Walk down Penn Street in Reading today, and you’ll hear the rhythms of salsa and merengue drifting from storefronts, smell the savory aromas of arroz con pollo and mofongo wafting from family-owned restaurants, and see signs in both English and Spanish welcoming customers. This is not the Reading of generations past—this is Reading transformed, a city where Latino heritage has become woven into the very fabric of community life.
Reading, Pennsylvania—the fifth-largest city in the Commonwealth—has undergone one of the most remarkable demographic transformations of any American city in the past half-century. Once a predominantly white industrial hub famous for its railroad and iron works, Reading is now a majority-Latino city, with approximately 67% of its 95,000 residents identifying as Hispanic or Latino. This transformation represents not merely a change in demographics, but a profound reimagining of what an American city can become.
The First Wave: Puerto Rican Pioneers (1960s–1980s)
Mushroom Fields and New Beginnings
The Latino story of Reading begins in the mushroom fields.
In the mid-1960s, the first significant wave of Latino migrants—predominantly Puerto Ricans—arrived in Berks County, drawn by employment opportunities in the region’s thriving mushroom industry. Chester County, just to the south, had become the mushroom capital of America, and the demand for labor extended into southeastern Pennsylvania…