In 1729, John Conrad Weiser, the most famous citizen of the area, joined his fellow Germans and built his homestead just east of present-day Womelsdorf. The settlement grew in the 1800s with a turnpike, a canal, a railroad, and more highways. Villages were started, and three became boroughs. Womelsdorf is the oldest borough in the western part of Berks County, while Robesonia and Wernersville were railroad towns laid out in the 1850s. Some remain villages to this day. Stouchsburg grew up around the turnpike and the canal. Charming Forge was the first industry in the area, and the village...