WFMZ .com Dec 15, 2025
READING, Pa.- On a frigid December day, officials, historians and members of the International Honor Society of Nursing gathered at Reading's City Park, formerly known as Penn's Common, to celebrate the unveiling of a historical marker where a Civil War-era military hospital operated from 1862 to 1863.
Members of the Ladies Volunteer Aid Association helped care for the wounded who were brought in at that time.
"They helped to create the hospital, to stock the hospital and to make sure that the patients had extra things such as books and things to make them more comfortable while they were here," said Theresa Adams, a nurse historian for Sigma Chapter at Alvernia University.
Local researchers found an obituary of a nurse here from that time.
"She spoke about the fact that there were only four nurses," Adams explained. "Two worked day shift and two worked night shift, providing all the care for the patients that were here."
Adams, along with other members of the International Society of Nursing at Alvernia University, were instrumental in bringing about the commemorative marker.
The plaque will be placed in the general area where that hospital once stood near the current comfort station in City Park.
"I think it's really important that the Ladies Aid Society is recognized for the work that they did do because in those days, in particular, it was the males, their husbands, who were physicians that were mentioned for their work that they did," said Adams. "They [the ladies] were quietly doing this work, behind the scenes, because that's what women did; they were caregivers."