| The city of Reading and Trinity Lutheran Church have grown side by side through 250 years of their history. When the Towne of Reading was laid out in 1748, the Rev. Tobias Wagner, pastor of the large Tulpehocken congregation and officiant at the marriage of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg to Ann Marie Weiser, began getting Lutherans together for services at Conrad Weiser's Trading Post.
By 1751 Trinity was formally organized. A log church was built, surmounted by
a modest bell tower and clock. The congregation petitioned for admittance into the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, and Dr. H.M. Muhlenberg, its president, officiated and preached the first sermon here on October 15, 1752.
At least ten pastors served in that log church. In the relatively propsperous times following the American Revolution, an elegant brick church was erected and dedicated on Trinity Sunday, 1794. There was a bell tower but no steeple. In 1833, the first steeple was complete; reaching to 202 feet, it was the tallest structure in Pennsylvania at the time. After sixty years it was deemed unsafe and completely rebuilt. It survived a lightning strike in 1925 only to be felled by a tornado in 1933. In 1833, an idea was presented to add a steeple to the brick church, which today now stands as it originally did and, with the addition of spotlights, is a famous City landmark both day and night.
 Passersby are intrigued by the old grave markers in the Churchyard, the original cemetary. Here lies Dr. Bodo Otto, a senior surgeon in Washington's army, who, with his sons, enlisted the help of Trinity as a hospital after the Battle of Brandywine in 1777.
Over the years, Trinity has given birth to many other Lutheran congregations in Reading. St. Matthew's and St. James' were started as English speaking while St. John's broke away to continue holding services in German. St. Luke's, Grace, Faith, Hope, Peace, St. Mark's, Holy Spirit, and Bethany, West Reading, are all daughters of Trinity.
The Rev. Dr. Gunnar Knudsen, historian and Trinity Pastor from 1943-1967, wrote in Two Living Centuries:
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