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Reading, Pennsylvania was founded in 1748 by Thomas and Richard Penn, sons of William Penn, and named after the Berkshire town their family came from. During the American Revolution the city's iron furnaces and forges supplied Washington's Continental Army with weapons and ammunition at a scale that reportedly exceeded England's total production at the time. The Reading Railroad, established in 1833, became one of the most powerful rail companies in America and moved Pennsylvania anthracite coal to eastern ports for most of the 19th century. Reading is one of four railroads on the Monopoly board, a detail that Pennsylvanians mention with some frequency.

The Pagoda on Mount Penn is the most unexpected structure in eastern Pennsylvania: a seven-story Japanese-style tower built in 1908 by a quarry owner named William Witman who wanted to turn a scarred hillside into something beautiful.

The tower rises above the Reading skyline and is visible from most of the city below. The road to the summit winds through Skyline Drive, and the views over the Schuylkill Valley on a clear day extend to the mountains fifty miles away. The building is now a city landmark and visitor center.