As a native Pennsylvanian, I’ve traveled all over this vast state, but somehow Johnstown has escaped my radar, so I decided to check that area off my list just a few weeks ago. What I came back with was a newfound knowledge of history after visiting the Wagner-Ritter House, the Johnstown Flood Museum, and the Johnstown Heritage Discovery Center.
When my husband and I first arrived, we decided to get our bearings by taking a stroll around the downtown area. I can’t say there’s much there in the way of shopping, but a walk around Central Park is an enjoyable way to learn more about the history of the area.
The Central Park Fountain
The park was designated as a public space by Johnstown founder Joseph Johns when the area was chartered in 1800. In 1872, all buildings were cleared from the area and a formal public park was laid out, with an ornate fountain as the centerpiece. Approximately 100 trees were planted there, only to be wiped out by the catastrophic flood in 1889. The fountain above is said to approximate the original.
After the flood, the site was buried under eight feet of water and debris. Within days, however, it was transformed into a tent city inhabited by 6,000 laborers and 580 members of the 14th Pennsylvania Regiment who helped clear the area.
A memorial to the town father Joseph Johns erected in 1913 by the Johnstown citizens of German descent.
Additional structures in the park include a war memorial, a gazebo, a memorial to the flood victims, a firefighters memorial bell and a memorial to the veterans of the Civil War.
Central Park Gazebo
This old fire bell was moved from a fire station to Central Park
A memorial commemorating the Wars of the United States.
The Wagner-Ritter House and Gardens
The exterior of the Wagner-Ritter House at 418 Broad Street
The next stop on our excursion was The Wagner-Ritter House, which Johnstown maintains to celebrate the life of the average immigrant working family working in the “shadow of the mills.” The home was occupied for more than 130 years from the 1860s to the 1990s by three generations of a steelworker’s family.
Before the tour commences, the public is encouraged to read about the residents of the house in the adjacent visitors’ center, where large, wall-mounted boards offer background information on those who lived there.
Wagner was an immigrant, laborer, husband and father who worked in the steel mills of the Cambria company and his house was built in the 1860s. The four-room home eventually grew to seven rooms sometime during the births of the Wagner’s 13 children. Their daughter Anna later went on to marry a Ritter and her family later lived in the house. Visitors can learn quite a bit about Anna, who lived from 1866 to 1968 and witnessed a dizzying array of technological changes during the course of her 102-year-old lifetime.
Guide Mackenzie Croyle was a wealth of information as we proceeded from room to room as she explained how simply the German family lived, their dedication to their Catholic faith and how their house changed over time. Croyle was extremely thorough, covering even small details down to the plank framing and layers of wallpaper that changed over time.
Our guide, Makenzie Croyle describes one of the most important rooms in the house—the kitchen.
One of the more intriguing items I spotted hanging on the wall of the house was what our guide described as a “last rites kit.” I couldn’t help but wonder how many times it had been used. I guess that will remain a mystery.
Last rites kit.
Stairs blocked by a wood partition lead to a child’s bedroom upstairs.
During the summer of 1991 and 1992, the Johnstown Area Heritage Association sponsored an archeological dig in the backyard of the Wagner-Ritter House. With the help of more than 70 volunteers under the direction of professional archeologists, the project yielded over 20,000 artifacts, some of which were mere shards of glass. Others were larger objects like toys and glassware used by the family. The majority of the items found were related to the Wagner brothers’ soda factory.
What’s notable about those finds is that the project revealed a variety of soda closures to keep the “fizz” in. The excavators also discovered that they used recycled bottles too; some came from as far as Florida. Guests will be able to view the artifacts in the rear of the visitors center after they take the tour of the garden, which replicates what the owners may have grown there. Today, the crops are donated to a local food pantry.
A raised-bed garden not unlike what the Wagners would have cultivated.
The World’s Steepest Inclined Plane
Did you know that the world’s steepest vehicular inclined plane exists in Johnstown? It can carry passengers and automobiles up or down a slope with a grade of 71.9 percent and was completed in 1891 after the tragic flood of 1889 to serve as an escape route from floods in the valley. While visiting, I learned that the plane served its purpose twice so far in its history–in 1936 and then again in 1977.
