Latest news with #HeritageJohnstown
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
'Three-year journey': Train station back on track as BUILD projects advance
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Heritage Johnstown has finally outlined a plan for using the more than $11 million it was awarded in U.S. Department of Transportation Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant money to refurbish the Johnstown Train Station. The goal is to restore the structure, located at 47 Walnut St. downtown, to its original 1916 appearance while adhering to modern Americans with Disabilities Act and environmental standards. Dan Solomon, chairman of Heritage Johnstown, said the final idea was developed after meeting with Jennie Louwerse, the transportation business line leader for WSP, an engineering firm brought on by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to help with the project. Together, the organizations 'simplified the scope,' according to Solomon. Environmental engineering still needs to be done. But afterward, Phase One will consist of fully restoring the grand concourse and ticket office section, completing exterior restoration and ensuring structural stability for the second floor and baggage area. That part of the work is expected to cost approximately $7.2 million and be completed between November 2026 and April 2027, depending on when Amtrak builds a new platform as part of a separate project. The second phase will involve installing an elevator, restoring the second floor and improving the baggage area. Solomon expects Phase Two to last into late 2028. 'It's really a three-year journey,' Solomon said. Johnstown Train Station Johnstown Train Station on Walnut Street in downtown Johnstown on Thursday, June 12, 2025. 'Reinvigorate the core' Three local entities were awarded nearly $24.5 million combined in grants through the then-RAISE, now known as Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD), program in 2021. The City of Johnstown received $8 million for a Main Street corridor redevelopment project. Cambria County Transit Authority got almost $880,000 for repairs to the Johnstown Inclined Plane and $3.6 million for upgrades to the Transit Center on Main Street. All of the money must be used for the specified transportation initiatives and cannot be directed elsewhere. The projects also 'have to be in lockstep,' regarding environmental studies and other plans, according to Johnstown City Manager Art Martynuska. Johnstown City Council has not picked a final Main Street design yet, but the idea is to add modern lighting, arts spaces, new sidewalks and safety features. Work on the rest of the corridor is expected to start after renovations are done to Central Park using a separate pool of American Rescue Plan Act federal dollars. It will be the first major redesign of Main Street since the years after the 1977 Flood. 'I think the last time we looked at anything was in the late '70s, early '80s,' Martynuska said. 'That's obviously when there was federal revenue sharing and some other things that happened, Main Street East (Parking Garage), so on and so forth. It's to reinvigorate the core of the city and hopefully move forward from there.' The Inclined Plane money will be used to 'replace three wayfinding signs and to improve the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ramp used to access the pedestrian overpass/crosswalk over the Johnstown Expressway (PA‐56),' according to the project description from 2023. Meanwhile, 'the CamTran Downtown Transit Center will be upgraded with a dedicated bus lane in front of the center, along with passenger facility upgrades including an enhanced passenger waiting area, advanced passenger information systems, pedestrian/cyclist accessibility improvements to and around the station,' per information provided by the transit authority. All BUILD, formerly RAISE, funds must be expended by Sept. 30, 2029.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
'Relic Tales of the Johnstown Floods' on display at Heritage Discovery Center
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Through an array of personal items, the stories of Johnstown's three floods are being told. The 'Relic Tales of the Johnstown Floods' exhibition is on display through the fall on the second floor of the Heritage Discovery Center, 201 Sixth Ave. in the Cambria City section of Johnstown. The temporary display gives visitors a snapshot of Johnstown's three major floods – in 1889, 1936 and 1977 – through more than 200 artifacts and photographs, many of which have never before been seen by the public. The exhibition opens at a time when the Johnstown Flood Museum, Heritage Johnstown's flagship museum, remains closed due to water damage sustained from a leaky pipe during January's extreme cold weather. PHOTO GALLERY | 'Relic Tales of the Johnstown Floods' | Heritage Discovery Center 'We wanted to bring some of the flood history to the Heritage Discovery Center so that we could continue to offer tours and tell the story of the three floods,' said Amy Regan, Heritage Johnstown's curator. She said donations of artifacts, even 1889 flood artifacts, are still being received, and many of the objects come with incredible stories. 