the American Revolution, the area's iron industry had a total production which exceeded England's, an output that would help supply George Washington's troops with cannons, rifles, and ammunition in the Revolutionary War. During the early period of the conflict, Reading was a depot again for military supply. Hessian prisoners from the battle of Trenton were also detained there.
The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad (P&R) was incorporated in 1833. For the following century and a quarter, Reading was still largely a Pennsylvania Dutch city, with many inhabitants speaking a dialect of German and programs in the language being broadcast regularly on commercial radio by "Die Wunnernaus" (a Pennsylvania Dutch term for a busybody) and other colorful personalities. A weekly program of polkas, announced in Polish, could also be heard. But all this was to change in the 1960s.
Reading saw continuous growth until the 1930s, when the population reached nearly 120,000. From the 1940s to the 1970s, however, the city saw a sharp downturn in prosperity, largely owing to the decline of the heavy industry and railroads on which Reading had been built and a general flight to the suburbs.
In 1972, Hurricane Agnes caused extensive flooding in the city, not the first time the lower precincts of Reading were inundated by the Schuylkill River.
In the early 1970s, abandoned textile mills just outside Reading were developed to create the VF Outlet Village, the first outlet mall in the United States. The mall became so successful that it drew millions of tourists to Reading every year.
The 2000 Census shows Reading's population decline beginning to turn around. This has been attributed to an increase in Hispanic migrants from New York and also suburban sprawl connecting the city to the Philadelphia suburbs.
In 2003, Reading's crime index was 638.3 -- higher than Philadelphia's and far above the national urban average of 329.7. That same year Reading ranked 30th in murders among all the cities in America, with 19.8 per 100,000 population. For its population size, Reading is often ranked among the most dangerous cities in the United States [1].
[edit] Historic Buildings
The 18-story Abraham Lincoln Hotel was built in 1930 and recently restored. Abraham Lincoln, grandfather and namesake of the 16th U.S. President was born and resided with his family in Berks County for twenty one years before emigrating west. The hotel also holds the distinction of being the site of John Philip Sousa's death, on March 6, 1932 at the age of 77, after conducting a rehearsal of the Ringgold Band. The hotel currently is operated under the name "The Abraham Lincoln a Wyndham Historic Hotel" and accommodates 104 guest rooms. Occupying the lower floors are assisted living apartments for senior residents.
[edit] Geography
Reading is located at 40°20'30" North, 75°55'35" West (40.341692, -75.926301)GR1. This is in the southeast of Pennsylvania, roughly 58 miles (93 km) northwest of Philadelphia. The city is traditionally bounded on the west by the Schuylkill River, on the east by Mount Penn, and on the south by Neversink Mountain.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.1 square miles (26.1 km²)— 9.8 square miles (25.4 km²) of it is land and 0.2 mi² (0.6 km²) of it is water. The total area is 2.39% water.
Reading has a number of named neighborhoods, including
- Center City/Downtown: vicinity of 5th and Penn Streets
- Penn's Common Historic District: vicinity of 10th and Penn Streets
- College Heights: Oak Lane to 11th Street, Marion Street to the City Line Street (which straddles the Muhlenberg Township line)
- Southeast: Bingaman/Chestnut Streets to South Street, railroad tracks (Traditionally known as 7th Street) to 13th Street
- Outlet Area: 8th to 12th Streets, Spring to Oley Streets
- Centre Park Historic District, along Centre Avenue (Also known as Route 61)
- Glenside, Schuylkill Avenue (Also known as Route 183), from the Schuylkill Avenue Bridge to the Bern Township Line, from Carpenter Technologies and the Glenside Homes housing development to Stonecliff Park
- North Riverside, from the old Dana Yards to the Goggleworks
- Millmont, Southwest section of the city bounded by the Schuylkill River to the east, the Cumru Township line to the south and west, and Lancaster Avenue to the North
- Oakbrook, formerly the designation given to the Oakbrook Homes housing development, it now describes the Southwest section of the city bounded to the east by the Schuylkill River, to the north by West Reading and Wyomissing Boroughs, to the west by Cumru Township and Wyomissing Borough, and to the South by Lancaster Avenue
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 81,207 people, 30,113 households, and 18,429 families residing in the city. The population density was 8,270.2 persons per square mile (3,192.9/km²). There were 34,314 housing units at an average density of 3,494.6 houses per square mile (1,349.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 59.18% White, 12.25% African American, 0.44% Native American, 1.60% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 22.32% from other races, and 4.18% from two or more races. 37.31% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 30,113 households out of which 33.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.4% were married couples living together, 20.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.8% were non-families. 31.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.33.
