Local Historia

I’ve been researching the jails in Bellefonte for several years, hoping to find which jails were earliest and where they were located. I got serious about this topic when a […]

On a steamy Thursday evening in early June 1900, the Tyrone Borough Council met to discuss several issues facing the railroad boom town. This meeting, however, was different. A highly […]

Many visitors and locals are fascinated by the big trout in Bellefonte’s Talleyrand Park. The fish can be found lurking beneath the cool waters of Spring Creek, in particular under […]

Much has been written of the legendary 148th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers of the Civil War and their prolific commander, James A. Beaver. From their regimental history, to numerous battlefield monuments […]

I recently received an interesting phone call from a world-renowned artist, Michael Pilato, who was working on a mural for Bellefonte. His art includes inspring stories from all over the […]

In the chaotic times of the 1760s, many settlers attempted to forge a homestead from the isolated frontier in the heart of the Pennsylvania wilderness. Decades before the iron boom […]

Potter Township was founded 250 years ago. It is celebrated as Centre County’s oldest surviving township which still bears the same name. Back in 1774, it was part of Northumberland […]

In the early morning hours of May 30, 1893, Engineer “Red” Cresswell attempted to bring Walter L. Main’s circus train—full of exotic animals, expert performers, employees, equipment, and Main himself—down […]

A romance blossomed in the 1860s between a world-class scientist and the daughter of an ironmaster. The first president of the Farmers’ High School, Dr. Evan Pugh, found his one […]

When cruising down Interstate 99, it’s easy to fly past exit 61. Nestled in the Bald Eagle Valley just off the highway between Tyrone and State College lies the small […]