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Berks County, PA
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Created on March 11, 1752, from parts of Philadelphia,
Chester, and Lancaster Counties, and was named for
Berkshire in England. Reading, the county seat, was
named for Berkshire’s county town. It was incorporated
as a borough on September 12, 1783 and as a city on
March 16, 1847.
 The
fertile Lebanon and Oley Valleys and the presence of
iron ore attracted settlers by the 1730s. Thomas Penn
worked to create Reading in 1748, which was connected by
roads to Lancaster and Lebanon to the west. Conrad
Weiser was an important colonial leader, and the
Pennsylvania German element that he led has always
prevailed in the county. The formation of Schuylkill
County from Berks in 1811 left Berks without coal but
having begun an iron industry early, Reading grew to be
Pennsylvania’s third largest manufacturing city by 1900.
It boasted steel mills and turned out heavy metal
products such as locomotives and autos. Textiles, hats,
and beer are Berks County traditions. Many small factory
workers’ homes gradually enlarged Reading until a period
of extreme deindustrialization began in the 1960s.
Agriculture has always been strong and today features
fruit, wheat, corn, mushrooms, and dairy products. Farms
cover 44 percent of the county’s area. |
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