2023 Boogersburg Open House

The school bell will be ringing at the historic Boogersburg One-Room School on Sunday, September 10, 2023 starting at 1:00 p.m. to welcome children of all ages back to school!  Come any time in the afternoon from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m., enjoy refreshments, learn about the school’s history, join in recess games, try your hand […]

Centre County Explorers Day

Your Passport to Centre County HistorySunday, June 4, 2023 The Centre County Historical Society is holding a Centre County Explorers Day for visitors of all ages at the Centre Furnace Mansion on Sunday, June 4, 2:00-5:00 p.m. To celebrate the newly designed Centre County Explorers Passport, visitors will have the opportunity to pick up a […]

Up, Up, and Away: Sherm Lutz and the State College Air Depot

Up, Up and Away: Sherm Lutz and the State College Air Depot

In the beginning of the 20th century, aviation was not a technology on the minds of most everyday folk.  A technology known for its dangerous crashes and malfunctions, aviation failed to resonate as a meaningful science.  Centre County’s own pilot pioneer, Sherman “Sherm Lutz” embraced the adventure, but also had a grander vision of bringing commercial airline flights to the region.

Tough Times and Lasting Legacies

Tough Times and Lasting Legacies: The Great Depression, the New Deal, and Centre County Presented by the Centre County Historical Society in 2008. Pennsylvania’s history as an industrial leader made it especially vulnerable to the economic breakdown that epitomized the 1930s and the Great Depression. Within four years of the stock market crash of 1929, […]

28th Annual Centre Furnace Mansion Plant Celebration

SATURDAY, MAY 13, 9:00 a.m.—2:00 p.m. RAIN OR SHINE! The Centre County Historical Society invites the public to attend its 28th Annual Plant Celebration sale on Saturday, May 13, 2023 at the Centre Furnace Mansion from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.  Bring your burning garden questions, plant samples or identification questions for Penn State Cooperative […]

Lay This Body Down

May 2, 2023 Centre County native Charles Fergus will present a talk and book signing about his third Gideon Stoltz Mystery, Lay This Body Down. Fergus writes mysteries set in Pennsylvania in the Jacksonian Era of the 1830s. This talk will be held at the Centre Furnace Mansion in State College at 7:00 p.m. Lay […]

Reporting the Civil War

March 26, 2023 Professor Ford Risley will present an illustrated talk, “Reporting the Civil War,” based on his book, Civil War Journalism. The talk will be held on March 26 at 2:00 p.m. at the Centre Furnace Mansion. The Civil War was the first American war widely reported by newspapers and magazines. Hundreds of correspondents, […]

Rethinking 322

Rethinking 322, Strategies for the Proposed State College Area Connector in Penns-Brush Valley is a new resource booklet designed to help inform local residents’ responses to PennDOT’s State College Area Connector project — is now available online from the Centre County Historical Society, at CentreHistory.org/connector. The booklet is the outgrowth of a partnership between Department […]

“​Penn State Blue Band”

Talk and Book Signing by Thomas E. Range II and Lewis LazarowSunday, October 23, 2022 at 2:00 p.m.At Centre LifeLink EMS, 125 Puddintown Road, State College, PA Thomas E. Range II and Lewis Lazarow, will present an illustrated talk: Penn State Blue Band. ​The Penn State Blue Band has been performing for over enthusiastic fans […]