Best Web Design in Reading, PA (2026)

Web Design for Reading, Pennsylvania

Reading is the seat of Berks County and Pennsylvania's fourth-largest city, sitting on the Schuylkill River at the foot of Mount Penn. Founded by the sons of William Penn, it became an iron, rail, and pretzel-baking powerhouse, lent its name to the Reading Railroad in Monopoly, and is the birthplace of Taylor Swift. It later became known both for pioneering outlet shopping and for some of the nation's highest urban poverty rates.

AppWT works with Reading, PA businesses from Livonia, Michigan, mostly online and travelling as needed.

About Reading

Also known as. Pretzel City. Pretzel Capital of the World.

History. Established in 1748 by Richard and Thomas Penn, sons of William Penn, with Conrad Weiser, and named after Reading in Berkshire, England; it became the Berks County seat in 1752. Local ironworks armed George Washington's Continental Army, and in 1793 Washington considered Reading as an emergency national capital during Philadelphia's yellow fever epidemic. A violent 1877 railroad strike over delayed wages left six Reading men dead. From 1927 to 1931 Reading had a Socialist-controlled city government under Mayor J. Henry Stump, making it one of the few U.S. cities so governed; Hurricane Agnes flooded the city in 1972.

Local economy. Industrial growth was driven by iron and steel, the Schuylkill Canal (1824), the Union Canal (1828), and the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad; the railroad, incorporated in 1833, hauled anthracite coal to the coast. In the 1970s the VF Outlet Village (opened by lingerie maker Vanity Fair) became the first outlet mall in the United States, making Reading an early outlet-shopping destination. Largest employers (2017) included Reading Hospital (about 6,878), East Penn Manufacturing (about 6,851), and Carpenter Technology (about 2,432). Department store chain Boscov's traces to a first store opened in 1914 at 9th and Pike streets in Reading.

Culture and community. Reading earned 'Pretzel Capital of the World' with bakeries such as Bachman, Dieffenbach, Tom Sturgis, and Unique; at its peak it had roughly 26 pretzel bakeries producing about a third of U.S. pretzels. The 5th Avenue candy bar and the York Peppermint Pattie were both invented in Reading. The Reading Fightin Phils, a Double-A Phillies affiliate, play at FirstEnergy Stadium; alumni include Mike Schmidt, Ryne Sandberg, and Jimmy Rollins, and the Reading Royals play hockey at Santander Arena. Comedian Jackie Gleason began his career at Reading's Tiny's Chateau nightclub in 1935, and the 17-time DCA champion Reading Buccaneers drum corps hail from the city.

What makes Reading distinct. Taylor Swift was born at Reading Hospital on December 13, 1989. Reading Railroad is one of the four railroads on the classic U.S. Monopoly board. Automotive pioneer Charles Duryea, of the Duryea Motor Wagon (America's first gasoline-car company), moved to Reading in 1900 and used Mount Penn's switchback road as a durability test track. The mechanical ice cream scoop was invented in Reading by William Clewell in 1876. In 2011 Reading was labeled the poorest small city in the nation, with a 41.3% poverty rate. Other Reading-area natives and figures include novelist John Updike, poet Wallace Stevens, artist Keith Haring, and golfer Betsy King.

Reading Landmarks and Local Life

• The Pagoda - a Japanese-style structure built in 1908 atop Mount Penn and visible across the city
• The William Penn Memorial Fire Tower (1939) - a 120-foot tower with roughly 60-mile panoramic views
• Santander Arena and the adjacent Santander Performing Arts Center.
• FirstEnergy Stadium - home of the Reading Fightin Phils