Bellefonte Intervalley Area Chamber of Commerce

Bellefonte & Centre County Wee Facts
Leadership Centre County Class of 2006
(provided by Susan Hoover)

  • Bellefonte's African American population in the 1860s was 11%  - only Philadelphia or Pittsburgh had higher percentages
  • CentreCountys quota for soldiers during the Civil War was 1593, 374 of thattotal were from Bellefonte, and the County as a whole exceeded itsquota by 352
  • Bellefonte was the second town or city in the UnitedStates to have the streets lighted with electricity.  The first was NewYork City
  • Émigrés to Centre County  in 1802--1823 were almostentirely from Ireland with only 4 from other countries: 1 from NoviaScotia, 1 Germany 1 Poland and 1 Scotland
  • Dr. Evan Pugh, former president of Penn State said State College was equally inaccessible from all points
  • Bellefonte's Big Spring was first seen by white men on July 1769
  • 1789 Aaronsburg was laid out as the first planned town in Centre County
  • Examplesof Americanized last names in Centre County/Blft -  Stober to Stover,Albrecht to Albright, Yatntzanbach to Johnsonbaugh, Schmidt to Smith,Deckard to Decker, Hauser to House
  • In 1815 a Bellefonte doctor told his patients if they spoke German they should bring an interpreter
  • PresidentLincoln's great aunt by marriage Mrs. Lucy Potter lived inBellefonte on N. Allegheny Street which is now the Centre CountyLibrary & Historical Museum
  • Delaware Indian tribe Chief-BaldEagle was murdered in 1773  AND at one time lived in Milesburg, in aspot called Bald Eagle's Nest
  • Philipsburg Episcopal Church being the nation's first church with electricity in the early 1800s
  • PennState's #1 football status isn't anything new - the Bellefonte Academyplayed Texas  and Oklahoma schools  in the 1926 football season toclaim the National Prep School Championship
  • In 1896 the votes fornaming State College were as follows:  State College 28, UniversityHeights 24, State Centre 1, University Place 0 , Barrensville 0 andIrvinville 0
  • Centre Countys earliest Post Offices:  Aaronsburg - 1797, Bellefonte -  1798, Centre Furnace  - 1799, Milesburg  - 1799,Pine Grove Mills - 1809,Potters Mills 1811,Stormstown  - 1811,Millheim  - 1824 , Rebersburg  - 1828, and Spring Mills 1828