Landmarks

Landmarks



FORT HENRY


FORT NORTHKILL


RAILROAD MASSACRE


HESSIAN CAMP


THOMPSON'S RIFLE BATTALION


HENRY A.MUHLENBERG


WILLIAM STRONG


DURYEA DRIVE



Forts



Fort Henry was located in Bethel Township, Berks County, Pa., about three miles west of Millersburg.The spot was elevated so the guards could see in every direction. It was erected on the property of Dietrich Six.

A French officer was captured at this fort and examined in Reading, Pa in 1757 by Conrad Weiser, James Read and Thomas Oswald. He stated that the Indians had great numbers of prisoners.

Fragments of pipes and stones from the old foundation are the only remains of the fort.



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FORT NORTHKILL





Fort Northkill was about two miles east of Strausstown in Upper Tulpehocken Township, Berks County, Pa. The fort was about nine miles to the west of the Schuykill.

On October 1, 1757, there was an attack. A request for aid was sent to Conrad Weiser at Reading, and Captain Oawald sent two lieutenants with fourty men.

Taken in part from an article The Story Of Berks County by A. E. Wagner PHD in 1916.



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READING RAILROAD MASSACRE

IN 1877, ADMIDST HARD TIMES, UNREAST HIT THE U.S. RAIL LINES. WORKERS FOR THE READING RAILROAD HAD ENDURED PAY CUTS.

HERE, ON JULY 23, MILITIA FIRED INTO AN UNARMED CROWD THAT BLOCKED THE TRAINS, AND 10 PEOPLE WERE KILLED. U.S. TROOPS REOPENED THE RAILROAD.

The victims were: Milton Price, James J. Fisher, Lidwig Hoffman, John J., Weaver, Lewis Alexander Eisenhower, John A. Cassidy, John Alvin Wunder, Daniel Nachtrieb, Elias Shafer, Howard Camp.



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HESSIAN CAMP

After Burgoyne's surrender, 1777, German mercenaries, mostly Hessian, were held prisoners at verious places until end of war.

Those brought to Reading, 1781, were encamped until 1783 in huts on hillside a quarter-mile to the north.

The marker is located on the Lindburgh Viaduct in Mt. Penn, Pa.

Many thanks to Bob Blessing for the picture.



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HENRY A MUHLENBERG

Pastor of the Trinity Lutheran Church from 1803 to 1829; Member of Congress, 1829-38; first U.S.Minister to Austria; Candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania at the time of his death in 1844, His home was on this site.



2nd. & Penn Streets, Reading, Pa.

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WILLIAM STRONG

Eminent jurist; Member State Supreme Court,1857-1868; Associate Justice of the Supreme of U.S.,1870-80; Member Electoral Commission, 1877. His law office and home stood on this site. Died, 1895



5th & Penn Street, Reading, Pa.

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Thompson's Rifle Battalion. This marker is in front of the Historical Society in of Berks County.





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Duryea Drive

Named in honor of Charles E. Duryea, inventer and builder of first successful hill-climbing gasoline automobile in US. Duryea Drive extending from the City Park to the Pagoda, is the course used by Duryea for testing his cars, 1900-1907.



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