Berks County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2000 census, the population was 373,638. The population in 2006 was estimated at 401,149 by the US Census Bureau. Its county seat is Reading. Berks County is part of the Reading, PA metropolitan statistical area and as of 2005, is also considered part of the Philadelphia combined statistical area.
Reading developed during the 1740s when the inhabitants of northern Lanca...
more
Berks County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2000 census, the population was 373,638. The population in 2006 was estimated at 401,149 by the US Census Bureau. Its county seat is Reading. Berks County is part of the Reading, PA metropolitan statistical area and as of 2005, is also considered part of the Philadelphia combined statistical area.
Reading developed during the 1740s when the inhabitants of northern Lancaster County sent several petitions requesting that a separate county be established. With the help of German immigrant Conrad Weiser, the county was formed on March 11, 1752 from parts of Chester County, Lancaster County, and Philadelphia County.
It was named after William Penn's family home of Reading, Berkshire, England. Berks County began much larger than it is today. The northwestern parts of the county went to the founding of Northumberland County in 1772 and Schuylkill County in 1811, when it reached its current size. In 2005, Berks...
less