Reading, PA: Lost/Reading Iron Works

9th Street Rolling Mills: (Satellite, north of this track, west of Kutztown Road and south of Hiester's Lane.)

Oley Street Mills: (Satellite, the undeveloped land in the bend of the river.)

GoReadingBooks posted
1922 and 2025: The Reading Iron Company acquired various plants, including the rolling mills, which were part of a significant expansion and modernization effort. The Ninth Street Rolling Mill on the south side of Hiester’s Lane (center of photo) were involved in the production of various iron and steel products, including large bar iron, round, square, and flat iron, as well as nail plates and band iron.

GoReadingBooks posted six photos with the comment: "The Reading Iron Company, founded in 1836 by Benneville Keim and others, grew from a small nail factory into one of the world’s largest producers of wrought iron pipe. Located along the Schuylkill River in Reading, Pennsylvania, the company expanded through the 19th century with major mills, furnaces, and foundries, employing over 7,500 workers at its peak. After its 1889 reorganization and acquisition by the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, it thrived under the Reading Company holding structure. Despite its industrial success, the company declined in the 1930s and ceased major operations by 1938, leaving a lasting legacy in Reading’s industrial history."

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GoReadingBerks posted
OLEY STREET MILLS — a division of the Reading Iron Company. Shown is a short-wheelbase Autocar plant truck (Autocar Co., Ardmore, Pa.) lettered “READING IRON COMPANY — OLEY STREET MILLS.” The scene is inside the Oley Street Mills yard, south of the foot of West Douglass Street and east of the Schuylkill River, on the ground between Clinton Street and the Schuylkill Canal, just above Kissinger’s Lock. In 1920, Reading Iron reported operating twenty-two (22) Autocars. The model pictured is the 1½-ton Autocar chassis, sold as: 97-inch wheelbase chassis: $2,300; 120-inch wheelbase chassis: $2,400. Designed for big mills, the Autocar’s short wheelbase let it maneuver in tight aisles to feed the furnaces with coal and raw stock, haul ashes, shuttle loads to and from the river yards, and run pick-up errands. Visible features here include solid rubber tires on artillery wheels and a factory dump body suited to ash and materials handling.

9th Street Mill

Once again, I can use a cemetery as a fixed point between then and now. The iron works are the buildings near the upper-right corner of this map.

1915/15 Reading Quad @ 62,500

Note the Reading roundhouse.

Apr 28, 1946 @ 33,000; AR1XP4700040007

Oley Street Mill

1:33 video

Apr 28, 1946 @ 33,000; AR1XP4700040007