The Reading Stove Works manufactured stoves, furnaces, and heaters. It was founded in 1866 by Jesse Orr (1839-1892), John R. Painter (1823-1883), Peter W. Nagle (1829-1904), William Grander (1821-1881), Henry C. Posey (1822-1887), Elijah Bull (1834-1900), William H. Schick (1835-1902), Jasper Sheeler (1835-1876), and Charles Egolf (1816-1890) as Orr, Painter & Company with a capital of $400,000. They located their foundry on Canal street between Chestnut and Spruce. The company employed fourteen moulders and ran a relatively successful business with approximately 500 employees. The company formally incorporated in 1886 under the name of Reading Stove Works, Orr, Painter & Co.

With an enlarged plant, the company began to produce for a world market, as well as having branch offices in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Buffalo, and Chicago. Sales amounted to $550,000 per year. For several years, the company supplied the Postal Department of the United States with the postal boxes for the street collection. After the First World War, the company went into a period of decline. It closed its doors for the last time in 1935.