I have to say that I was rather disappointed to be unable to ride it during our visit. I learned later that renovations began in February of 2022 and are slated to be completed in the spring of 2023.
Asiago’s Italian Restaurant
The view from our table at Asiago’s restaurant
Lobster Ravioli with Basil Cream Sauce
Learning about a Tragedy at the Johnstown Flood Museum
The Johnstown Flood Museum is housed in a former public library
A representation of the debris that swept through communities
I was also unaware that the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club played a prominent part in the tragedy. Before taking the tour of the museum, we were encouraged to watch a 20-minute movie which explains it very well.
Members of the secretive and secluded club included wealthy industrialists like Henry Clay Frick, Andrew Mellon and Andrew Carnegie, to name a few. The club purchased an old dam and reservoir from entrepreneur Benjamin Ruff who envisioned a summer retreat in the hills above Johnstown. Over the years the dam had been neglected and, according to the Johnstown Heritage Association (JAHA), not much was done to rectify that situation, other than patching leaks with mud and straw. To add insult to injury, the club decided to make modifications which were, in hindsight, considered dangerous.
One of the modifications cited by the JAHA included installing fish screens across the spillway to keep prized game fish from escaping. This had the unfortunate effect of capturing debris and preventing the spillway from draining off the lake’s overflow. The club also lowered the dam by a few feet in order to make it possible for two carriages to pass at the same time, so the dam was only about four feet higher than the spillway. Finally, they never reinstalled the drainage pipes so that the reservoir could be drained.
When the rains came on May 30 and 31st, 1889, the spillway couldn’t keep up and the dam burst releasing 20 million tons of water on the communities downstream. The aftermath is well worth reading at the JAHA website:
https://www.jaha.org/attractio…he-club-and-the-dam/
In addition to detailing the history of the flood, the Flood Museum tells stories of journalists reporting on the tragedy, the families devastated by the disaster and how Hollywood capitalized on it with sensationalistic movies and more.
Some statistics learned while at the museum:
- 2,209 people died.
- The destruction of Johnstown took 10 minutes.
- 396 children under the age of 10 died.
- 568 children lost one, or both parents.
- The force of the flood swepts several locomotives weighing 170,000 pounds as far as 4,800 feet.
- Bodies were found as far away as Cincinnatti, Ohio as late as 1906.
Because of the heavy rains, the damn contained 20,000,000 tons of water before it broke. This is the equivalent of the volume of water that goes over Niagara Falls in 36 minutes
The tour of The Flood Museum was both sobering and enlightening and reminds me of that old saying by George Santayana, who said, “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.”
We later visited Grandview Cemetery in Johnstown where nearly 800 unidentified victims of the flood were laid to rest.
Flood victims in Grandview Cemetery.
The Heritage Discovery Center
The tour leads visitors on a journey to discover how immigrants made their way to the Johnstown area and the professions they undertook. Each person is given a card with an immigrants name on it and instructed to stop periodically and wave the card beneath a barcode to learn their chosen immigrants fate at various steps of the way.
I was quite surprised when I was learned my card would follow Prokop Kalina! Kalina is my maiden name and I was excited until I was told these were “composite” immigrants. I thought for a moment I may have found a distant relative.
The ultimate fate of Prokop Kalina? He became a butcher, which is interesting because the other part of my name is Metzger–which means butcher in German.
When we finished that tour, we continued onto the third floor that housed the Johnstown Children’s Museum, which was quite extensive and interactive and may warrant its own article in a magazine at a later date. Kids could try on clothing, shop at a supermarket and engage in a variety of fun, yet educational pursuits.
Children can shop for goods at the general store.
An exhibit where children can crawl through the “mines” before taking a ride on a sliding board.
The Children’s Center features interactive, educational exhibits
Steel production artifacts on display at the Iron & Steel GalleryWell that’s about it for my Johnstown trip to destinations that can be enjoyed no matter what the weather is outside. I hope these few ideas will help you get started in your sightseeing journey should you decide to visit the area.
Learned quite a bit about the Johnstown Flood and Frick’s role in the disaster when I did a TG story on the Frick Museum in Pittsburgh. A sad tale of his desire of wanting to be with the upper crust circle of the rich at the time. Thanks for the superb photos and story Stephanie.