South Temple, PA

South Temple is a Berks County census-designated place tucked inside Muhlenberg Township about four miles north of Reading. The 2010 census counted 1,424 residents. Its streets were laid out as a 1920s residential development by a builder named Sharp, with custom houses aimed at an emerging middle-class market. The neighborhood's old boundaries are easy to follow: 5th Street Highway, also known as U.S. Route 222 Business, on the west; Sharp Avenue on the south; 11th Avenue on the east; and Darby Avenue on the north. Kutztown Road once carried the street-running trolley, and the interurban pavilion at 11th and Park still stands.

South Temple uses township services and shares the Muhlenberg School District campus nearby. Mature trees, sidewalks, varied house styles, two churches on North Temple Boulevard, and South Temple Pool give the area its own neighborhood texture as an unincorporated place. Reading is close enough to shape work and errands, while Temple is the mailing address. South Temple's local scoop is a streetcar-era suburb whose identity lives in its block pattern, homes, and old trolley route.