Location(s)

Milesburg Borough was founded in 1793 by Colonel Samuel Miles, a Revolutionary War officer, land speculator, early mayor of Philadelphia, and part owner of Centre Furnace Iron Works. Colonel Miles, recognizing Milesburg's ideal location at the watergap junction of Bald Eagle and Spring Creeks, put the Milesburg Ironworks into operation in 1795 where he forged Centre Furnace pig iron into a transportable and marketable form. Given its navigational advantage, Milesburg entered the competition with Bellefonte in 1800 to become the county seat, but according to county historian John Blair Linn, Milesburg lost when, "The proprietors of Bellefonte were spurred to a more than ordinary effort" by attaching a team to a flatboat, dragging the boat up Spring Creek, and then attesting that the first boat of the season had arrived in Bellefonte. Later the two communities were connected by the Bald Eagle and Spring Creek Navigation Co. Portions of the canal and the ironmaking site that gave Milesburg its prosperity are still evident.

Information and text courtesy of The Centre County Historical Society
www.centrecountyhistory.org/