Renovo, Pennsylvania: The Railroad Town Called 'I Renew'

Renovo, Pennsylvania, is a Latin verb, renovo, “I renew,” picked up from the railroad shops where cars were repaired and renovated. The name describes the work the town was built to do.

A farm in a mountain pocket

Before the railroad came, this was William Baird’s farm on the West Branch of the Susquehanna. John Blair Linn’s 1883 county history says Baird bought the riverside tract in 1825 and his family farmed and logged there for decades. Then, in 1862, “the first whistle of the locomotive was heard entering what is now Renovo,” on the line being built from Sunbury to Erie.

The Philadelphia and Erie Railroad wanted a place for its machine shops, and it chose Baird’s level ground. A group of investors formed the Philadelphia and Erie Land Company, bought his flats and twelve hundred acres of mountain land in October 1862, and handed the part north of the tracks to the railroad for its car shops. The rest became streets and lots. Linn calls Renovo “the creation of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company,” which by 1883 ran the line as its Philadelphia and Erie Division.

What the shops were for

The name comes straight out of that arrangement. A. Howry Espenshade put it this way in his 1925 book on Pennsylvania place names: the town “takes its name from the Latin verb renovo, ‘I renew,’” and “it was these railroad shops, where cars were to be repaired and renovated, that brought the town into existence and suggested its name.”

Henry Gannett’s 1905 bulletin for the Geological Survey breaks it down a bit differently, as Latin re, “again,” and novus, “new,” and the federal place-name record repeats that wording. It’s the same idea either way: making something new again. None of these sources names the person who first suggested it, so you’ll have to settle for knowing what it meant.

A roundhouse first

The railroad didn’t waste time. Linn says the roundhouse was the first building started, with its cornerstone laid in August 1863, followed by machine shops, a storehouse and offices, nearly all of brick made right there. The depot was finished in 1865, and Renovo became a borough in 1866. Look at the 1954 sheet and you’ll see why lots were scarce: the town fills a thin strip between the river and the ridges.

Quick answers

What does Renovo mean?

“I renew.” It’s a Latin verb, and Espenshade’s 1925 book says the railroad car shops, where cars were repaired and renovated, suggested the name.

Why does a Pennsylvania town have a Latin name?

Because of what it was built for. The Philadelphia and Erie Railroad put its car shops there in 1862, and the town took a Latin word for renewing things.

Who named Renovo?

The sources don’t say. They agree the name came from the railroad shops, but none of them records the person who chose it.

Key dates

1. 1862The first locomotive reaches the site, and the Philadelphia and Erie Land Company buys William Baird's farm and mountain land in October.
2. 1863The cornerstone of the railroad roundhouse is laid in August.
3. 1866Renovo is incorporated as a borough.

Getting there

Open Renovo in Google Maps

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Opens in a new tab. The pin is the center of Renovo in the USGS place-name record.

The closest airports, Amtrak stations and intercity bus stops, measured in a straight line from the center of Renovo.

Airports

• State College Regional (UNV) 33 mi 54 km
• Elmira/Corning Regional (ELM) 73 mi 117 km
• Buffalo Niagara International (BUF) 122 mi 197 km

Amtrak trains

• Lewistown station (LEW) 52 mi 83 km
• Tyrone station (TYR) 52 mi 84 km

Intercity buses

• Fullington Trailways Lock Haven 21 mi 34 km
• FlixBus State College Univ Park Airport 33 mi 54 km
• OurBus State College, PA (State College Bus Terminal at 152 N. Atherton Street) 37 mi 60 km

Distances are as the crow flies, not by road. We don't list schedules or fares because they change; check with the airline, Amtrak or the bus company before you go. Official data (FAA commercial service airports (2025), FAA airport locations, Amtrak stations and Intercity Bus Atlas) from the FAA and the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, checked Nov 6, 2026.

Historical Sources & References

• A. Howry Espenshade, Pennsylvania Place Names (1925), p. 203. The Latin verb renovo, “I renew”; laid out in 1862 on a 1,200-acre tract, half for the car shops; the shops “suggested its name”; a borough in 1866.
• Henry Gannett, The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States (1905), p. 261. “Derived from the Latin, re, ‘again,’ and novus, ‘new.’”
• John Blair Linn, History of Centre and Clinton Counties, Pennsylvania (1883), pp. 593-596. William Baird’s farm, the first locomotive in 1862, the land company’s purchase, the 1863 roundhouse, the 1865 depot and the 1866 incorporation.
• GNIS feature 1184902 (U.S. Geological Survey). The government’s record for Renovo, in Clinton County: “Founded in 1862. Incorporated in 1866,” with the same Latin derivation as Gannett.