- City:
- Reading, PA
- Site Type:
- Parks and Recreation, Amphitheaters and Bandshells
- New Deal Agencies:
- Public Works Administration (PWA), Public Works Funding, Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Started:
- 1938
- Completed:
- 1939
Description
Reading, Pennsylvania’s historic City Park Fireman’s Memorial Bandshell was constructed during the Great Depression with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds.
“The City Park Fireman’s Memorial Bandshell was dedicated on Labor Day in 1939. The Bandshell, located at Hill Road & Constitution Blvd in Reading, is home to the Ashley for the Arts Bandshell Concert Series held annually. In 2011 the Bandshell was renovated at a cost of a about one million dollars.”
PWA Docket No. X2137
Prior to the bandshells construction, a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project was undertaken, to raze “the front of the old Berks jail and the jail yard walls,” thus clearing the land for the bandshell. The Reading Times reported: “$12,800 WPA funds have been allotted, will pave the way for use of the site for a firemen’s memorial, to which use city council has dedicated it.”
Source notes
National Archives: Record Group 135: Public Works Administration; Projects Control Division; Entry 52: Indices to Non-Federal Projects; Report No. 5: Status of All Completed Non-Federal Allotted Projects, page 38.
https://www.goreadingberks.com/parksandrecreation.php
Reading Times, June 12, 1937 (pg. 11)
Site originally submitted by Evan Kalish on September 7, 2015.
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