Reading ( ; ) is a city in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 95,112 at the 2020 census and is the fourth-most populous city in Pennsylvania after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Allentown.
Reading is located in the southeastern part of the state, southwest of Allentown and northwest of Philadelphia. It is the principal city of the Greater Reading area, which had 420,152 residents in 2020.
Reading gave its name to the now-defunct Reading Company, also known as the Reading Railroad and since acquired by Conrail, that played a vital role in transporting anthracite coal from Pennsylvania's Coal Region to major East Coast markets through the Port of Philadelphia for much of the 19th and 20th centuries. The Reading Railroad is one of the four railroad properties in the classic U.S. version of the Monopoly board game. Reading was one of the first localities where outlet shopping became a tourist industry. It has been known as "The Pretzel City" because numerous local pretzel bakeries are based in the city and its suburbs; currently, Bachman, Dieffenbach, Tom Sturgis, and Unique Pretzel bakeries call the Reading area home. In recent years, the Reading area has become a destination for cyclists with more than of trails in five major preserves; the region is an International Mountain Bicycling Association ride center.
According to 2010 census data, Reading had the highest share of citizens living in poverty in the nation among cities with populations exceeding 65,000. Reading's poverty rate fell over the next decade. Reading's poverty rate in the five-year American Community Survey, published in 2018, showed that 35.4% of the city's residents were below the poverty line, or less "than the infamous 41.3% from 2011, when Reading was declared the poorest small city in the nation."
History 18th century
Lenape people, also known as Delaware Indians, inhabited the Reading area prior to European settlement of the region in the 17th century. The Colony of Pennsylvania was a 1680 land grant from King Charles II of England to William Penn. Comprising more than , it was named for his father, William Penn.
In 1743, Richard and Thomas Penn, both sons of William Penn, mapped out the town of Reading with Pennsylvania German pioneer Conrad Weiser. Taking its name from Reading, Berkshire, England, the town was established in 1748. Upon the creation of Berks County in 1752, Reading became the county seat. The region was settled by emigrants from southern and western Germany, who bought land from the Penns. The first Amish community in the New World was established in Greater Reading, Berks County. The Pennsylvanian German dialect Pennsylvania Dutch was spoken in the area well into the 1950s.
During the French and Indian War, Reading was a military base for a chain of forts along the Blue Mountain.
Scottish American Founding Father James Wilson practiced law in Reading from 1767 until 1775.
By the time of the American Revolution, the area's iron industry had a total production exceeding England's. There were several prominent Ironmasters like Samuel Van Leer who helped supply George Washington's troops with cannons, rifles, and ammunition in the Revolutionary War. During the early period of the conflict, Reading was again a depot for military supply. Hessian prisoners from the Battle of Trenton were also detained here.
Philadelphia was the nation's capital at the time of the 1793 Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic.Washington, D.C. became the national capital in 1800. President George Washington traveled to Reading, and considered making it the emergency national capital, but chose Germantown nearer Philadelphia instead.
19th century
In 1809, domestic servant Susanna Cox was tried and convicted for infanticide in Reading. Her case attracted tremendous sympathy; 20,000 spectators came to view her hanging, swamping the 3,000 inhabitants.
According to census data, Reading was among the nation's most-populous 100 cities in the nation from 1810 to 1950.
The Schuylkill Canal, a north–south canal completed in 1825, paralleled the Schuylkill River and connected Reading with Philadelphia and the Delaware River. The Union Canal, an east–west canal completed in 1828, connected the Schuylkill and Susquehanna Rivers, and ran from Reading to Middletown, Pennsylvania, a few miles south of Harrisburg, the state capital. Railroads forced the abandonment of the canals by the 1880s.
Future Supreme Court Justice William Strong lived and practiced law in Reading from 1832 to 1857.
The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad (P&R) was incorporated in 1833. During the Long Depression following the Panic of 1873, a statewide railroad strike in 1877 over delayed wages led to a violent protest and clash with the National Guard in which six Reading men were killed.Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States 1492–present (New York: HarperPerennial, 1995), p. 243. The Reading Brewing Company was also established around this same time, and was officially chartered in 1886."Reading Brewing Company: Permanent Organization Effected Last Night." Reading, Pennsylvania: The Reading Times, August 10, 1886, front page.
