ABCs of Centre County

Gatesburg (Ferguson) – Named for Henry Gates who laid out the village. Gates mined his land for iron ore for Centre Furnace and other local iron furnaces. Gatesburg Church and cemetery are central to the village.

Germania/German Settlement (Burnside) – "A small German colony came from Cumberland County in 1847, and purchasing a few hundred acres of land in the Gratz tract, lying along the southern line of Burnside Township, began at once to clear the tract, put up improvements and till the soil . There were about six families, all told, . . . Their tract was laid out into lots of fifty acres each, and to each family one lot was apportioned. The locality has been known as Germania, and remains to this day the exclusive abode as it was originally of the Germans". (John Blair Linn, 1883)

By the middle of the 20th century, the last residents had moved away. Only a barn and a few outbuildings remained of the once-flourishing little agricultural village of German Settlement, or Germania.

Glass City (Rush) – Because of the quality of white sand found in the area, this community at the western edge of Centre County was once considered the possible site of a glass manufacturing plant.