Spruce Street reopens near partial church collapse in Reading
May 16—The second of two Reading streets closed May 3 near the former St. Cecilia's Chapel at 1340 Perkiomen Ave. has reopened.
Crews removed the barricades in the 1300 block of Spruce Street today.
The 1300 block of Perkiomen Avenue was reopened Monday.
The partial collapse of the chapel's steeple on May 3 and subsequent inspection led to the closing of a portion of the two streets.
Work to dismantle and seal the steeple began May 6 and was completed today.
Built as a mission of St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church, the building's datestone reads 1892.
Construction of the chapel was funded by Theodore I. Heizmann, who named it in memory of his mother M. Cecelia Heizmann.
It was officially dedicated in 1895 during a ceremony led by the Rev. George Bornemann, pastor of St. Paul's and founder of Gethsemane Cemetery in Laureldale and St. Joseph Hospital, now in Bern Township and part of Penn State Health.
Heizmann, with his brother, Albert, established the now defunct Penn Hardware Works in 1877.
The chapel was sold about 35 years ago and the stained glass windows, pews and some other artifacts were salvaged and reused in Gethsemane's Chapel of the Resurrection.
The building is owned by Total Family Christian Center Inc., according to county online records.
