The City of Reading has two mottos: “The Crossroads of Opportunity” and “We Do Our Best” (from the German “Wir Tun Unser Bestes”).

Downtown Reading has seized opportunities and done its best in recent decades by forming the country’s most well known Bridal District. A concentration of wedding related businesses lines Benson Street and beyond, attracting altar-bound regional shoppers from far and wide.

Reading’s economic bread and butter, however, is supplying aerospace and automotive plants in nearby Evendale and Sharonville.

Historically known as a “sundown town,” African Americans were prohibited from residing in Reading for many decades. Census data shows zero blacks within the population from 1860 to 1960.