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June 30, 2008
Earliest map of Centre County available in digital format
University Park, PA—The earliest known map of Centre County, dating from 1861, the Tilden map is now available online at http://www.libraries.psu.edu/digital/1861map/.This digital site allows the viewer to access the entire map or click on a specific Centre County locale for a detailed close-up. Originals of the map are housed in the Penn State University Archives, Special Collections Library, 104 Paterno Library, Penn State University Park.
The digitization of the map, an on-going effort to make University and local histor
y resources available to a wider audience, is a collaborative effort undertaken by several University Libraries units including Penn State University Archives, Digitization and Preservation, I-Tech, and Cataloging.
At 1,115 square miles, Centre County is the fifth largest county in Pennsylvania in land area. It has thirty-six government municipalities (twenty-five townships and eleven boroughs) and nearly one hundred towns and villages. The oldest, Aaronsburg, was laid out in 1786.
Discovery of high quality iron ore and rich agricultural land brought settlement to the region in the 18th century. James Potter was the first to record his travels through the region in 1764. He acquired numerous land warrants and built his home near Old Fort in 1774. Potter was followed by Andrew Boggs, who settled in an area near Milesburg in1769. Iron was discovered in 1784. The first iron furnace, Centre Furnace, was built in 1791 by Samuel Miles and John Patton. By 1832 more than a dozen iron furnaces were in operation along the Spring and Bald Eagle Creeks. Turnpikes were completed in the late 1820s and a canal system followed in the mid-1830s. The first railroad, began in 1859, brought coal from Snow Shoe to the iron furnaces. Between 1850 and 1900, Bellefonte, the county seat, was the most prosperous community in central Pennsylvania. Home to numerous governors and state politicians, the Centre Region lobbied for and won the placement of the State Agricultural Society's Farmers‚ High School, now known as Penn State.
For more information about Centre County's rich history, see: http://centrecountyhistory.org/history/overview.html.
For more information about Penn State's history, see: http://www.psu.edu/ur/about/history.html.
image: a section of the map