In the city the population was spread out with 29.9% under the age of 18, 11.7% from 18 to 24, 28.9% from 25 to 44, 17.0% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 93.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $26,698, and the median income for a family was $31,067. Males had a median income of $28,114 versus $21,993 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,086. 26.1% of the population and 22.3% of families were below the poverty line. 36.5% of those under the age of 18 and 15.6% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
[edit] Demographic change
In recent years, Reading, like many of its peers in the Northeastern United States, has seen an influx in Hispanic immigration and migration as gentrification has made traditional points of entry in the New York metropolitan area prohibitively expensive. In 2000, 23.46% of Reading residents were of Puerto Rican ancestry. There are also sizable numbers of Dominican Americans and Mexican Americans. In 2003, the United States Department of Justice filed suit against Berks County for failing to provide this influx of Spanish-speaking residents with voting equipment and information, as well as alleging that pollworkers had harassed Hispanic voters.[2]
In 2000, the Reading metropolitan statistical area was the second most segregated place for Hispanics in the United States, behind only the Lawrence, Massachusetts area. Only 2.1% of the rest of Berks County is Hispanic or Latino, while this ethnic group is highly concentrated in certain city neighborhoods.[3]
Reading is also seeing some migration of college-educated whites fleeing high housing costs in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, although this number of dwarfed by the number settling in the city's eastern suburbs such as Exeter Township, closer to the border with Montgomery County.
[edit] Greater Reading Area
The Greater Reading Area (Reading and its outlying suburbs) generally refers to the whole of Berks County (estimated 391,640 in 2004). While the land area of Reading itself is 10 square miles (26 km²), the land area of Berks County is 435 square miles (1,127 km²). Some of the more immediate suburbs of Reading are the boroughs of West Reading, Wyomissing, Shillington, Sinking Spring, Mt. Penn, St. Lawrence, Laureldale, and Mohnton and the townships of Spring, Cumru, Muhlenberg, Bern, and Lower Alsace. Reading Regional Airport (Gen. Carl A. Spaatz Field) is located in Bern Township and is home to the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum.
Between 1990 and 2000, the Reading area's population grew by 11%, almost three times the state average. Much of the growth has taken the form of suburban sprawl, and because job growth has not kept up with population growth, many Reading area residents now commute to the Montgomery County suburbs of Philadelphia.
[edit] Sports
| Club | Sport | League | Venue | Logo |
| Reading Phillies | Baseball | Eastern League; Southern Division | FirstEnergy Stadium |  |
| Reading Royals | Ice Hockey | ECHL; Eastern Conference |
Sovereign Center |  |
| Reading Express | Indoor Football | American Indoor Football Association; Northern Conference |
Sovereign Center |  |
| Reading Raptors | Football | Garden State Football League; Southern Conference |
Don Thomas Stadium | |
| Reading Rage | Soccer | USL Premier Development League | Don Thomas Stadium |  |
| Reading Railers | Basketball | American Basketball Association | Sovereign Center | [ABA's Press Release] |
Reading was the host of the 2003 Skate America international figure skating competition. It will host the event again in 2007
Reading was host to the Reading Classic, the second leg in the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling.
[edit] Notable residents
- Gus Alberts, Major League Baseball player[1] (b. 1861–d. May 7, 1912)
- Allison Baver, American Short track speed skater
- George Bradley, Major League Baseball player[1], (b. July 13, 1852–d. October 2, 1931)
- Jack Coggins, Artist and Author (b. July 10, 1911 – d. January 30, 2006)
- Michael Constantine, Actor, (b. May 22, 1927)
- Meg Foster, Actress (b. May 10, 1948)
- Megan Gallagher, Actress (b. Feb 6, 1960)
- Keith Haring, Pop artist (b. May 4, 1958– d. February 16, 1990)
- Chad Henne, Quarterback, University of Michigan, (b. July 2, 1985)
- Chip Kidd, Book jacket Designer at Knopf Publishing Group (b. 1964)
- Kristy Kowal, United States Olympian, (b. October 9, 1978)
- Donyell Marshall, NBA power forward (b. May 18, 1973)
- Lenny Moore, NFL running back and Pro Football Hall of Famer (b. November 25, 1933)
- Lawrence Santoro, author of fantasy and horror (b. September 2, 1942)
- Jim Steranko, Silver Age comic book artist (b. November 5, 1938)
- Taylor Swift, Country Music Singer-Songwriter, (b. December 13, 1989)
- Sergei Trudnowski, professional skateboarder, (b. Sep 20, 1973)
- John Updike, Author, (b. Mar 18, 1932)
- Delores Wells, Actress, (b. Oct 17, 1937)
- Thomas C. Zimmerman, editor at Reading Times and Pennsylvania German language writer and translator, (b. 1838–d. 1914)
- Nicole Tranquillo American Idol Season 6 Top 24 finalist
[edit] External links
- City of Reading
- Reading Fire Department
- "Back to Prosperity: A Profile of the Reading Area," Brookings Institution Report on recommendations for revitalization of cities in Pennsylvania
- USGS Data
- Berks Economic Partnership, Economic Development Agency which is the umbrella agency for the Greater Reading Economic Development Effort.
- Riverplace Development Corporation, Schuylkill River Development.
- Initiative for a Competitive Greater Reading
- Greater Reading Chamber of Commerce and Industry
- Greater Reading Convention and Visitors Bureau
- Goggle Works Center for the Arts
- Reading Public Museum
- Reading Symphony Orchestra
- Reading Public Library
- Go PA Outdoors
- Berks.TV Local Reading and Berks County video news
- Reading Sokols Local Reading/Philadelphia Slovak Catholic Sokols group.
