Town file
Centre Hall, Pennsylvania
Centre Hall, Pennsylvania (Centre County, Pennsylvania) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 452, "Boobs, Butts & Cold Blooded Murder" (23 December 2023). Centre Hall, Pennsylvania, is a town of 1,496 people in the middle of the state, about two hours and forty-five minutes from Pittsburgh.
- Town
- Centre Hall
- County
- Centre County
- State
- Pennsylvania
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 452
- Approximate location
- 40.845, -77.685
Episode 452 / 23 December 2023 / 71 min / express
Boobs, Butts & Cold Blooded Murder
"We are going to Center Hall, Pennsylvania, that is dead center in the middle of Pennsylvania." about 0:03:41
The case: Murder of Samuel Boob (August 23rd, 2009). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2023
- Population
- 1,496
- Median household income
- $63,854
- Median home value
- $294,100
History, in brief
- Mid-19th century Scots-Irish and German families settled the area and laid the town out on a grid with a small central square. about 0:05:01
- Farming and chicken raising were the main activities, with Amish communities not far away. about 0:05:15
- The Grange encampment grounds are the town's big attraction, and the Grange Fair has been held every year since 1876. about 0:05:58
- The Grange Fair is an annual fair and camping event held in Centre Hall and Centre County each year since 1874, according to the fair's own claim. about 0:08:20
- The fair is typically held the last full week of August, and after the 140th fair it was announced that the next one would move a week earlier. about 0:08:29
- There was no fair during the Spanish flu, during the Second World War, or in 2020. about 0:08:40
- An Emmy Award-winning documentary, The Grange Fair: An American Tradition, chronicled the fair. about 0:08:49
- Fair tents are 14 by 14 feet with a single four-outlet electrical box in one corner and no running water. about 0:09:26
- Tent locations are passed down through generations; after the waitlist passed 500 families, some of whom had waited 27 years, it was cancelled. about 0:09:59
- A tent spot is lost only for rules violations or for passing it up for two fairs. about 0:11:00
The reviews read out
5 stars
"A family lived there for eight years and loved it; the commute is reasonable and it is away from the bustle of State College. It was mostly a dry town with little or no alcohol, the schools were great and the people friendly."about 0:06:07
4 stars
"A nice, quiet place close to State College with a good school district, though there is not much nightlife in town."about 0:06:52
3 stars
"The area is very rural, everyone knows everyone, which is sometimes great and sometimes not; the area is lovely and the people are great."about 0:07:26
1 star
"The people are selfish, greedy and rude, full of snobs, and it is a terrible place."about 0:07:50
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Sunbury, Pennsylvania47 miles
- Newville, Pennsylvania49 miles
- Jackson Township, Pennsylvania77 miles
- Washington Boro, Pennsylvania86 miles
- Lititz, Pennsylvania87 miles
- Westminster, Maryland94 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.