ABCs of Centre County

Fairbrook/Tadpole (Ferguson) – A station on the old Fairbrook Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, two passenger trains passed daily through this tiny village traveling between Tyrone and Scotia. The post office was established in 1887; the area of nearby school was called Tadpole.

Farmer's Mills (Gregg) — Several mills were built along Penns Creek to serve the needs of area settlers. The first of these was built in 1815 at Farmer's Mills. Rebuilt in 1864, it still stands along the creek, about two miles northeast of Spring Mills. In the 1890s a store and post office were opened in the mill house, and three blacksmiths, a shoemaker, a tannery, and a schoolhouse became part of this busy community. St. John's Union Church, dedicated in 1853, still has an active congregation; the Bethesda Evangelical Church, built in the 1880s and commonly called the Swamp Church, is a short distance away.

Fillmore (Patton) – Four-horse coaches carried the daily mail first (1833) to the Buffalo Run Inn and later (1851) to the Fillmore post office also along the Bellefonte-Tyrone Road. For many years it was the only post office between Bellefonte and Stormstown. Fillmore became a stop on the Bellefonte Central Railroad.

Fountain (Snow Shoe) – This tiny community was named for Fountain Crider, the owner and operator of a large sawmill. Fountain was the site of a coal mining operation at one time.