PRINTER'S NO. 3189
No. 372 Session of 1998
INTRODUCED BY SANTONI, CALTAGIRONE, ARGALL, MILLER, LEH, ROHRER,
SEMMEL, THOMAS, ZUG, NAILOR, BELARDI, FLEAGLE, MUNDY, DALEY,
OLASZ, READSHAW, PIPPY, HERMAN, GORDNER, GEORGE, SCHULER,
DeWEESE, KENNEY, FICHTER, BROWN, TIGUE, HENNESSEY, SCHRODER,
ORIE, CAPPABIANCA, HERSHEY, JOSEPHS, BOSCOLA, McNAUGHTON,
GODSHALL, BELFANTI, CORRIGAN, WOJNAROSKI, SURRA, ITKIN,
CLYMER, WOGAN, BATTISTO, RUBLEY, MAITLAND, COY, LESCOVITZ,
HALUSKA, GEIST, DENT, RAMOS, SHANER, LAUGHLIN, BROWNE, BAKER,
PETRONE, BENNINGHOFF, GANNON, ROONEY, ROSS, SAYLOR,
TRAVAGLIO, DEMPSEY, BEBKO-JONES, FAIRCHILD, WALKO, MANDERINO,
KIRKLAND, L. I. COHEN, SCRIMENTI, ROBERTS, TANGRETTI, TRUE,
B. SMITH, DONATUCCI, CIVERA, ADOLPH, ROBINSON, MELIO, KAISER,
STABACK AND YOUNGBLOOD, MARCH 17, 1998
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
MARCH 17, 1998
A RESOLUTION
1 Extending congratulations on the 250th anniversary of the
2 founding of the City of Reading and declaring March 23
3 through 30, 1998, as "The City of Reading's 250th Anniversary
4 Week" in this Commonwealth.
5 WHEREAS, The City of Reading is conducting a yearlong
6 celebration of the 250th anniversary of its founding; and
7 WHEREAS, A birthday weekend, Wednesday, March 25 through
8 Monday, March 30, is featuring reenacted appearances by Thomas
9 and Richard Penn, the arrival of the Lord Mayor of Reading,
10 England and a re-creation and rededication of the principles of
11 the founding of Readington at City Hall; and
12 WHEREAS, The people of Reading and its businesses, nonprofit
13 organizations, schools, churches, hospitals, health care
1 providers and elected officials have contributed to the benefit
2 of this Commonwealth; and
3 WHEREAS, The City of Reading, the sixth largest city in this
4 Commonwealth, is an important economic, tourist, political,
5 social, transportation, educational, health care, business and
6 social hub; and
7 WHEREAS, Reading businesses and workers contributed to
8 Pennsylvania's economy as a center of the iron industry in the
9 19th century, with 41 ironworks, and operated factories for the
10 manufacture of cigars, paint, textiles, automobiles, pretzels,
11 candy, cough drops, steel, shoes, bricks, goggles, gas ranges
12 and wrought-iron pipes and other products; and
13 WHEREAS, Today, Reading is known for many factory outlets and
14 has earned recognition in the production of clothing and various
15 food specialties and the construction of auto parts and steel
16 products; and
17 WHEREAS, Thomas and Richard Penn, sons of William Penn,
18 founded Reading in 1748 and named it for the birthplace of their
19 father; and
20 WHEREAS, The Penns planned to develop Reading as early as
21 1733 when Richard Hockley bought 1,150 acres on the east side of
22 the Schuylkill River, and Samuel Finney and Thomas Lawrence also
23 acquired land in what now comprises the heart of the city; and
24 WHEREAS, Joseph Finney, a son of Samuel Finney, is regarded
25 as the first settler in the area of the present City of Reading;
26 and
27 WHEREAS, Joseph Finney established early development in an
28 area which, after his death, became known as Widow Finney's; and
29 WHEREAS, Thomas Penn in his first visit in 1739, began plans
30 for a new county, which he named Berks after his father's home
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1 county of Berkshire, England; and
2 WHEREAS, Thomas Penn remained in constant correspondence
3 about the development of Reading after he returned to England in
4 1742, directing through letters the purchase of lands, the sale
5 of lots and the organization of Reading's early government; and
6 WHEREAS, Thomas Penn's agents, Richard Hockley and Richard
7 Peters, used a "straw man" to secure Thomas Lawrence's 437 1/2
8 acres of land; and
9 WHEREAS, Thomas Lawrence's parcel was transferred to Thomas
10 and Richard Penn on March 30, 1748, and Reading was formally
11 founded; and
12 WHEREAS, Berks County was named as a separate county on March
13 11, 1752; and
14 WHEREAS, Reading, the county seat since passage of the act
15 creating Berks County, was recognized as a borough and formally
