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

Centre County’s quota for soldiers during the Civil War was 1593, 374 of that total were from Bellefonte, and the County as a whole exceeded it’s quota by 352

Bellefonte was the second town or city in the United States to have the streets lighted with electricity.  The first was New York City

Émigrés to Centre County  in 1802 – 1823 were almost entirely from Ireland – with only 4 from other countries: 1 from Novia Scotia, 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

Examples of “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

President Lincoln’s great aunt by marriage – Mrs. Lucy Potter – lived in Bellefonte on N. Allegheny Street which is now the Centre County Library & Historical Museum

Delaware Indian tribe Chief-Bald Eagle was murdered in 1773  AND at one time lived in Milesburg  in a spot called Bald Eagle's Nest

Philipsburg Episcopal Church being the nation's first church with electricity in the early 1800s

Penn State's #1 football status isn't anything new - the Bellefonte Academy played Texas  and Oklahoma schools  in the 1926 football season to claim the National Prep School Championship

In 1896 the votes for naming State College were as follows:  State College 28, University Heights 24, State Centre 1, University Place 0 , Barrensville 0 and Irvinville 0

Centre County’s earliest Post Offices:  Aaronsburg  - 1797, Bellefonte -  1798, Centre Furnace  - 1799, Milesburg  - 1799, Pine Grove Mills - 1809,Potter’s Mills 1811,Stormstown  - 1811, Millheim  - 1824 , Rebersburg  - 1828, and Spring Mills 1828