Local Historia

The War of 1812 is often overlooked, especially its impact on locals in the middle of Pennsylvania. In 1811, George Records was one of the first settlers of what is […]

By the mid-19th century, Centre County stood as a cradle of industry and statesmen in the wilds of the Alleghenies. Ironworks dotted the landscape, logging was at its peak, railroads […]

I recently had the honor of visiting Jimmy Brown (James Robert Brown) at his home in Spring Mills. He and his fiancé, Susan Randolph, had just restored a rare 1861 […]

In Central Pennsylvania, few disasters linger in the memories of our communities like the St. Patrick’s Day flood of March 17, 1936. The winter of 1935-36 was particularly harsh, and […]

Professor John Wise was one of America’s foremost aeronauts in the 19th century. Between 1835 and 1879, the Pennsylvania native made 462 aerial voyages in a variety of handcrafted balloon […]

During the Roaring ’20s, America experienced a cultural revolution that would echo throughout history, breaking from the traditional Victorian values of the previous century and ushering in an era of […]

What do a murder at a Pittsburgh gas station during the Great Depression, a shootout near the Rattlesnake Mountain airmail beacon, and Bellefonte Academy students have in common? The true […]

Cruising down Interstate 99, driving along U.S. Route 322, or even meandering through forgotten villages along the backroads of Pennsylvania, it’s easy to lose sight of how difficult travel used […]

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 […]