16 separated from Alsace Township on September 12, 1783, by an act
17 of the General Assembly; and
18 WHEREAS, As early as 1795, discussion arose about moving the
19 State capital from Philadelphia, with Reading as a possible
20 site; and
21 WHEREAS, A charter providing enlarged powers was granted on
22 March 29, 1813, and Reading was incorporated as a city by an act
23 of the General Assembly on March 16, 1847; and
24 WHEREAS, Reading city government organized on March 26, 1847,
25 with Peter Filbert, a Lutheran clergyman, serving as the first
26 mayor of the City of Reading; and
27 WHEREAS, On May 23, 1874, Reading became a city of the third
28 class; and
29 WHEREAS, In 1992, voters approved a home rule charter
30 reorganizing city government into a strong mayor-council form;
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1 and
2 WHEREAS, The citizens of Reading have established a
3 distinguished record of military service; and
4 WHEREAS, On July 17, 1775, a few months after the start of
5 the American Revolution in Lexington and Concord, six companies
6 of soldiers from Berks and neighboring counties were organized
7 in Reading; and
8 WHEREAS, On July 22, 1775, under the command of Captain
9 George Nagel, these companies left Reading to march to Cambridge
10 and earned distinction as the first troops to report to General
11 George Washington, becoming known as The First Defenders; and
12 WHEREAS, Forges and furnaces in Reading turned out cannon for
13 the Continental Army, and Reading served as a depot for
14 Continental military supplies and as the site of a camp for
15 British and Hessian prisoners; and
16 WHEREAS, A plot in 1777 to replace General Washington as
17 Commander-in-Chief was stopped in Reading when Major James
18 Monroe joined Major James Wilkinson for dinner at the Bald Eagle
19 Hotel and Wilkinson confided information about the plot to
20 Monroe, who immediately reported it to Washington; and
21 WHEREAS, More than 9,000 soldiers from Reading and Berks
22 County fought to set the United States free from English tyranny
23 during the American Revolution; and
24 WHEREAS, Troops from Reading also attained distinction in the
25 Civil War; and
26 WHEREAS, Captain James McKnight and his Ringgold Light
27 Artillery was the first company in the nation to leave home
28 after President Abraham Lincoln's call to duty on April 16,
29 1861, after the firing on Fort Sumter in South Carolina; and
30 WHEREAS, The company joined the Washington Artillery, the
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1 National Light Infantry from Pottsville, the Allen Rifles of
2 Allentown and the Logan Guards of Lewistown to barricade the
3 City of Washington against possible attack; and
4 WHEREAS, The first Ladies Aid Society in the nation was
5 organized in Reading during the Civil War; and
6 WHEREAS, Development in Reading contributed to the growth of
7 business and industry in this Commonwealth; and
8 WHEREAS, The Schuylkill and Susquehanna Navigation Company
9 and the Delaware and Schuylkill Canal Company were chartered in
10 the 1790's, and construction in the 1800's of a canal system in
11 and around Reading opened up the State to development; and
12 WHEREAS, The canal system in the area began operating on
13 January 1, 1828, and functioned until the railway system became
14 the major route of transportation; and
15 WHEREAS, With the construction and expansion of the railway
16 system, Reading secured its place as an industrial giant in this
17 Commonwealth and our nation; and
18 WHEREAS, The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company was
19 incorporated on April 4, 1833; and
20 WHEREAS, The first track extended to Pottstown by December
21 1837, and the system extended to Norristown and Philadelphia
22 before its expansion and incorporation as the Reading Railroad;
23 and
24 WHEREAS, In 1858 J. Robley Dunglison came from Philadelphia
25 to start the Reading Daily Times, and in 1868 the Reading Eagle
26 started publishing under the supervision of William S. Ritter;
27 and
28 WHEREAS, These companies combined, and the tradition of a
