The Berks History Center has a special room that focuses on the history of transportation in Berks County and its description encompasses much of Berks County’s transportation history:

“Berks County’s success is largely attributed to its efficient transportation systems that have facilitated the movement of goods, people and ideas. The prosperity of local canals and railroads connected our area to nearby regions, establishing Reading as a hub of commerce and granting manufacturers control over global markets. The introduction of horsecars and trolleys revolutionized the way people traveled, fueling the region’s growth. The emergence of the automobile transformed Berks County into a leading manufacturer of vehicles.”

Canals

The Schuylkill Navigation Company was incorporated in 1815 for the purpose of making the Schuylkill River navigable. Before railroads, canals offered faster travel and transportation of goods than was available on land. The Schuylkill "canal" or navigation system was constructed between Port Carbon and Philadelphia and covered a distance of 108 miles. It consisted of 32 dams and 27 canals, some of which are in Berks County.  Because it was completed in May 1825, we will celebrate its bicentennial in 2025.  Reading Area Community College hosts a digital collection of about 1000 documents and engineering drawings from the Schuylkill Navigation Company and the 1947 Appraisal Book which contains photographs of related buildings still in existence at that time.  

Historian Stuart William Wells has written a history of the Schuylkill Navigation System including one of its canals – the Girard Canal. The Berks County Heritage Center includes the

 C. Howard Hiester Canal Center which includes many artifacts from the section of the Schuylkill Canal between Reading and Philadelphia collected by Mr. Hiester including the houseboat "Mildred," which plied the Schuylkill Canal between Reading and Philadelphia, a toll collection booth, and a pilot house from the tugboat "Dolphin."

 

The idea of uniting the Schuylkill and Susquehanna rivers by a canal was first proposed and discussed by William Penn. Various attempts at this project happened for some time. Although the initial design called for the construction of a canal from the Susquehanna to the Delaware, the “1825 opening of the rival Schuylkill Navigation from Reading to Philadelphia prompted the Union Canal Company to focus solely on the Middletown-Reading portion of the canal, which when connected would complete the longer conveyance west to the Susquehanna.” Source 

Today the Union Canal Bicycle & Walking Trail is a 4.5-mile-long crushed stone path that follows the Tulpehocken Creek between Stonecliffe Recreation Area and Reber’s Bridge Road. Designated as a National Recreation Trail, the Union Canal Trail provides a link to multiple Berks County Parks.

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Railroads

 

Anyone who has played the classic board game Monopoly has heard of the Reading Railroad. However, the Reading Railroad had a long and significant history which is summarized by Matthew Harrop for the Pennsylvania Center for the Book:

           

“The Reading, as it was affectionately called, played an integral part in the economic development of Philadelphia and the Schuylkill River Valley. Its origins began with the charter of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad in 1833, and by 1849 it provided the connecting link between the resource rich coal regions of Schuylkill County and metropolitan Philadelphia. The anthracite coal industry would become the Reading’s catalyst, as the railroad continued to expand with each new rail line acquisition. Also adding to its rapid growth was the formation of the Philadelphia Coal and Iron Company that allowed the Reading to operate both the coal mines and the railroads stemming from them.”

 

An 1895 map shows how many railroads crossed Berks County that made transportation in the 100 miles around Philadelphia so connected.  Explore the history of the Reading Railroad by visiting the Reading Railroad Heritage Museum in Hamburg.

 

In addition, you can still experience train travel in Berks County on

• The Colebrookdale Railroad

• The Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad

• The Wanamaker, Kempton & Southern Railroad

 

 

Trolleys

 

The website Go Reading Berks has a history of the trolleys of Reading and Berks County which noted that

 

“ Electric lines came early in Berks, the East Reading Electric Railway enjoying the distinction of being one of the oldest electric lines east of the Mississippi…Streetcars provided a convenient and affordable means of transportation for urban dwellers. Reading, Berks County’s most important city, laced with 35 miles of track within the city limits, formed the hub for 85 miles of suburban track radiating to five points at the borders of the county.”

 

Another website describes the trollies of Mohnton with details and pictures while BCTV has archived a presentation by Berks History Center’s Vicky Heffner with local historian Paul Druzba on the history of trollies in Berks County.

 

And don’t forget as historian John Gunsser notes “At the end of every rainbow there may not have been a pot of gold but at the end of every trolley line there was an amusement park.”

 

 

Bicycles

 

Brad Rhen wrote about the history of bicycles and bicycling in an article in The Reading Eagle:

 

“Reading’s Penn Wheelmen bicycle club was organized in 1889 and conducted a road race from Myerstown to Reading on Sept. 20, 1890. Participants included some of the best-known bicycle racers in the country, with the winner coming from Rhode Island…About the same time, Reading became a hub of bicycle manufacturing. In 1898, Acme Bicycle Co. of Reading produced 31,000 bicycles. Relay Manufacturing Co. of Reading and Reading Standard produced 10,000 bicycles each. Packer of Reading produced 3,000. Keystone Cycle of Reading produced 7,000. Reading Cycle Co. produced 14,000. Though difficult to believe, that’s 75,000 bicycles produced and sold in Reading, Berks and beyond in just one year.”