Philipsburg, PA

Philipsburg is a Centre County borough of 2,789 residents in the 2020 census, founded in 1797 in the western part of the county about 13 miles west of State College. Moshannon Creek runs along the borough and the Centre-Clearfield county line, and the name Moshannon is commonly connected with the idea of black water. U.S. 322 and state routes 53, 350, and 504 tie the borough to the surrounding Moshannon Valley, with the older coal and lumber landscape still visible in the roads and hills.

Philipsburg-Osceola Area School District serves the borough, and the borough office on North Centre Street remains a local civic address. Black Moshannon State Park is about nine miles east, with 3,394 acres of forest and wetlands around tea-colored Black Moshannon Lake. Boating, fishing, hiking, environmental programs, and winter activities give the park a regular place in the area's routines. Philipsburg is a small mountain borough where school, creek, old industry, and a large state park share one regional map.