Bellefonte attorney and gunsmith Jacob Roop opened Spring Creek Brewery in 1826 on property he purchased the previous year along Spring Creek. It became Centre County’s first successful brewery, operating for 76 years until 1902.
Andrew Gregg was an early landowner in Penns Valley who became an important politician, representing the middle portion of the state in the U.S. House of Representatives and Pennsylvania as a United States senator.
James Irvin was the ironmaster of Centre Furnace and the benefactor whose gift of 200 acres led to the establishment in Centre County of the Farmers’ High School of Pennsylvania, the future Penn State University.
The Bellefonte Academy was a popular private school that educated students from Centre County and across Pennsylvania for more than 125 years. The “School in the Mountains,” as it was known, operated from 1805-1934, except during the War of 1812 and Civil War.
The Bush House was a four-story hotel situated along Spring Creek in downtown Bellefonte built by Daniel G. Bush. Before it was destroyed by fire in 2006, it was a contributing property in the Bellefonte National Historic District.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Penn State built on-campus cottages to house faculty members. In the years since, the cottages have served many purposes and three still fulfill important roles on the campus.
Peter Gray Meek was the controversial editor of the Democratic Watchman for more than fifty years. He was widely known for his editorials opposing the Civil War, which led to his arrest several times.
Centre County is comprised of twenty-five townships and ten boroughs that provide local government for residents. The number of boroughs and townships has grown and changed since the county’s founding in 1801.
Boalsburg, originally known as Springfield, is a historic village in Harris Township, near the base of Tussey Mountain. After the Revolutionary War, settlers moved to the valley and among them was David Boal, who built a stone cabin in 1803, which still stands as part today’s Boal Mansion.
Evangelical churches share common roots in the Protestant Reformation and later “awakenings” that established new denominations stressing personal salvation, holiness, emotional worship, and simplicity. Centre County welcomed new churches that blended both German and Scots Irish evangelical traditions.