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History · Penn State Berks

Penn State Berks dates to 1927, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Below: maps from 1894 on.

1927founded
1on the National Register
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: BerksCountyUpdate · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Penn State Berks began

When was Penn State Berks founded?

1927

Penn State Berks dates its founding to 1927 (Wikidata).

2020 census: 66899 years
Founding year: Wikidata.The full story ↓

What stands out about Penn State Berks’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Penn State Berks are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18948 editions of the USGS map, 1894 to 1999. Watch Penn State Berks change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Penn State Berks’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Penn State Berks’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

Penn State Berks on the map, 1894 to 1999

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Penn State Berks. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Penn State Berks on the 1894 USGS mapPenn State Berks on the 1913 USGS mapPenn State Berks on the 1944 USGS mapPenn State Berks on the 1956 USGS mapPenn State Berks on the 1968 USGS mapPenn State Berks on the 1974 USGS mapPenn State Berks on the 1983 USGS mapPenn State Berks on the 1999 USGS map1894Reading sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Penn State Berks.

The story

How Penn State Berks came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Penn State Berks.

Read it all →

The school traces its origins to 1927 and the establishment of a training school for workers for the Textile Machine Works, a major company in the region's textile industry. This school, which was known as the "Educational Department of Textile Machine Works" from 1927 to 1933 and then was the "Wyomissing Polytechnic Institute" from 1933 to 1958, was established with the aid of the then-Pennsylvania State College. WPI occupied the original Sacred Heart Church building on Hill Road, where the McDonald's Restaurant now stands, from 1930 to 1958. WPI, which is considered the first official predecessor to Penn State Berks, closed in 1958 with the down-turn of the textile industry at large in the Reading area.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Penn State Berks, decade by decade

Today6 recent
PSUBerks Dorms 04 - Woods2003PSUBerks Dorms 04 - WoodsPSUBerks Dorms 03 - Village2003PSUBerks Dorms 03 - VillagePSUBerks Tullys2002PSUBerks TullysPSUBerks Dorms 022002PSUBerks Dorms 02PSUBerks Dorms 012002PSUBerks Dorms 01PSUBerks Central 12002PSUBerks Central 1
On the National Register

1 historic place in Penn State Berks

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Penn State Berks

Nobody well known was born in Penn State Berks itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
John UpdikeAmerican novelist, poet · b. 1932
Wallace StevensAmerican poet · b. 1879
Chad HurleyAmerican businessman, co-founder of YouTube · b. 1977
John BarrassoAmerican physician and politician · b. 1952
Spencer Fullerton BairdAmerican naturalist, ornithologist, ichthyologi… · b. 1823
A
Austin SwiftAmerican actor · b. 1992
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Spring RidgeIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSpring Township1 historic placeB−

Questions about Penn State Berks’ history

What year was Penn State Berks founded?

In 1927, according to Wikidata.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia and U.S. Geological Survey historical maps. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.