29 continuous daily newspaper begun in 1858 has survived to the
30 present day; and
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1 WHEREAS, Albright College relocated to Reading in September
2 1928 when it merged with the Schuylkill Campus; and
3 WHEREAS, The Pagoda, a city landmark visible in all
4 directions, was built by William A. Witman, Sr., at the southern
5 extremity of Mount Penn in 1908; and
6 WHEREAS, The citizens of Reading acknowledge with pride the
7 contributions of the city's native sons; and
8 WHEREAS, Conrad Weiser, one of the founders of the city,
9 provided aid to the Penns and early settlers and established
10 good relations with native Americans who had made the site of
11 Reading an important tribal area; and
12 WHEREAS, Edward Biddle, the last speaker of the last Assembly
13 of Pennsylvania under the proprietary government, represented
14 Reading and Berks County in the first and second Continental
15 Congress and signed the Olive Branch, in which the colonists
16 sought to obtain redress from England, and the Declaration of
17 Independence; and
18 WHEREAS, The Rev. Frederick A.C. Muhlenberg served in the
19 Continental Congress in 1779 and 1780, was president of the
20 Constitutional Convention in 1787 and, a speaker of the first
21 and third Congress, served in the first, second, third and
22 fourth Congress from 1789 to 1797; and
23 WHEREAS, Joseph Hiester, one of Reading's favorite sons,
24 succeeded his father, Daniel Hiester, in Congress, serving from
25 1797 to 1807 and from 1815 to 1820, and he was governor of
26 Pennsylvania from 1820 to 1823; and
27 WHEREAS, John Andrew Melchior Schulze, the second area native
28 to be elected governor in the 1800s, won gubernatorial elections
29 in 1823 and 1829; and
30 WHEREAS, Thomas Mifflin, who lived in the area for many
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1 years, served as a major general of the Continental Army during
2 the Revolutionary War, represented Berks County in the
3 Continental Congress in 1782 and was governor of Pennsylvania
4 from 1790 to 1799; and
5 WHEREAS, Henry August Muhlenberg, a Democratic nominee for
6 governor in 1835 and 1844, served nine years as a member of
7 Congress and was ambassador to Austria from 1838 to 1840; and
8 WHEREAS, Major General David McMurrie Gregg, who resided in
9 Reading from 1874 until his death in 1916, served with the Army
10 of the Potomac, accepted appointment as consul at Prague in 1874
11 and was State auditor general from 1892 to 1895; and
12 WHEREAS, At his death, Major General Gregg was the last Civil
13 War general in this Commonwealth, and statues in Reading and on
14 the battlefield at Gettysburg commemorate his service; and
15 WHEREAS, Spencer Fullerton Baird, born in Reading on February
16 3, 1823, achieved national recognition as a natural scientist
17 and, from 1850 through 1887, as assistant secretary and
18 secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C.;
19 and
20 WHEREAS, Mr. Baird contributed to the expansion of the
21 Smithsonian Institution, bringing it to international
22 prominence, and also held the post of United States Commissioner
23 of Fish and Fisheries from 1871 until his death in 1887; and
24 WHEREAS, James H. Maurer, a labor leader, organizer of the
25 Socialist Party and 1906 gubernatorial candidate, won election
26 to the State House of Representatives in 1910, 1914 and 1916;
27 and
28 WHEREAS, Mr. Maurer introduced and supported passage of the
29 Workmen's Compensation Act and was a president of the
30 Pennsylvania State Federation of Labor and a Socialist Party
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1 candidate for national offices in 1928, 1932 and 1934; therefore
2 be it
3 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives congratulate the
4 City of Reading on the occasion of its 250th anniversary,
5 recognize the notable contributions of its citizens, past and
6 present, and declare the week of March 23 through 30, 1998, as
7 "The City of Reading's 250th Anniversary Week" in this
8 Commonwealth.
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