In 1743, Richard and Thomas Penn (sons of William Penn, for whom Pennsylvania is named) planned the town of Reading. Taking its name from Reading, BerkshireReading, England, it was established in 1748. Upon the creation of Berks County in 1752 the town became the county seat. During the French and Indian War, Reading was a military base for a chain of forts along the Blue Mountains. Meanwhile the region was being settled by emigrants from southern and western Germany. By the time of the American Revolution, the area's iron industry had a total production which exceeded England's, an output that would help supply George Washington's troops with cannons, rifles, and ammunition in the Revolutionary War. During the early period of the conflict, Reading was a depot again for military supply. Hessian prisoners from the battle of Trenton were also detained there. The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad (P&R) was incorporated in 1833. For the following century and a quarter, Reading was still largely a Pennsylvania Dutch city, with many inhabitants speaking a dialect of German and programs in the language being broadcast regularly on commercial radio by "Die Wunnernaus" (a Pennsylvania Dutch term for a busybody) and other colorful personalities. A weekly program of polkas, announced in Polish, could also be heard. But all this was to change in the 1960s. Reading saw continuous growth until the 1930s, when the population reached nearly 120,000. From the 1940s to the 1970s, however, the city saw a sharp downturn in prosperity, largely owing to the decline of the heavy industry and railroads on which Reading had been built and a general flight to the suburbs. In 1972, Hurricane Agnes caused extensive flooding in the city, not the first time the lower precincts of Reading were inundated by the Schuylkill River. In the early 1970s, abandoned textile mills just outside Reading were developed to create the VF Outlet Village, the first outlet mall in the United States. The mall became so successful that it drew millions of tourists to Reading every year. The 2000 Census shows Reading's population decline beginning to turn around. This has been attributed to an increase in Hispanic migrants from New York and also urban sprawlsuburban sprawl connecting the city to the Philadelphia suburbs. In 2003, Reading's crime index was 638.3 -- higher than Philadelphia's and far above the national urban average of 329.7. That same year Reading ranked 30th in murders among all the cities in America, with 19.8 per 100,000 population. For its population size, Reading is often ranked among the most dangerous cities in the United States http://www.morganquitno.com/xcit06pop.htm#METRO. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading%2C_Pennsylvania