Stop 41A. The Big Spring and the Pumphouse
ADDRESS: 181 S Water St
YEAR BUILT: 1926
The Big Spring is the defining element of Bellefonte. By one account, the French statesman Talleyrand indirectly suggested a name for Bellefonte to Mrs. Ann Dunlop Harris, about 1795, when visiting the spring.
The spring is still the domestic water source for Bellefonte as well as other communities, with a daily flow of 11,500,000 gallons. Major William F Reynolds gave The Big Spring to the town on October 1, 1879, for the price of $1.00. The present pumphouse was built in 1926 and was restored in 2006. The spring is now covered with a synthetic fabric because of environmental regulations.
The Match Factory was run by the Pennsylvania Match Company and later by the Universal Match Company. In 1911, it was one of the eight largest match factories in the nation. Despite a surge in production during World War II, by 1947 operations at the factory had ceased. Now the home of The American Philatelic Society, it lies a few hundred yards to the west of the Spring. The land between the Match Factory and the Spring and the land to their north is the present-day Talleyrand Park, including the Falls on Spring Creek.