# State College, Pennsylvania: the home of Penn State University



## xzmattzx (Dec 24, 2004)

State College is a borough in Centre County in the Ridge-and-Valley region of Pennsylvania. The borough is the largest in Centre County, with a population of around 39,000.

State College is the home of The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State. Penn State was founded in 1855 as the Farmer's High School of Pennsylvania. In 1862, the name was changed to the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania, when the state selected the school to be its land-grant college. The name was changed once again in 1874 to the Pennsylvania State College, and was finally named The Pennsylvania State University in 1953.

When Penn State acquired its current name in 1953, the president of the school, Milton Eisenhower, who was incidentally the brother of President Dwight Eisenhower, the school's post office was registered as "University Park", and Eisenhower lobbied for the borough to changee its name as well. A new name was not approved, and so the borough is known as State college, and the school is known as University Park.

The State College area is known as "Happy Valley". The name originated from the Great Depression, when State College and the surrounding farmland remained strong as cities and towns around the country grew weaker and saw less business. Even today, college towns like State College are considered "recession-proof" because academics is an industry that is always in demand.


Houses on Burrowes Street.










A house on Atherton Street.










The University Baptist & Brethren Church, on Burrowes Street. The church was built in 1920.










A house on Park Avenue in the College Heights neighborhood.










A house on Allen Street in College Heights.










A house on Mitchell Avenue in College Heights.










The home of Joe Paterno and his wife is located at the end of McKee Street, across from Sunset Park, in the College Heights neighborhood.










A house on McKee Street in College Heights.










A house on Adams Avenue in College Heights.










A house on Ridge Avenue in College Heights.










A house on Prospect Avenue in the Highlands neighborhood.










A house on Prospect Avenue in the Highlands.










A house on Allen Street in the Highlands.










The Sigma Tau Gamma house, on Allen Street in the Highlands. The fraternity house was built in 2005.










A house on Fairmount Avenue in the Highlands.










A house on Nittany Avenue in the Holmes-Foster neighborhood.










A house on Nittany Avenue in Holmes-Foster.










A house on Fairmount Avenue in Holmes-Foster.










A house on Barnard Street in Holmes-Foster.










A house on Foster Avenue in Holmes-Foster.










Houses on Sparks Street in Holmes-Foster.










Buildings on Allen Street.










The Penn State Sub Shop, on Beaver Avenue. This location is the original Penn State Sub Shop, and is known for its cheesesteaks.










The site of the Fraser Centre, on Beaver Avenue. The Fraser Centre is a mixed-use building that will include a 7-story residential tower, a theater, and retail space along Beaver Avenue.










An apartment building on College Avenue.










The Greenwich Court Complex, on College Avenue.










Businesses on College Avenue.










The Student Book Store, on College Avenue.










Businesses on College Avenue.










The Got Used bookstore, on College Avenue.










Buildings on College Avenue.










McLanahan's Student Bookstore, on College Avenue at Garner Street.










Buildings on College Avenue. Ye Olde College Diner is on the right, and is famous for their grilled stickies. The diner opened in 1929.










State Theatre, on College Avenue. The theater was built in 1938 and was closed in 2001. State Theatre was re-opened in 2006 as a performing arts center. Ye Olde College Diner is on the left.










The Allen Street Grill, located on the second floor of Hotel State College, which opened in 1855.










Old Main, the first main building at Penn State University. The structure was built in 1930.










Old Main was built on the site of the Main Building, which was built in 1863. The Main Building was built with Pennsylvania limestone that was partially hauled by a mule named Old Coaly, and the bones of Old Coaly are now preserved in the Hetzel Union Building. 










The back of Old Main, from the Pattee Mall.










Looking up the Pattee Mall at the Pattee Library.










The Pattee Library at the north end of the Pattee Mall. The library was built in 1940 and was named for literature professor and novelist Fred Lewis Pattee.










The Paterno Library, connected to the Pattee Library. The Paterno Library was built in 2000 and was named after football coach Joe Paterno, who donated the money to build the library.










The Burrowes Building, on the Pattee Mall. The structure was built in 1938 for the School of Education, and was named for Thomas Burrowes, president of the school from 1868 to 1871.










