The Port of Reading History

Page 2

The Island ran from Franklin Street to Jackson’s Lock.  It became the site at various times of different factories and enterprises including the Schuylkill Navigation Company offices and residence, the Reading Iron Tube Works, the Penn Hardware Company, William P. Remppis & Company, the Reading Standard Company, the Heister boatyard and sawmill, Willow Park, the Reading Company sawmill and carpenter shop, boat-building facilities, boat clubs, excursion boats and houses. As a point of reference, the Reading Area Community College, Penske’s and Comcast are located on the former Island.

The Schuylkill Canal faced many problems.  Its schedule permitted commerce only 8 months of the year due to winter icing; flooding frequently damaged the canal beds, requiring the placement of wooden planks on the base and sides.  The washing of coal in Schuylkill County created vast amounts of coal silt and culm which made some sections of the canal impassable without dredging.  The chief difficulty was competition of the Pennsylvania and Reading’s 94-mile track from Port Carbon to Philadelphia.  The railroad ended the canal’s monopoly on the coal trade.  Inevitably, the Schuylkill Canal was leased to the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad in June, 1870.

The Philadelphia & Reading Railroad brought great wealth to Reading; coal carried by the railroad fueled the iron mills and factories.  In 1844 the P. & R. became the first rail line to transport 1 million tons of coal in 1 year.  In 1871 it was the largest corporation in the world.  Reading became a railroad boom town.  In 1893 its total work force was over 100,000, and its vast factories stretched for blocks on Seventh Street. The population of Reading doubled and redoubled, and hundreds of new brick houses were built.  The city was part of the Industrial Revolution fueled by King Coal.

In the late 1700’s Nicholas Seitizinger built and opened the popular White Swan Tavern at the foot of Penn Street where he also operated the rope ferry and a fish hatchery.  The tavern was originally a log house, then a stone building, and finally a two-story brick house.  A white swan was painted on the tavern sign and the lawn, dotted with tables and chairs swept down to the River.  After the canal was relocated in 1834, it bordered directly on the property where a wharf was erected.  The next owner, John Frill, also added a general store to one side of the building.  The passageway from the Schuylkill Canal to the Union Canal across the River was located here, making the tavern an even more popular spot

The O’Brien’s Distillery was built in 1821 at the foot of Court Street, adjacent to the White Swan Tavern, by brothers Joseph and Dennis O’Brien, and Dennis, Jr.  The “spring” mentioned in an early map was located north of the tavern; a pipe carried water from the spring to the distillery.  An arched building was erected over the spring and a walled pool created for watering horses and cattle.  When Philip Bushong purchased the distillery in 1841 he founded a profitable sideline of feeding up to 3,000 hogs the corn and wheat swill left over from the fermenting whiskey.  A steam engine pumped the swill through underground pipes to the 5-acre hog pen north of Lebanon Valley Railroad Tracks.  The whiskey sold for 17 cents a quart.  The distillery was later converted to the Penn Street Paper Mill by Bushong, where fine book paper was produced.

The following is a brief summary of the many businesses and foundries that were located on or adjacent to the Schuylkill Canal.

North of Penn Street

Wilson Iron Foundry was established in 1847 and renamed the Eagle Foundry in 1856 by H.A. Hawman & Co.  Their products included casting for railroad, rolling mill, threshing machines, corn shelters, stoves, cellar grates, and sash weights.  

(Reading Waterfront 1887, Harrisburg Bridge (Penn Street Bridge) to the right. Note the canal boat and steam boat, on the canal.)

Bertolet & Company was founded by Mayberry and Samuel Bertolet in 1845, and later known as the Neversink Rolling Mill. Originally built as the George Brobst’s Brewery in 1814 their product was small and strong beer.  The brewing of lager was not introduced to Reading until 1844.  In 1832 John Kiem & Co. purchased the building and manufactured hoes, guns and rifles before selling it to the Bertolet Brothers.

The Eagle Foundry, Bertolet & Company, and White Swan Tavern were demolished in 1865 and replaced by the large Pennsylvania & Schuylkill Valley Railroad Station.

Schuylkill Canal in foreground, P. & S.V.R.R. Station in background.