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Below:
Wyomissing's skyline has been dominated by the tower of its stately
high school building since the early 1920's.
Below: A center of culture and
activities is this lovely library in Wyomissing.
THE FACTS: Berks
County's biggest and busiest borough, Wyomissing meanders across
Reading's western suburban fringe. The borough's topography
ranges from broad, elegant boulevards to major highways, quiet
"back streets" and rolling country roads.
In Wyomissing are also prosperous
manufacturing plants, hotels, shopping malls, factory outlet
complexes, and a wide variety of restaurants and specialty shops.
But, at the core of all the commercial
hubbub is the tree-shaded, meticulously-planned suburb that grew out
of Thomas R. Merritt's "Reading Suburban Real Estate Co."
The street pattern and building lots were
laid out in 1896 and by 1903, the first major enterprise-the Thun
& Janssen Machine Shop-located in the village.
The entrance of Messrs. Thun and Janssen
proved to change forever the quality of life in
Wyomissing.
When Wyomissing became a borough on July 2,
1906, much of its land was still in farming. Some was consumed
by the vast gardens of Bertrand H. Farr, whose experimental plots
spread over many acres. The Farrs went on to establish the
large nursery that still bears the family name. Farr's
specialty was the iris, and a social club in the borough was named
after Farr's favorite flower.
Bertrand Farr's name was etched in
Wyomissing history as the first burgess (now known as mayor) of the
borough.
THE FIGURES: Wyomissing
is about 3.9 square miles in size, and within it reside about 7,600
people.
THE FUN STUFF: Although
Reading claims to be the "Factory Outlet Capital of the
U.S.A.," factory outlet shopping actually started in Wyomissing
in the early 1970s when the Vanity Fair Corp. sold seconds and
irregular garments in a small room in its Wyomissing plant.
According to the best translation available, the word Wyomissing
is derived from an Indian word that means "place of
flats."
A lovely section of Wyomissing is known as "Birdland,"
owing to the names of its streets, such as Hummingbird, Junco,
Bluejay, and Meadlowlark Drives.
Among the many fine recreational areas of Wyomissing is
"Happy Hollow," a playground established in 1910; and the
Stone House, the central feature of a park that was founded in 1946.
It's interesting to note that what's now the Stone House was the
ca. 1783 home of Swiss immigrant Christian Schmucker, who had an
interesting life-and nearly an interesting death.
Schmucker refused to serve in the Continental Army during the
Revolutionary War, and was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to
death. The night before his scheduled hanging in Reading, a
local pastor pleaded for clemency. Schmucker was granted a
reprieve.
The Berkshire Heights Playground was once the site of an ochre
mine.
The borough is served by two fire companies. The Wyomissing
Fire Co. was founded in 1906 and the Berkshire Heights F.C. came to
be in 1925.
The Berkshire Heights section of the borough was once called
"North Wyomissing Heights."
The "YR Club" in Wyomissing was established at what was
Thomas Fessler's Excelsior Bottling Co.
They Wyomissing Library was founded in the old borough hall by
the Women's Civic League in 1913. The present building was
given to the library by Mrs. Ferdinand Thun in 1931.
Wyomissing's borough hall was once the Thun family mansion, and
later the administration building of the Berks Campus of Penn State
University.
Thanks to WEEU's Charles J. Adams III for help
in compiling this material.
34 North Fourth Street, Reading, PA 19601
Phone: 610-376-7335 Fax: 610-376-7756
E-mail: weeu@weeu.com
