FERGUSON TOWNSHIP

Ferguson Township, was so named in honor of Thomas Ferguson who was a pioneer settler and built the first mill at what is now the village of Pine Grove Mills. The township was erected at January Sessions, 1801, out of Patton. Captain Gray Meek, a Revolutionary soldier, (ancestor of Hon. P. Gray Meek, editor of the Democratic Watchman) was also a pioneer settler in Ferguson township territory. In 1810 William Patton, son of Col. John Patton, built Tussey Furnace at Pine Grove Mills. It ceased operation in 1815. Ferguson Township is remarkable now for its numerous beds of iron ore, developed and undeveloped, though there are no furnaces now within it borders. Large amounts of ore have been mined about Gatesburg, which was settled at an early period by the Gates, Rider and Rumberger families.

(SOURCE: Eleventh Census of the Population of the United States Published by Boroughs and Townships, in Connection with a Business Directory of the Same, Bellefonte, Pa., 1890.)

FERGUSON TOWNSHIP CENSUS FIGURES

1850--1,601
1860--1,784
1870--2,111
1880--1,817
1890--1,748
1900--1,512
1910--1,558
1920--1,639
1930--1,549
1940--1,936
1950--2,388
1960--3,832
1970--6,351
1980--8,105
1990--9,368
2000--14,063

(SOURCE: U.S. Census of Population, Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce.)

TOWNS & VILLAGES

Villages and towns within Ferguson Township include Baileyville, Bloomsdorf, Circle View, Fairbrook, Struble, Pine Hall, Gatesburg, Rock Spring, Pennsylvania Furnace, Pine Grove Mills, Pattonville, Marengo, Hostler, Musser, Tadpole, White Hall, Overlook Heights, North Hills and Erbtown. For a further discussion of these, see Paul M. Dubbs, Where to Go and Place-Names of Centre County, 1961.

TAX ASSESSMENT RECORDS

Tax assessment records for Ferguson Township from 1801 forward can be found in the basement of the Centre County Library and Historical Museum in Bellefonte. Persons wishing to use these records must first sign the Guest Researcher register in the Pennsylvania Room.

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