Osmond Laboratory, on Pollock Road. The structure was built in 1938 and is part of the Eberly College of Science.










Borland Laroratory, on Shortlidge Road. Borland Lab was built in 1932, and was originally used for dairy husbandry, but now the College of Arts and Architecture uses the building. The Creamery was located next to Borland Lab from 1932 until 2006.










The Pavilion Theatre, on Curtin Road. The structure was built in 1914, and was used as a livestock judging pavilion until 1960.










The Weaver Building, on Ag Hill. The structure was built in 1915 and was originally the Horticulture Building. The building was named for agricultural economist Frederick Pattison Weaver in 1954.










The Armsby Building, on Ag Hill, east of Old Main. The structure was built in 1905 as the Main Agriculture Building, and was named in 1956 for Henry Prentiss Armsby, who was the first dean of agriculture.










The Calorimeter Museum, behind the Armsby Building on Ag Hill. The Armsby Calorimeter Building was built in 1902 to study the intake and outtake of cows. By studying how much energy an animal derived from a given ration by measuring all the food, water, and air going into the calorimeter and all wastes leaving it, researchers were able to determine what types of food rations were the most efficient. It was the first calorimeter in the United States.










The Phi Delta Theta fraternity house on Burrowes Road on the campus.










The Berkey Creamery, located in a corner of the Food Science Building on Curtin Road. The Creamery was moved to this location from next to Borland Laboratory in 2006. The Creamery was first opened in 1865, inside barns behind Old Main.










The Nittany Lion Shrine is located on Curtin Road at Burrowes Street. The statue was a gift from the Class of 1940, and was unveiled on Homecoming in 1942.










Nittany Lion Shrine was carved on site from a 13-ton block of limestone. The tradition of guarding the shrine began in 1966, when the statue was first painted orange by Sue Paterno, wife of head coach Joe Paterno, with a washable paint, to gerner interst in a game against Syracuse, and then was later painted with an oil-based paint by Syracuse fans.










The Recreation Building, known as "Rec Hall", on Curtin Road. The Recreation Building was built in 1929 and hosts the Penn State volleyball, wrestling, and gymnastics teams. The field house hosted the schools basketball teams until they moved to the Bryce JOrdan Center in 1996.










The Bryce Jordan Center, on Curtin Road at University Drive. The arena was built in 1995.










The Bryce Jordan Center has a capacity of 15,261, and is the largest arena in Pennsylvania between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.










Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, on Porter Road. The stadium was built in 2006 to house the Penn State baseball team and the State College Spikes of the Short-Season A New York-Penn League.










Beaver Stadium, on Curtin Road at Porter Road. The stadium is home to the Penn State Nittany Lions football team, and was first built in 1909 near the Recreation Building, before being disassembled and reassembled in its current location in 1930. Beaver Stadium was expanded 7 times since opening at the current location, with the first expansion taking place in 1969 and the last expansion taking place in 2001.










The stadium is named for James Beaver, governor of Pennsylvania from 1887 to 1891, who was also the president of the school's board of trustees.










With the subtraction of 1,300 seats from Michigan Stadium in 2007, 107,282-seat Beaver Stadium is the largest stadium in the United States and in North America, and is the third largest stadium in the world. The largest crowd to ever attend a game was 110,753, on September 14, 2002.










Joe Paterno, outside of Beaver Stadium. The statue commemorates current head coach Joe Paterno, who has been on the school's coaching staff since 1950 and has been the head coach since 1966. The statue was dedicated in 2001.










The view of Tussey Mountain to the south of State College, from Porter Road. The Tussey Mountain Ski Area is near the center.










Mount Nittany, from Porter Road. Nittany is Algonquin for "lone mountain", referring to how the ridge is separate from Tussey Mountain to the south and Bald Eagle Mountain to the north. The end of the mountain is mainly owned by the Lion's Paw Senior Society, which began buying the land in 1945 to preserve the forest.


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## Bristol Mike (Aug 5, 2007)

Nice collection. I really do like a lot of those houses in the first half of the update.


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## tonyssa (Aug 14, 2007)

Nice pics!


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## xavarreiro (May 30, 2009)

beautiful


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