Revitalization in a southwestern Pennsylvania Rust Belt town
Johnstown made the rural southwestern Pennsylvania municipality of Cambria County a household name during the industrial era. In the late 19th century, the Cambria Iron Company was producing steel in the same league as major players in Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Chicago. The convergence of the Little Conemaugh, Conemaugh and Stonycreek rivers, as well as the coal-rich hills of Cambria County, encouraged the laying of railroad tracks and a prosperous commercial corridor through Johnstown. By the 1980s, however, steel production and manufacturing had sputtered to a near full-stop with the decline of Bethlehem Steel and many coal operations. The city had weathered three once-in-a-lifetime floods in less than a century. The loss of industry brought with it property blight and economic downturn, mirroring the fates of many of the Rust Belt's former production towns.
Despite the floods and decades of population and economic decline, “The first thing that comes to mind about Johnstown, I’d have to say, is revitalization. The city is going through a transformation,” says Bob Colvin, head of his family’s RE/MAX team who has specialized in Cambria and Somerset counties since 1994. “It’s a small town so everybody knows everybody – definitely a ‘hometown.’ Folks are very into supporting the local economy, and there’s a lot of mom and pops.” Hopes for Johnstown’s future range from boosting its position as an arts and entertainment center along hiking and biking trails to a resurgence of local steel production. As the city focuses on revitalization, it’s likely that Johnstown’s future will fork in the same way as the three rivers that meet at its center. A constant in these proposals is a reliance on Johnstown's resources that have proved resistant to the rust: the work of the people that love their city and the abundant natural beauty of southwestern Pennsylvania’s hills and river valleys.
Johnstown is a welcoming community with a ton of recreational opportunities.
Flooding has been a major factor in shaping the history of Johnstown.
The Fireman's Memorial Bridge is one of eight bridges in Downtown Johnstown.
Many industries like Gautier Steel call Johnstown home.
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Johnstown manufacturing and southwestern PA commuting
Proposed legislation like The Steel Modernization Act have stirred hopes that steel could come back to Johnstown, but as of the beginning of 2025, any potential developments are still years away. At present, the local manufacturing sector tends to produce products for the U.S. Department of Defense, including companies like Johnstown Welding and Fabrication and Lockheed Martin. Duke LifePoint Health System represents Cambria County's significant healthcare sector, now merged with the Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center hospitals and clinics in Johnstown.
Commuters to Ebensburg, the county seat, can head up U.S. Route 219 or take back roads to U.S. Route 22 on the roughly 20-mile drive. By way of 22, Pittsburgh is nearly 70 miles in the opposite direction. CamTran buses run routes throughout Johnstown and greater Cambria County. Johnstown’s revitalization goals have also brought about plans for a reimagined CamTran Transit Center, though the project is in planning and public input phases as of the beginning of 2025. The Johnstown Inclined Plane is a more unusual form of public transit, originally designed as a flood escape route to the higher elevation Westmont area, but the funicular has been closed for renovation since 2021. The Pennsylvanian Amtrak train stops at Johnstown’s station before continuing toward Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport is about 5 miles away, a small facility that typically acts as a first stop to larger airports.
Industrial-era homes for around $100,000 in Johnstown
The residential architecture of Johnstown is a medley of the 19th- and 20th-century styles found in former industrial towns throughout the northeast. Gridded, tightly packed blocks are lined with simple National homes, boxy Foursquares and grander, asymmetrical Queen Annes. Neighborhoods like Kernville lie flat along the river valley bottom. Others like Hornerstown start sloping up into forested hills. Sidewalks run throughout the old streetcar-style city, connecting blighted properties to well-kept homes and others needing aesthetic renovations more so than major overhaul. Johnstown’s median single-family home price is $100,000, not even a quarter of the national median price of $418,700 given by the National Association of Realtors.
Foursquare, multifamily homes can be found in Hornerstown Johnstown's 7th Ward.
Foursquare homes are common in Johnstown's Kernville neighborhood.
Larger tudor & dutch colonial homes can also be found throughout Johnstown's Osborne area.
Charming victorian homes can be easily spotted in Johnstown's Osborne neighborhood.
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Cambria County Trails and Central Park revitalization
Cambria County’s hills are full of forested hiking trails, from the 70-mile stretch of the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail to the local-history-packed path of the Johnstown Flood National Memorial Trails. Mountain bikers follow steep paths down the Inclined Plane Trail, while other cyclists travel between Indiana and Cambria counties on the Ghost Town Trail. Tubing and kayaking businesses collect along the city’s rivers. Multiple ski mountains are within an hour of Johnstown, including the popular Seven Springs Mountain Resort. In town, Central Park has long been a shady, grassy collection of pathways, monuments and park benches along Main Street, but it’s slated for redesign. The park is the center of the RAISE Main Street and Central Park Project, a grant-funded initiative set to introduce an accessible performance space, water features and public art, as well as infrastructure upgrades for stormwater, pedestrians and cyclists along Main Street.