'For the most part, these are things in the exhibit that people haven't seen before that we maintain and care for in our permanent collection storage,' Regan said. 'Now, we have them out for people to see.' She said the exhibition is not a comprehensive retelling of the history of the three floods, but it gives visitors new insight into what people endured. 'I let the artifacts do the talking,' she said. 'I knew what artifacts we had in the collection, so I looked at the story we tell at the Johnstown Flood Museum and the interruption of it and looked at what we have that fits, so I could complement it while still telling the story.' Relics in the exhibition include a teapot that belonged to Andrew Foster, of Foster and Quinn's Store, who lived at 112 Jackson St. The teapot was in the china cabinet during the 1889 flood. The floor of the dining room fell into the cellar, but the fall was cushioned by the floodwater, so some of the china survived. There is an 1880s apron with handmade lace, which Jane Armstrong was wearing when she died in the 1889 flood. There also is an 1884 map of the boroughs of Johnstown and Conemaugh, which was hanging in Alma Hall at the time of the 1889 flood. The building was the town's tallest structure then, and sheltered 264 flood survivors on the night of May 31, 1889. Other items include a glass rolling pin, a silver platter, a baby doll, cufflinks, a jacquard silk dress, shoes, a shawl, hats, a baptismal gown and a silk-lined fur coat. There also are items related to the American Red Cross. 'What makes this such a unique exhibit is that these are people's personal items,' Regan said. 'Each has a label, and I tried to tell where they were found and who they belonged to if I knew.' Items from the 1936 flood include dried flood mud, a shoe from the Glosser Bros. department store, a wrapped teaspoon believed to have been from Penn Traffic Co., a lightbulb and a collection of photographs. 'There also are some survivors' stories from the 1936 flood that add that personal touch on how they watched the water rise and their experiences,' Regan said. The 1977 flood is represented with a series of photographs by Pittsburgh photographer George Kollar. It also features articles on how different newspapers covered the flood, along with Pepsi cans filled with water. 'Two years ago, we received a calendar from a car shop on Horner Street, and they had left it at Tuesday, July 19, and never pulled off any other dates, leaving it on that date as a memorial,' Regan said. 'It hung on their wall until it was donated to us.' She hopes viewers of the exhibition will reflect on the meaning of the objects to the people who originally preserved them, as well as what they mean to us today. 'The personal touch is so lasting, and it leaves an impression on you,' Regan said. 'The magnitude of this destruction and how people survived is told in this exhibit, so it forms those personal connections and gives you a better understanding of what people went through. 'It leaves a different impact with names, faces and objects.' Heritage Johnstown intends to reopen the Johnstown Flood Museum as soon as possible, but is currently waiting for insurance adjusters to approve cost estimates so the work can begin. 'In this interim period, we're excited to bring a quality exhibition on the floods to the Heritage Discovery Center,' said Shelley Johansson, director of marketing and communications for Heritage Johnstown. 'The relics bring these disasters down to human scale, illustrating that every single survivor had a story.' Johansson said she hopes viewers will have a new appreciation for the personal aspect of the floods. 'It gives you a look back on the past, on what it would have been like,' she said. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and children 3 to 18 and free for children 2 and younger, and includes admittance to the Iron & Steel Gallery, Johnstown Children's Museum and 'America: Through Immigrant Eyes' exhibition. For more information, visit
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
'Still telling the story' 'Relic Tales of the Johnstown Floods' on display at Heritage Discovery Center
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Through an array of personal items, the stories of Johnstown's three floods are being told. The 'Relic Tales of the Johnstown Floods' exhibition is on display through the fall on the second floor of the Heritage Discovery Center, 201 Sixth Ave. in the Cambria City section of Johnstown. The temporary display gives visitors a snapshot of Johnstown's three major floods – in 1889, 1936 and 1977 – through more than 200 artifacts and photographs, many of which have never before been seen by the public. The exhibition opens at a time when the Johnstown Flood Museum, Heritage Johnstown's flagship museum, remains closed due to water damage sustained from a leaky pipe during January's extreme cold weather. PHOTO GALLERY | 'Relic Tales of the Johnstown Floods' | Heritage Discovery Center 'We wanted to bring some of the flood history to the Heritage Discovery Center so that we could continue to offer tours and tell the story of the three floods,' said Amy Regan, Heritage Johnstown's curator. She said donations of artifacts, even 1889 flood artifacts, are still being received, and many of the objects come with incredible stories. 