This volume of photographs and text springs from the desire to identify and salvage the authentic character of our past as seen in our built environment. Centre County provides a unique mix of historic buildings and villages in a rural landscape setting that is a rich record of development in the area since the earliest days of settlement. Local buildings preserve traces of the changing economic activities--iron manufacturing and agriculture, travel and trade, and the growth of the Penn State University--and stories related to these buildings and the men who built them create a fascinating picture of life in the county for more than 150 years. Each area of the county contains examples of buildings that make up a complete picture of the evolution of local building types. Structures described in the detailed text and striking photographs include log houses and round barns, the Georgian and Victorian mansions of the iron masters and landowners, sturdy inns and mills, hotels, churches, farms, and buildings of Beaux-Arts classicism on the University campus. The book also provides a glossary of descriptive terms for historic buildings, defines styles and local building types, and gives information on the activities and agencies that support historic preservation.

This brief volume provides readers with an overview of Centre County&’s history from its earliest European settlement up to the year 1915. Exploring the county&’s major events across several centuries, J. Thomas Mitchell delves into such subjects as early living conditions, county government, and the establishment of townships. Mitchell also offers a history of Centre County&’s schools and of the Pennsylvania State College (now University) as well as a discussion of its transportation, industry, and major public figures.