The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international organization that promotes abstinence from alcohol and also campaigns for other social causes. The organization was active in Centre County for decades with chapters across the county.
Rhoneymeade is a rural arboretum and sculpture garden at the ancestral home of Leonard Rhone, a founder of the Centre County Grange Encampment and Fair. It hosts various events annually, as well as art classes, and is open seasonally from sunrise to sunset.
The Soldiers’ Orphan Schools provided education for children in Pennsylvania beginning during the Civil War and continuing until 2009. Established by Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin of Bellefonte, one of the schools operated in Centre County for four years.
John Hamilton was one of the most influential leaders in the early history of Penn State and State College. He served in numerous roles with the new college, was a member of the borough council, and built a home that started the Highlands Historic District.
Sibyl Barsky Grucci was an acclaimed artist and sculptor, best known locally for the bust of Penn State author and professor Fred Lewis Pattee. She and her husband bought and renovated the historic Boogersburg School, which she used as a studio.
Ag Progress Days is an agricultural exposition that has been held annually by Penn State for more than fifty years. Sponsored by the College of Agricultural Sciences, the three-day outreach event is one of three held by a major university in the United States.
William Jeffrey, who learned soccer as a boy in Scotland, coached the Penn State men’s soccer team for twenty-seven years and won ten national championships. Jeffrey Field, home of the men’s and women’s soccer teams, is named for him.
The Hetzel Union Building, better known as the HUB, is the student union on Penn State’s University Park campus. It is named for Ralph Dorn Hetzel, the president of Penn State during the initial planning of the building.
Alice Fuchs was a distinguished aviator who became the first female instructor of cadets at the Air Force Academy. The Penn State graduate trained countless new pilots and was a well-known author on aviation subjects.
Dr. Edith Schad was a pioneering Bellefonte physician who was the first woman elected to serve as president of the Centre County Medical Society. She also was a leader in moral reform movements locally and across Pennsylvania.
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