Reading

Reading (pop. 336,523), city on the Schuylkill River in southeast Pennsylvania. It is surrounded by rich farmland and the state's famous “Pennsylvania Dutch” colony, but it is best known as a major manufacturing center. The town was laid out in 1748 and named after the Penn family's home city in England. Reading was one of the first places in the United States to manufacture iron products and supplied cannon for the Revolution.

See also: Pennsylvania.