The above rendering, showing the area in and around the developed portion of Penn's Common, is based on Geil & Shrope's wall map of Reading, published in 1857.The land north of Washington Street, actually a part of "the Commons," was under the control of the county commissioners at the time. From 1854 to 1887, the Berks County Agricultural Society had exclusive use of 39 acres of prime parkland as a site for its annual fair.