'For the most part, these are things in the exhibit that people haven't seen before that we maintain and care for in our permanent collection storage,' Regan said. 'Now, we have them out for people to see.' She said the exhibition is not a comprehensive retelling of the history of the three floods, but it gives visitors new insight into what people endured. 'I let the artifacts do the talking,' she said. 'I knew what artifacts we had in the collection, so I looked at the story we tell at the Johnstown Flood Museum and the interruption of it and looked at what we have that fits, so I could complement it while still telling the story.' Relics in the exhibition include a teapot that belonged to Andrew Foster, of Foster and Quinn's Store, who lived at 112 Jackson St. The teapot was in the china cabinet during the 1889 flood. The floor of the dining room fell into the cellar, but the fall was cushioned by the floodwater, so some of the china survived. There is an 1880s apron with handmade lace, which Jane Armstrong was wearing when she died in the 1889 flood. There also is an 1884 map of the boroughs of Johnstown and Conemaugh, which was hanging in Alma Hall at the time of the 1889 flood. The building was the town's tallest structure then, and sheltered 264 flood survivors on the night of May 31, 1889. Other items include a glass rolling pin, a silver platter, a baby doll, cufflinks, a jacquard silk dress, shoes, a shawl, hats, a baptismal gown and a silk-lined fur coat. There also are items related to the American Red Cross. 'What makes this such a unique exhibit is that these are people's personal items,' Regan said. 'Each has a label, and I tried to tell where they were found and who they belonged to if I knew.' Items from the 1936 flood include dried flood mud, a shoe from the Glosser Bros. department store, a wrapped teaspoon believed to have been from Penn Traffic Co., a lightbulb and a collection of photographs. 'There also are some survivors' stories from the 1936 flood that add that personal touch on how they watched the water rise and their experiences,' Regan said. The 1977 flood is represented with a series of photographs by Pittsburgh photographer George Kollar. It also features articles on how different newspapers covered the flood, along with Pepsi cans filled with water. 'Two years ago, we received a calendar from a car shop on Horner Street, and they had left it at Tuesday, July 19, and never pulled off any other dates, leaving it on that date as a memorial,' Regan said. 'It hung on their wall until it was donated to us.' She hopes viewers of the exhibition will reflect on the meaning of the objects to the people who originally preserved them, as well as what they mean to us today. 'The personal touch is so lasting, and it leaves an impression on you,' Regan said. 'The magnitude of this destruction and how people survived is told in this exhibit, so it forms those personal connections and gives you a better understanding of what people went through. 'It leaves a different impact with names, faces and objects.' Heritage Johnstown intends to reopen the Johnstown Flood Museum as soon as possible, but is currently waiting for insurance adjusters to approve cost estimates so the work can begin. 'In this interim period, we're excited to bring a quality exhibition on the floods to the Heritage Discovery Center,' said Shelley Johansson, director of marketing and communications for Heritage Johnstown. 'The relics bring these disasters down to human scale, illustrating that every single survivor had a story.' Johansson said she hopes viewers will have a new appreciation for the personal aspect of the floods. 'It gives you a look back on the past, on what it would have been like,' she said. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and children 3 to 18 and free for children 2 and younger, and includes admittance to the Iron & Steel Gallery, Johnstown Children's Museum and 'America: Through Immigrant Eyes' exhibition. For more information, visit
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Johnstown native Shorto traces Dutch influences, New York City origins in 'Taking Manhattan' presentation
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Author Russell Shorto often visited St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery's cemetery when he lived in New York City's East Village neighborhood a quarter-century ago. It was home to the remains of Peter Stuyvesant, governor of New Netherland, who died in 1672. His presence got Shorto thinking about the Dutch colony's founding and the days of New Amsterdam, which eventually became New York City. 