ABCs of Centre County

Sandy Ridge (Rush) – Coal, timber, and refractory products all have been part of Sandy Ridge's history. The first brick works was established there in the 1860s. Railroad branch lines carried products to the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Vail, in Clearfield County.

Scotia/Benore (Patton) – From 1790 on, iron ore scattered throughout the Barrens provided raw material for dozens of iron furnaces that dotted the central Pennsylvania landscape. In 1881 Pittsburgh industrialist Andrew Carnegie purchased 400 acres of Centre Furnace land from ironmaster Moses Thompson to build a model company iron mining town called Scotia, Little Scotland. But within twenty years, ore supplies dwindled, technology changed, and by 1911 most traces of the community had vanished. It was reopened, briefly, during World War II; remaining traces of buildings date from that time.

Shingletown (Harris) – In 1883 Centre County historian John Blair Linn described the village of Shingletown on Roaring Run as "A quiet and peaceful village . . . near the mountain which towers heavenward . . . (boasting) a beautiful stream, which abounds in the speckled beauties." The Shingletown area provided wood for charcoal for the early iron industry.

Snow Shoe Borough – "Snow Shoe has for many years been a popular summer resort, where mountain air and mountain scenery invite and charm hundreds of visitors yearly. The village occupies an elevation of eight hundred and fifty feet above Bellefonte and about two thousand feet above tide-water. The water is excellent, the roads superb, and hotel accommodations ample as well as agreeable." (John Blair Linn 1883)

The Bellefonte and Snow Shoe Railroad came into this Snow Shoe in 1859 and promoted rapid growth for the Snow Shoe area, establishing hotels, coal mines, and other businesses as well as providing new housing, and accumulating vast tracts of land for lumbering. In 1881 the railroad and property holdings were sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad and their coal interests to Berwind White Co. In 1885 the Lehigh Valley Coal Company took over Berwind White's coal lands and became the area's prime employer for the next 65 to 70 years. Reflecting a diminishing role nationwide, the Pennsylvania Railroad abandoned its entire line here on May 1, 1959.

Snydertown (Walker) – Located on the old highway between Hublersburg and Nittany, Snydertown was also a station on the Central Railroad of Pennsylvania that operated between Bellefonte and Mill Hall. Snydertown was named for John Snyder, a teamster during the Revolutionary War.

Spring Mills/Rising Springs (Gregg) – "Israel J. Grenoble is at present busily employed in constructing a large and beautiful hotel. Its dimensions are one hundred feet long and fifty feet wide, and when completed will accommodate 100 guests. It is to cost $5000. It is located east of the village, upon a slight eminence. From its roof one can gain a view of the entire valley". (John Blair Linn, 1883)

With a sawmill and gristmill built at the confluence of Sinking Creek and Penns Creek in the early 1790s, and several sizeable springs also located nearby, it seems appropriate that first settlers gave this early community the name Spring Mills. When, in 1877, the Lewisburg and Tyrone Railroad made Spring Mills a destination point along its route, what had been an agricultural center changed to that of a resort town. Rising Springs became the name of the railroad station.

State College Borough – The Borough of State College grew from a small assemblage of homes located across the road from the main building of the Farmers High School into a town large enough to warrant incorporation in 1896. Businesses opened along College Avenue to serve the needs of a growing student body and college personnel. Rooming and boarding houses initially provided housing for both students and faculty, but within a decade several subdivisions were developed to meet the needs of a growing community. By the 1920s large and elaborate fraternities were added, as were a wide variety of early 20th-century single family homes, some designed by area architects, some chosen from pattern books, and many selected from a variety of styles offered in mail-order catalogs. State College, despite its comparative youth, has grown to be the largest community in Centre County.

Stormstown (Halfmoon) – The village that is now called Stormstown was located on one of the area's earliest roads. Laid out in 1791-92, the road served as a main route for the shipment of Centre County iron west to Pittsburgh. First settler Abraham Elder's tavern, on the east end of the village, was a stopping place for iron haulers. In 1812 David Storm recorded a plat of 30 lots, plus a school lot, that he named Walkerville, on the west side of present-day Municipal Lane in the middle of Stormstown. The origin of the Walker connection has not yet been tracked down. Some twenty years after Walkerville was established, Caleb Way slowly started selling off lots between Walkerville and the former site of Elder' tavern, in an area that was briefly called Wayville. Eventually, by the time of the Civil War, the whole area was called Stormstown. The enterprises of the village included a gristmill, sawmill, distillery, tannery, wagon maker, and several craftsmen's shops – blacksmith, weaver, potter, and chairmaker. An Easter fire in 1867 destroyed twenty-six buildings, many of which were never rebuilt.