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Port Matilda Borough in Centre County, PA was laid out by Squire Clement Beckwith in 1850 and named in honor of his daughter, Matilda. Why he chose to call it Port Matilda is not clear, but it may have reflected his hope that the town would eventually be connected to the Bald Eagle and Spring Creek Branch of the Pennsylvania Canal. While the canal did not reach Port Matilda, the Bald Eagle Railroad did, and the community became a market center in the Bald Eagle Valley for agricultural and lumber products.

Information and text courtesy of The Centre County Historical Society
www.centrecountyhistory.org/