'I tend to be drawn to origins,' said Shorto, a Johnstown native and current Cumberland, Maryland resident, during a presentation at Heritage Johnstown's Heritage Discovery Center Wednesday. From that beginning, the subjects of Dutch history and culture have frequently appeared in Shorto's work throughout the years. His most recent book, 'Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America,' was released earlier this year. His other writings on the Dutch include 'Amsterdam: A History of the World's Most Liberal City' and 'The Island at the Center of the World,' a predecessor to 'Taking Manhattan.' His latest book tells the story of when in 1664, Richard Nicolls, a military officer, was sent by the king of England to gain control of the colony. Both sides pointed cannons at each other, ready to fight. But a compromise that Shorto described as 'a bill of rights' was reached instead between Nicolls and Stuyvesant. 'The Dutch had argued for these terms that they would keep their homes, they would keep their families, their businesses, their trade networks all over the world,' Shorto, a knight of the Netherlands' Order of Orange- Nassau, said. 'The only thing that would change is the city would become English and Nicholls would become its governor.' And that was how New Amsterdam became New York City. The agreement preserved the tolerant and multicultural society established by the Dutch, along with its economic base, all of which Shorto said was the 'secret sauce' that Nicolls wanted. 'Those two things – a mixed society and this capitalistic economic support – are kind of the recipe for New York, and not just for New York, but for America, because ,eventually New York would become powerful enough that it would influence America,' Shorto said. That created two distinct English centers in the colonies – New York City and the more theocratic, puritanical society in New England. 'These two ideologies in a way, if you think about it, are competing with each other throughout all of American history, even to where we are today,' Shorto said. 'I think frankly – this is just my editorializing – I think the country needs both, but it needs to figure out how they can work together. 'When the country has functioned at its best has been times when they can figure out ways for those two to compromise, the way Stuyvesant and Nicholls did in creating something.' The presentation was the latest event in which Shorto has collaborated with Heritage Johnstown. 'Certainly, he's been a great friend to our organization over the years,' said Shelley Johansson, Heritage Johnstown's director of marketing and communications. 'To have an author of his caliber from Johnstown and he writes books that have to do with history, of course it's a natural we would want to present him with his newest book any time the opportunity presents itself.'
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
'Desire to get ahead' drew people of diverse backgrounds to Johnstown region
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Foreign-born residents comprise only about 1% of the population in Cambria, Somerset and Bedford counties. That rate, among a combined 250,000 people, is well behind the state average of 7.4% and the national number of 13.9%, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data compiled for 2019 to 2023. Faces of Immigration logo And it is a much different environment than in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when immigrants flocked to the region to work in steel mills and coal mines, following generations of Germans, Welsh and Irish who arrived earlier. The waves of workers came from Czechoslovakia, Croatia, Poland, Russia, Hungary, Italy and elsewhere. Many journeyed to the new land to make money. Others escaped persecution. Some did both. By 1880, 40% of Johnstown's residents were foreign-born, with that number swelling to 85% in the Cambria City neighborhood, according to information at Heritage Johnstown's website. Modern immigration tends to involve professionals in the medical, technology and education sectors, many arriving from India, other parts of Asia, the Middle East and from Latin America. BURKERT 2 Richard Burkert, President & CEO of JAHA poses inside the Johnstown Flood Museum on Wednesday, August 16, 2023. But there has been a common thread over the decades. 'Basically, they were driven by desire to get ahead,' said Richard Burkert, former CEO of the former Johnstown Area Heritage Association, now known as Heritage Johnstown. David Hurst, executive director of The Steeples Project that preserves and repurposes old ethnic churches in the Cambria City Historic District, said immigrants come to the area to 'start over with hope and a prayer.' Hurst, whose wife, Keiko Hurst, emigrated from Japan, said: 'It's the experience of every single immigrant who comes to this shore. They literally turn their back on, give up and walk away from everything that they had.' 'Similar to this area' Delaware and Shawnee natives inhabited a land then called 'kwənəmuxkw,' meaning 'otter' in the Unami-Lenape language. It eventually developed into Conemaugh or Connumach for 'Otter Creek.' The area's hills were filled with deer and other wild animals. Fish swam in the valley's three rivers. Joseph Schantz, a German immigrant also called Joseph Johns, founded Conemaugh Old Town, which became Johnstown, in 1800. It was a little town amid that same mostly natural setting. Later, waves of people arrived from Eastern Europe. And, in some ways, many of those immigrants were probably reminded of their homelands when they saw the local landscapes, farmlands and little towns in this part of the new world. Khandakar Raihan Hussain Dr. Khandakar Hussain Dr. Khandakar Hussain, from Conemaugh Health System, feels the same way, even though he hails from a much different type of homeland, Bangladesh, than those previous immigrants did. Both locations have places for him to hike and fish – although in Bangladesh he caught fish to get food, here it is about recreational fun at the Quemahoning Reservoir. Agriculture is important in both communities, with his native region being a major tea producer. 