Dustin Elder
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Port Matilda: From Plank Road to the Brick Company
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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 town of Port Matilda. Today, the town has a bank, market, post office, elementary school and the Port Matilda Hotel and Tavern (which boasts some…
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Local Historia: Daring to Fly ‘Hell Stretch’
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It’s the early hours of an unusually warm, dry June Saturday—perfect conditions for testing the U.S. Airmail’s experimental night flights. The difficulties of flying, especially the “Hell Stretch” above the Allegheny Front, are well-publicized, but you’re one of the most experienced pilots in the country, with well over 700 flight hours, so you’re confident in…
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Local Historia: The Famed Rattlesnake Pike
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The world of a post-Revolution Pennsylvanian was small. Communities sprouting in the Appalachians were secluded, typically appearing alongside precious resources of the era like fertile soil and iron ore. These isolated villages were largely self-contained, featuring all the mills, smiths, and tradesmen required to sustain an early American settlement. It wasn’t until the creation of…
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Local Historia: The Nittany Lion’s Namesake
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Throughout Pennsylvania, one predator has captured the imagination of generations: the mountain lion. We are enamored by the thought of such an elusive and dangerous animal, whether serving as the mascot of a great university or being reported by the hundreds of hunters who claim to see one stalking the Pennsylvania woodlands each year. Today,…
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Local Historia: Tributes to Central Pa.’s Chief Logan
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Logan Branch, Logan Fire Company, Logan Street, Logan Avenue, Logan Valley. All across central Pennsylvania, the name Logan is almost as familiar a branding as the name of any U.S. Founding Father. Who was this mythical Logan, and what did he accomplish in his lifetime that impacted our area to such an extent that we…
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PSU’s Original Groundskeeper: William G. Waring
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As students hurry through campus on their way to class, it’s easy to miss the natural beauty of Penn State’s grounds. From the Old Main Lawn at University Park, to the pond at Altoona campus, to the Arboretum at Behrend, a tradition of excellence in agriculture, landscaping, and design serves as a point of pride…
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Local Historia: Edison, Electricity and Progress in Centre County
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In October 1879, the world changed forever. From his Menlo Park, New Jersey, laboratory, Thomas Edison finished the first iteration of his newest invention: the incandescent lightbulb. Several inventors at the time were working on this project, each competing to see who could get the most efficient bulb to market first. The genius of Edison’s…
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Local Historia: Mining the Riches of Scotia
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The age of iron was ending. For over a century, the Juniata Iron region of central Pennsylvania had dominated the iron market. The geographic region combined all the essential ingredients for high-quality iron making in one location. Throughout the 1800s, towns would blossom into cities around furnaces and forges, connected by a spider web of…
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Keep the Fires Burning: Eagle Iron Works and Curtin Village
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Combine iron ore, limestone, charcoal, and water power, and you have the ingredients necessary to produce one of the most significant materials of the industrial age: iron. Centre County was part of a unique region in the United States that produced some of the highest quality iron on the market: Juniata Iron. In its prime,…
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Green Gold: ‘The Prince of Loggers,’ Bellefonte’s John Ardell Jr., Was a Keystone of Pennsylvania’s Timber Market
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Covering 90 percent of Pennsylvania’s nearly 30 million acres, forests served as “green gold” to her early colonists. Timber provided stability to Pennsylvania’s economy, just as it did for the structures it built. As America grew, timber fueled progress. The logging boom of the 1800s was at the heart of America’s industrial revolution, and the…