Philadelphia & Reading Terminal Railroad Records of Land Titles

The Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company (P&R) was one of the first railroads in the United States. It was initially built in 1833 to haul anthracite coal from Northeastern Pennsylvania to Philadelphia. In 1871, the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company purchased anthracite coal mines throughout Coal Region. Through this vertical integration, it became one of the largest companies in the world, with some considering it to have been the first conglomerate. P&R later acquired North Pennsylvania Railroad which provided access to the steel industry in Lehigh Valley. Throughout the late nineteenth century, the company continued expanding across Pennsylvania and New Jersey by adding new railroad lines, as well as by purchasing more coal mines. In 1893, the company opened Reading Terminal in Philadelphia which is currently the Reading Terminal Market. P&R was successful well into the mid-twentieth century. The company declined in profitability because of the increase of trucking with the Interstate Highway System, as well as the decline in coal-use. P&R went bankrupt in 1971.