'Part of the reason I stayed in Johnstown, it's so funny, is because the area where I am from, Sylhet, it is similar to this area, excluding the snow part,' Hussain said. 'It's a valley, too. It's a nice hilly area. That's why I like it. And the rainy part, it also rains all the time there.' Hussain came to Johnstown, following his uncle, Anwar Hussain, who worked at Conemaugh. Khandakar Hussain quickly 'fell in love with this town' after spending a year in New York City immediately after arriving in the United States. 'A different culture' Immigrants wove their various cultures into Johnstown's identity. At times, there were churches and social clubs for different ethnic groups in neighborhoods, most notably Cambria City, where their contributions are still celebrated with the annual Cambria City Ethnic Festival and the Polacek Family Johnstown Slavic Festival. 'When they became American, they did it on their own terms. … What they did was merge some of their customs with American ways,' Burkert said. 'In a way, they basically enlarged what it meant to be American, changed it.' International Dinner Show | Gella Family Foundation Kamal Gella, of Johnstown, organizer of the Gella Family Foundation's International Dinner Show held at the Richland Township Fire Department banquet hall in Johnstown on Tuesday, April 9, 2024. In a similar spirit, Kamal Gella, from Vizag, Andhra Pradesh, India, shared his culture by hosting an Indian-themed International Dinner Show in 2024. 'It is important for people to learn about other cultures,' Gella said. 'It's even an opportunity for people to enjoy Indian food and also to experience a different culture.' Like those past immigrants, Gella has embraced the region, calling it 'a great place to raise children, a wonderful community' that 'gave me an opportunity for growth.' Gella has served with numerous organizations over the years, including Westmont Hilltop School District's board of directors, Johnstown Concert Ballet and Gallery on Gazebo. 'I think it's important for each one of us to give back to the community,' Gella said. 'Community of immigrants' Many immigrants and migrants from elsewhere in the United States came to the Johnstown region – at least in part – because they were marginalized, threatened or attacked where they were living. Barry Rudel Barry Rudel, a representative of Beth Sholom synagogue, gives a presentation about the history of Jewish businesses in Johnstown at Gallery on Gazebo in downtown Johnstown on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. Barry Rudel, a historian and representative of Beth Sholom synagogue in Westmont Borough, said Jews often arrived after having 'escaped poverty and persecution.' According to Rudel's research, from 1854 into the 1880s, the German Jewish community in Johnstown was 'highly interrelated,' coming from the Hesse-Darmstadt region. There were 240 Jews in the city at the time of the Great Flood of 1889, with 24 of them dying. Approximately 1,000 Jews arrived from 1881 through 1924, when familial chain migration was common. Many were part of the merchant class, with arguably the most well-known being the Glosser family that owned and operated Glosser Brothers Department Store located in the city's downtown. 'The impact that Johnstown's Jewish community has had on the general community has been and is immeasurable,' Rudel said. 'First of all, the whole community was a community of immigrants. … Johnstown's Jewish immigrants' impact on the general community is now through the second and third generation of immigrants.' Deacon Wilson Deacon Jeffrey Wilson, Pleasant Hill Church talks about not being allowed in the Johnstown Housing Authority Prospect Community meeting on Wednesday, March 22, 2023. Meanwhile, many current local Black residents trace their family histories to men and women who left the repressive Jim Crow South as part of the Great Migration in the early 20th century. They were enticed to the North with the promise of work in the steel mills and coal mines. Although representing migration, by definition – not international immigration – they still traveled to a new land and added their culture to the Johnstown story. 'I think that, through the Great Migration, there were a lot of gains that were made by the African American or Black community in the city,' said Pleasant Hill Baptist Church Deacon Jeffrey Wilson, a community leader who is well-versed in local history. 'Many of those people that came here in particular from the Deep South, they stressed education. Many of them taught their sons and daughters and their grandchildren that they could have a life that would not be as difficult when it comes to labor, for example.'
