Saltillo, Pennsylvania
| Saltillo, Pennsylvania | |
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| Borough | |
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 Location of Saltillo in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. |
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 Saltillo
Location of Saltillo in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania.
Saltillo
Saltillo (the US)
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| Coordinates: 40°12′39″N 78°0′20″W / 40.21083°N 78.00556°WCoordinates: 40°12′39″N 78°0′20″W / 40.21083°N 78.00556°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Pennsylvania |
| County | Huntingdon |
| Government | |
| • Type | Borough Council |
| Area | |
| • Total | 0.25 sq mi (0.65 km2) |
| • Land | 0.25 sq mi (0.65 km2) |
| • Water | 0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 346 |
| • Estimate (2016) | 345 |
| • Density | 1,369.05/sq mi (528.73/km2) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 17253 |
| Area code(s) | 814 |
| FIPS code | 42-67632 |
| Local phone exchanges: 447, 448 | |
Saltillo is a borough in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 346 at the 2010 census.
Saltillo was named after the Mexican War Battle of Saltillo (23 October 1840). It was a major tanning center during the late 18th and early 19th century. The Leas and McVitty Tannery was located here, known for quality hides. The main line of the East Broad Top Railroad (EBT) was built through Saltillo in 1874. The railroad served the tannery as well as a short-lived iron mine and an equally short-lived limestone quarry, both just southeast of town.
Saltillo was an important place on the EBT, acting as a base station for the long grade up to Broad Top Mountain. The EBT had a three-track yard, a station, a water tank and a turning wye located here. Just after the turn of the 20th century a large Ganister quarry was established above Saltillo on Jacks Mountain by Mount Union Refractories (later United States Refractories and North American Refractories) to supply their plant in Mount Union, Pennsylvania. In 1942 a spur was built from the EBT yard in Saltillo, which climbed the mountain to a tipple below the quarry. The branch was the steepest track on the EBT and remained in service until the line closed in 1956. The quarry continued to operate into the 1970s, served by trucks. The EBT tracks in Saltillo are still in place. The water tank was burned by vandals in the late 1980s and the station was demolished in the mid-2000s after being allowed to deteriorate to deplorable condition.
Around 1935 the skeleton of a mastodon was discovered behind the ball field in Saltillo by two young men digging a drainage ditch. They excavated several bones, teeth and both tusks. They gave them to C.R. Cornelius the landowner, who later donated them to Penn State University where they can be seen today. In the 1990s Penn State reopened the dig and found even more bones that were missed during the first excavation.
The Hudson Grist Mill at the southwest edge of town was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
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