The Charles Evans Cemetery is the non-sectarian cemetery where many of the city's prominent business and community leaders have been buried since the cemetery's opening in the 1840s. Established through the donation of land by Reading attorney and philanthropist Charles Evans and a subsequent financial endowment upon his death in 1847, which provided for future improvements to the grounds,"'Cities of the Dead': The Improvements Being Made in the Cemeteries of Reading." Reading, Pennsylvania: Reading Eagle, April 29, 1885, p. 1. the cemetery became a primary gathering point for annual Memorial Day activities from the late 19th through the late 20th centuries due to the presence of the Grand Army of the Republic monument, which was dedicated there in 1887.Homan, Wayne E. "The Poignant History of the GAR Monument", in The Historical Review of Berks County, Fall 2004. Reading, Pennsylvania: Berks History Center, retrieved online August 23, 2018."Charles Evans Cemetery Memorial Day Services". Reading, Pennsylvania: Reading Eagle, May 28, 1915."Memorial Day Rites Held at Graves of Hero Dead". Reading, Pennsylvania: Reading Eagle, May 31, 1931, p. 1."Former POW Jim DeLong speaks at Reading's Memorial Day ceremony ". Allentown and Reading, Pennsylvania: WFMZ-TV, May 27, 2013.
20th century
In the early 20th century, the city participated in the burgeoning automobile and motorcycle industry as home to the pioneer "Brass Era" companies, Daniels Motor Company, Duryea Motor Wagon Company, and Reading-Standard Company.Clymer, Floyd. Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877–1925 (New York: Bonanza Books, 1950), p.158.
Reading experienced continuous growth until the 1930s, when its 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 national trend of urban decline.
Following more than a century of prosperity, the Reading Company was forced to file for bankruptcy protection in 1971. The bankruptcy was a result of dwindling coal shipping revenues and strict government regulations that denied railroads the ability to set competitive prices, required high taxes, and forced the railroads to continue to operate money-losing passenger service lines. On April 1, 1976, the Reading Company sold its current railroad interests to the newly formed Consolidated Railroad Corporation (Conrail). That same month, the Reading Brewing Company closed."Reading Brewing Co. Will Close April 15." Reading, Pennsylvania: The Reading Eagle, April 2, 1976. In 1972, Hurricane Agnes caused extensive flooding in the city, not the last time the lower precincts of Reading were inundated by the Schuylkill River. A similar, though not as devastating, flood occurred during June 2006.
21st century In December 2007, NBC's Today show featured Reading as one of the top four "Up and Coming Neighborhoods" in the U.S. as showing potential for a real estate boom.Interview with Barbara Corcoran on NBC's Today show. Online . December 2007. Retrieved September 27, 2009. The interviewee, Barbara Corcoran, chose the city by looking for areas of big change, renovations, cleanups of parks, waterfronts, and warehouses. Corcoran also noted Reading's proximity to Philadelphia, New York City, and other cities.
Geography Reading is located at (40.341692, −75.926301) in southeastern Pennsylvania, roughly northwest of Philadelphia. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of . of it is land and of it, or 2.39%, is water. The city is largely bounded on the west by the Schuylkill River, on the east by Mount Penn, and on the south by Neversink Mountain. The Reading Prong, the mountain formation stretching northeast into New Jersey, has come to be associated with naturally occurring radon gas; however, homes in Reading are not particularly affected. The surrounding county is home to a number of family-owned farms.
Climate
The climate in and around Reading is variable, but relatively mild compared to areas further north. The Reading area falls under the southern periphery of the hot-summer humid continental climate (Dfa), with areas just to the south designated as a humid subtropical climate zone (Köppen Cfa). Summers are warm and humid with average July highs around . Extended periods of heat and high humidity occur. On average, there are 27 days per year where the temperature exceeds . Reading becomes milder in the autumn, as the heat and humidity of summer relent to lower humidity and temperatures. The first killing frost generally occurs in late October.
Winters bring freezing temperatures, but usually move above freezing during the day's warmest point. The average January high is ; the average January low is , but it is quite common for winter temperatures to undergo much variance from the averages. The all-time record low air temperature (not including wind chill) was during a widespread cold wave in January 1994. Annual snowfall is variable, but averages around . Spring temperatures vary widely between freezing temperatures and the 80s or even 90s (around 30 °C) later in spring. The last killing frost usually is in early to mid April. Total precipitation for the entire year is .
January is the only month averaging below freezing, while two to three months average above 22 °C (71.6 °F) and seven months average above .
Neighborhoods NameAreaPopulationCenter City0.381 sq. mi5,374Callowhill0.751 sq. mi7,289Centre Park0.615 sq. mi10,781College Heights1.295 sq. mi14,903East Reading2.230 sq. mi34,572Eastside1.849 sq. mi29,198Glenside2.303 sq. mi11,837Hampden Heights3.144 sq. mi44,101Millmont1.024 sq. mi5,298North Riverside0.955 sq. mi12,674Northmont0.035 sq. mi697Northside0.187 sq. mi1,822Oakbrook/Wyomissing Park1.197 sq. mi5,947Outlet District0.554 sq. mi14,295Penn's Commons0.796 sq. mi15,891Prince Historic District0.123 sq. mi2,002Queen Anne Historic District0.330 sq. mi6,359Southside1.486 sq. mi10,317South of Penn1.122 sq. mi8,483
Demographics
As of the 2020 census, Reading had a population of 95,112.
Racial and ethnic composition