Johnstown

Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,411 as of the 2020 census. The city has experienced three major floods in its history. The Johnstown Flood of May 31, 1889, occurred after the South Fork Dam collapsed 14.1 miles (22.7 km) upstream from the city during heavy rains. At least 2,209 people died as a result of the flood and subsequent fire that raged through the debris. In 1860, the Cambria Iron Company of Johnstown was the leading steel producer in the United States, outproducing steel giants in Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Through the second half of the 19th century, Johnstown made much of the nation's barbed wire. The town was formally platted as Conemaugh Old Town in 1800 by the Swiss German immigrant Joseph Johns (born Josef Schantz). The settlement was initially known as "Schantzstadt", but was soon anglicized to Johnstown. From 1834 to 1854, the city was a port and key transfer point along the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal. Johnstown became a stop on the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad and was connected with the Baltimore & Ohio. The railroads provided large-scale development of the region's mineral wealth. In 1842, Charles Dickens was the most famous passenger who traveled via the canal to visit Johnstown briefly. In the 1880s, water filled the streets, and rumors began that a dam holding an artificial lake in the mountains to the northeast might give way.

History

Johnstown is the primary city name, but also Conemaugh are acceptable city names or spellings. The official name is City of Johnstown. Johnstown was settled in 1770. The city has experienced three major floods in its history. The Johnstown Flood of May 31, 1889, occurred after the South Fork Dam collapsed 14.1 miles (22.7 km) upstream from the city during heavy rains. At least 2,209 people died as a result of the flood and subsequent fire that raged through the debris. Another major flood occurred in 1936. Before becoming an independent town, Windber, Pennsylvania, was considered a part of the city. Johnstown is home to five national historic districts: Downtown Johnstown, Cambria City, Minersville, Moxham, and Old Conemaugh Borough. The Cambria Iron Company of Johnstown was the leading steel producer in the U.S. in 1860, outproducing steel giants in Pittsburgh and Cleveland. The town made much of the nation's barbed wire in the second half of the 19th century. It was a port and transfer point along the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal from 1834 to 1854. By 1854, canal transport became redundant with the completion of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which now spanned the state. The railroads provided large-scale development of the region's mineral wealth. It owned 40,000 acres (160 km²) of valuable mineral lands in a region with a ready supply of iron, coal and limestone. It became a stop on the main line of the Pittsburgh Railroad and was connected with the Baltimore & Ohio. In 1889, six surrounding boroughs merged with Johnstown to form a new borough.

Geography

Johnstown is located in southwestern Cambria County at 40°1931N 78°5515W (40.325174, 78.920954). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.1 square miles (15.8 km²) The city of Johnstown is divided into many neighborhoods, each with its own unique, ethnic feel. Other areas surrounding the city include Ferndale, Seward, Jackson Township, South Fork, Salix, Beaverdale, Sidman, St. Michael, Dunlo, Wilmore, Elton and Summerhill. The Conemaugh River forms at Johnstown at the confluence of its tributaries, the Stonycreek River and the Little Conamaugh. Before 1900, the town of Windber, Pennsylvania, was a suburb of Johntown, until its incorporation. The city is located on the Susquehannock River, which flows through the city and into the Ohio River. It is located near the junction of the Ohio and Ohio Turnpike, which runs through the center of the city. Johnstown has a population of 8,000, according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau estimate. It has an area of 5.9 square miles, or 15.3 km², of which 5.3 square miles is land and 0.19 square mile (0.5 km²), or 3.25% is water. It also has a climate of cool, dry, and dry.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 20,978 people, 9,917 households, and 5,086 families residing in the city. In the three-year period ending in 2010, it was estimated that 22.3% of the population were of German, 15.8% Irish, 12.9% Italian, 7.7% Slovak, 6.7%) English, 5.6% Polish, and 6.1% American ancestry. The unemployment average is reported at 9%. Most of the jobs center around health care, defense, telemarketing and retail. For the period 2011-2013, the estimated median annual income for a household in the City was $23,785. The per capita income for the city was $15,511. Of the total population, 55.0% of those under the age of 18 and 18.4% ofThose 65 and older were living below the poverty line. For every 100 females age 18 and over,there were 84.5 males. The median age was 41.8 years. The average household size was 2.08 and the average family size was2.87. The age distribution was 21.7 years old, 8.4 from 18 to 24, 24.4 percent from 25 to 44, 27.9 percent from 45 to 64, and 18.5% who were 65 or older. The city's median income was $32,221, and the median income. for a family was $28,858.

In arts and literature

The Bruce Springsteen song "The River" mentions the Johnstown Company. The 1977 film Slap Shot, directed by George Roy Hill and starring Paul Newman, was a parody loosely based on the real-life Johnstown Jets ice hockey team. The film's premiere engendered some local controversy, as some thought Johnstown was portrayed in a less than flattering light. The Johnstown Flood, written and directed by Charles Guggenheim, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary, Short Subject in 1989. Author James Patterson had his fictional serial kidnapper, Gary Soneji, from Along Came a Spider stop at a convenience store on his way through Johnstown. In 2000, Kathleen Cambor published In Sunlight, In A Beautiful Garden, which followed its characters through the events leading up to and including the 1889 flood. Several historical figures, such as Andrew Mellon, Henry Clay Frick and Daniel Morrell were also depicted in the book. Johnstown is featured in Defenders of Freedom Volume 1 (2010) and Defenders of freedom Volume 2 (2012). Both are hardcover books, published by the Williamsport Sun-Gazette, featuring first person stories of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, military veterans who served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. In the foreword of each volume, Johnstown native and nationally recognized newspaper publisher Bernard A. Oravec shares stories of his father's military police service in Germany and growing up in Johnstown's west end during the 1970s.