Take a walk through Central Park in downtown Johnstown.
The best skiing like Hidden Valley Resort is only an hour from Johnstown.
The Greater Johnstown Greenway is a stretch of trailway for walking, running, and cycling.
The new performance space in Central Park brings Johnstown folks together.
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Shopping and dining in Downtown Johnstown
The preserved 20th-century commercial buildings in Downtown Johnstown have increasingly filled with trendy breweries serving fusion cuisines, boutiques and coffee shops. Small businesses are encouraged through programs like a cost-matching facade improvement initiative and tax credit benefits as part of a Keystone Innovation Zone. Grocery stores are harder to come by, but a handful of Giant Eagles and Dollar Generals are scattered in and around town. Many denominations of churches hold services throughout Johnstown, including many with historic designs and significance. The Gothic Revival facade of Franklin Street Methodist Church bore the brunt of Johnstown’s 1889 flood without crumbling, and local historians credit its placement and soundness with easing the surge’s impact on some of Main Street.
The Phoenix Tavern is a popular spot in Johnstown to grab a drink and a meal with friends.
Johnstown resident can grab groceries at the nearby Giant Eagle.
Enjoy an evening out with friends in Johnstown at the Franklin Street Bar & Grill.
The Franklin Street Methodist Church in Johnstown survived the flood.
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Flood City Music Festival and Rumble Through the Valley
Peoples Natural Gas Park hosts plenty of events throughout the year, including the cheekily named Flood City Music Festival and an engine-revving motorcycle rally that’s making some name choices of its own. “Thunder in the Valley ran for 25 years, and the group owns that name. There’s a new group that started a new event in 2024, it’s moving to be a two-day event in 2025. They’re calling it Rumble Through the Valley,” Colvin says. Fans cheer the home teams at Johnstown Mill Rats during Prospect League games and Johnstown Tomahawks North American Hockey League games. Local artists have painted brilliant murals on buildings throughout town, and display their works in spaces like the Bottle Works Ethnic Arts Center. Modern blacksmiths forge their projects at the Center for Metal Arts, stationed in the old Cambria ironworks facilities.
Events are held regularly throughout the year at Peoples Natural Gas Park in Johnstown.
Johnstown residents love their city!
Catch a Tomahawks game at 1st Summit Arena in Johnstown.
Johnstown is hometown to one of the creators of Spiderman, the late Steve Ditko.
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Greater Johnstown schools and Pitt Johnstown
The Greater Johnstown School District earns a C-minus from Niche. Students at C-rated Greater Johnstown High School can earn associate’s degrees through a program developed with Penn Highlands Community College. The University of Pittsburgh’s Johnstown Campus is home to more than 2,000 students studying more than 50 majors.
The University of Pittsburgh Johnstown is a key part of the community.
The dedicated teachers of Greater Johnstown High School received a B- grade from Niche.
Greater Johnstown Middle earns a C- on Niche.
Greater Johnstown Elementary School received a C- grade from Niche.
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Flood City history and future mitigation, crime and weather patterns
Plenty of Johnstown lies low along its three convergent rivers, but nuisance basement and roadway flooding following rainfall is not what earned it the nickname “Flood City.” In 1889, shoddy maintenance of a dam at an exclusive resort -- frequented by the likes of industrialists Andrew Mellon and Andrew Carnegie -- caused it to burst. Floodwater hurtled down from Lake Conemaugh and swept Johnstown away. Black and white photographs in the Johnstown Flood Museum keep a record of that day; the scale of the destruction wrought by waves of floodwater and muddy hillside run-off was catastrophic and resulted in more than 2,200 deaths. Many locals have stories about the 1977 flood, itself a product of heavy rain, run-off from the hills and failures of preventative infrastructure designed after the city’s major 1936 flood. Ongoing funding and the Army Corps of Engineers’ maintenance of the canal-like flood prevention infrastructure along the Conemaugh, Little Conemaugh and Stonycreek rivers are the main safeguards for keeping Flood City more of a tongue-in-cheek nickname than a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Data from the Johnstown City Police Department to the Pennsylvania Uniform Crime Reporting System indicates that overall crime rose nearly 11% from 2022 to 2023. One of the most notable changes was a 50% increase in burglaries.
Johnstown experiences four temperate seasons, including hot, rainy summers and freezing, snowy winters.
Written By
Julia Szymanski
Photography Contributed By
Franklin Abreu
Video By
Chris Freeman
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