Have you ever noticed the neat ways Downtown State College’s oldest buildings flash proof of their previous years? If you look close enough, you can spot the original brick-and-mortar building that held downtown State College’s first printing press. All you need to do is remember to look up to transport yourself through State College history.
Right on West College Avenue, Chumley’s has stood tall since 1984, but if you peer closely at the very top of the building, you’ll still see the faint engraving of Nittany Printing & Publishing Co. chiseled into the historic brick. You can see it best from across the street, and if you take a selfie or two, you can easily etch yourself into downtown State College history.
Down the street, see if you can recognize the awesomely old-school coolness that makes up State College’s oldest-running barber shop. Erected in 1925, the building’s arched entrance and looming chimney survive to see the present day, but the most unique piece of the building has to be the long-standing barber pole placed perfectly on the outside. Even though they’re no longer the norm, Rinaldo’s red, white, and blue barber shop pole is the historic decor that keeps giving, alerting all downtown State College newbies where to look for a tried-and-true haircut.
Our newly-opened Scholar Hotel may serve downtown State College’s welcomed visitors, but before its tenure as a hotel, the Glennland Building broke barriers as one of the largest indoor swimming pools in all of Pennsylvania. If you choose to stroll into the Scholar Hotel lobby, you’ll even be greeted with an enlarged photo showing the old pool in all its glory.
The State Theatre’s absolute elegance originated in 1938, when Warner Brothers built a theater to test films on the local downtown State College audience. Even after its 1999 renovations, The State Theatre’s triangle roofing and brick building lives on as a performing arts hub meant to remind visitors of simpler times, back when movies were one of our only windows into the future. If you peek hard enough, you’ll even recognize the rectangular brick shape that once housed the State Theatre’s initial outside ticket office.
There’s no better way to peek through the past than planning a trip to The Corner Room. Above the delicious restaurant sits Hotel State College, originally built in 1857 and rebuilt throughout history with a few different iterations. The best part about this building is that those historic iterations haven’t changed much of the outside, solidifying its place as one of the most recognizable buildings of State College’s days of yore.
One main difference between the downtown State College of Yesteryear and today is that cameras exist now more than ever. So don’t hesitate to snap a picture of all the easter eggs downtown State College has laid out for us. The best part of history is that it continues forever, and now we can keep the historic timelessness of our favorite town nestled in our photographs.