Education

The Greater Johnstown School District serves residents of Johnstown, West Taylor Township, Lower Yoder Township, and Stonycreek Township. The district currently operates a pre-school, an elementary school, a middle school, and a high school. The Cambria County Library is located at 248 Main Street. The University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown is located just outside of the city limits in Richland Township. Pennsylvania Highlands Community College is located in Johnstown. The Pennsylvania Highlands Seminary serves students in grades 7 through 12. The Johnstown High School is a private, Catholic high school serving students in seventh through 12th grade. It is located on the outskirts of the Johnstown city limits. The school district also operates a cyber school, which serves students from around the world. It also operates an elementary and middle school as well as a career and technology school.

Economy

In 1982, Johnstown's longest-serving mayor, Herbert Pfuhl Jr., said that, as a result of the decline, city revenues had fallen approximately 35 percent. The Johnstown economy later recovered somewhat, largely due to industry around health care and high-tech defense, but was reported to be the third-fastest shrinking city in the U.S. in 2017. In 2018, in 2018,Johnstown was ranked 169th among "The Best Small Places For Business And Careers" in theU.S., by Forbes.Major employers in the area include: Air Force, Pennsylvania National Guard, Pennsylvania Air Force Base, and Pennsylvania Air National Guard Base. Johnstown is home to the Johnstown Steel Company, which was founded in 1875. The company went out of business in the 1970s and has since been replaced by a number of smaller companies, including Pennsylvania Steel, Pennsylvania Sheet and Tube, Pennsylvania Steel and Pennsylvania Steel Corporation. The city is also home to Johnstown High School, a public high school, which opened in the 1950s. The school was the first in the state to offer a high school diploma in the 1960s. It was also the first high school to offer an associate's degree in the 1980s. In the 1990s and 2000s, the town was the site of the Pennsylvania High School for Math and Science, which has since closed its doors. The town is also the home of Pennsylvania State University, which offers a bachelor's and master's degree program.

Transportation

The main highway connecting Johnstown to the Pennsylvania Turnpike is U.S. Route 219. The local airport is the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport, with flights to Washington-Dulles and Chicago-O'Hare via Clarksburg. The city is located on the former mainline of the Pennsylvania Railroad and is served by Amtrak's daily Pennsylvanian. CamTran operates the local bus service and the Johnstown Inclined Plane (funicular) Until 1976, local transit service was operated by a private company, Johnstown Traction Company. Streetcars (or "trolleys") operated in Johnstown until 1960, and trolley buses from 1951 until 1967. Norfolk Southern operates 6080 trains daily on these rails. CSX also has a branch into the city. Johnstown is home to the National Guard's Johnstown Barracks, which is located in the western part of the city near the town's border with Pennsylvania. The town has a population of about 2,000 people, making it one of the smallest towns in the state. It is the only town in Pennsylvania to be home to a National Guard Barrack, which was established in the early 1900s and is based in the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. It was the site of World War II's Battle of the Bulge, which took place in the late 1800s and early 1800s. The Johnstown Army Ammunition Plant, built in the 1930s, is located near the center of the town.

Sports

Johnstown has been home to a long succession of minor league hockey franchises dating back to 1940. The Johnstown Chiefs were named for their Slap Shot counterparts. The city also hosts the annual Sunnehanna Amateur golf tournament. Flood City Water Polo team takes its name from the history of floods in the area. Johnstown was announced as the winner of the 2015 Kraft Hockeyville USA contest and was awarded $150,000 toward improvements of the Cambria County War Memorial Arena. In addition to the cash prize, the arena won the opportunity to host the September 29, 2015, NHL pre-season game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning. The last team to play as the Johnstown Johnnies, as a part of the Frontier League, left the city in 2002. The Alaska Avalanche relocated to Johnstown after the 2011-2012 NAHL hockey season, and have remained in Johnstown ever since. Since 1944, the city has been the host city for the AAABA Baseball Tournament held each summer. Several Major League Baseball players have played on AAABA teams over the years, including Hall-of Famers Al Kaline and Reggie Jackson and former Major League managers Joe Torre and Bruce Bochy. The organization also has its own Hall of Fame instituted in its 50th anniversary year of 1994. The team was founded in 2005 by Zachary Puhala, the team was named after the floods of the area in which the city is located. It is a member of the American Water Polo Organization.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Johnstown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania = 43.9. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 91. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 100. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Johnstown = 3.7 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 11,661 individuals with a median age of 42.8 age the population dropped by -10.67% in Johnstown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 3,104.72 residents per square mile of area (1,198.66/km²). There are average 2.06 people per household in the 10,140 households with an average household income of $24,586 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 10.70% of the available work force and has dropped -5.22% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 18.86%. The number of physicians in Johnstown per 100,000 population = 216.8.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Johnstown = 45.7 inches and the annual snowfall = 50 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 162. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 166. 86 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 21.1 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 55, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Johnstown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania which are owned by the occupant = 41.05%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 26.8 years with median home cost = $46,630 and home appreciation of 1.20%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $15.25 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $5,462 per student. There are 15.3 students for each teacher in the school, 706 students for each Librarian and 446 students for each Counselor. 4.38% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 5.64% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 2.38% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).