Snow Shoe Borough

Centre County, Pennsylvania

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Snow Shoe municipal offices are located at 106 Railroad Street, Snow Shoe, PA 16874;phone: 814‑387‑6978.

Beginnings [1]

Incorporated from Snow Shoe Township, August 16, 1907. Laid out on an eminence 850 feet above Bellefonte, or about two thousand feet above sea level, by Samuel Butcher, September 1, 1794. The several lines were known as the "Snow Shoe Camp Surveys," and the place was first called Snow Shoe Camp. James Uzzell was the first settler, in what is now the borough. He came in 1850 and engaged in coal mining. The town plot was laid out in 1858. Coal mines have formed the chief industry, especially since the forests were denuded of the timber, once a chief industry. The post office was established in 1859. Population in 1940 was 578.

Historical Sketch [2]

Snow Shoe ... was formerly known as "Snow Shoe Camp." Tradition of more or less accuracy has it that it took its name from the adventure of a party of white hunters, who were overtaken by a snow storm on the old "Chinklacamoose Trail," leading to Clearfield, and who finally made snow shoes on which they walked into the Bald Eagle Valley settlement.

Where Snow Shoe now stands, there was once an old Indian village.White hunters or explorers, wandering into this locality later, found some discarded snow shoes at the old Indian camp.

Some of the early settlers of Snow Shoe were John Betchtol, Samuel Askey, Perry John Lucas, John Singleton, John Long, Baptist Lucas, John Mayer, John Holt, Samuel Gunsallis, Joseph Keeler, John Bowes, Nicholas Fye, William Mulhollan, Jacob Kunes, and River Tom Lucas, as he was called.

These were considered the first settlers in and around Snow Shoe, dating perhaps from as early as 1815.

The Bellefonte and Snow Shoe Railroad was completed in 1859 and was constructed by residents of Philadelphia, most of whom were Quakers, or Friends.

The cost of the construction was about $204,734, and was paid for as work proceeded, leaving the company free from debt, when the first train passed over the track.

During all these years, Snow Shoe has been a center of great activity, great volumes of coal and timber finding their way to eastern markets from the hands and labor of its industrious men and women.

It is a beautiful mountain village, with all the benefits of good water, high altitude, and scenic splendor.

  1. Godcharles, Frederic A., Chronicles of Central Pennsylvania, 1944, 4 volumes, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, New York
  2. Marks, William E., History of the Early Settling of Bald Eagle Valley, publisher unknown, date, possibly 1936

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