Local Historia

This day I confess to my sorrow and shame, I shot Reuben Guild whom I never knew by name. And left his body weltering all in a purple gore, Even now I regret it and will forever more.[1] –Ballad of James Munks (one of many versions) One of the challenging but enjoyable aspects of being…

In the 18th century, the lands that would become Centre County were harsh to European settlers. Taken by force or treaty from Native American populations who were pushed west, the lands, though plentiful in resources, needed to be carved into a community from dense, primordial forest. Only the bravest or most industrious fur traders and…

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 now Worth Township, Centre County. Somewhere between Port Matilda and Julian, he started to clear land to build a home and a life. Meanwhile, on…

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 cut through the vast wilderness, and the county seat, Bellefonte, had established itself as a beacon of “unshakeable character and civic order.” Yet that very…

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 map of Centre County that they had found rolled up in the attic of Susan’s childhood home, known as the Millheim Toll House. They proudly…

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 had seen historic snowfall and low temperatures across January and February. A week prior to St. Patrick’s Day, Central Pennsylvania was blanketed with 2 to…

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 airships, including from Bellefonte. However, on his last voyage from a fairgrounds in St. Louis, Missouri, something went terribly wrong. As Wise and a passenger…

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 change. Women’s roles in society began to change behind the efforts of suffragettes, the automobile connected communities like never before, and America launched its “noble…

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 crime of George Clark Skidmore. On September 20, 1930, twenty-year-old George Skidmore was involved in a robbery of a service station in the Mount Washington…

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 to be. Making the trip to State College from many metropolitan areas has shrunk from a full day’s trip to a few hours on expressways…