The Johnstown Flood Museum is a history museum located in

Johnstown, Pennsylvania Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,411 as of the 2020 census. Located east of Pittsburgh, Johnstown is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area, whi ...

, dedicated to the

Johnstown Flood The Johnstown Flood (locally, the Great Flood of 1889) occurred on Friday, May 31, 1889, after the catastrophic failure of the South Fork Dam, located on the south fork of the Little Conemaugh River, upstream of the town of Johnstown, Pennsylv ...

of 1889. The museum is housed in the former Cambria Public Library, which is part of the

Downtown Johnstown Historic District Downtown Johnstown Historic District is a national historic district located at Johnstown in Cambria County, Pennsylvania. The district includes 109 contributing buildings, 4 contributing sites, and 1 contributing structure in the central bus ...

. The Johnstown Flood Museum chronicles the events of the flood through exhibits and media. The museum shows the documentary, '' The Johnstown Flood'' in the Robert S. Waters Theater. Exhibits include the relief map that uses lights and sounds to display the path of the flood. Surrounding the map are artifacts from the flood. The museum also features a restored "Oklahoma house", a temporary structure used to house flood survivors.

Building history

The Cambria Public Library building is a historic Carnegie library. It was built in 1890–1891, with funds provided by the philanthropist

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

. It is one of 3,000 such libraries constructed between 1885 and 1919. Carnegie provided all funds toward the construction and maintenance of the library through 1930. It is a three-story brick building with a tile roof encased in dormers in the French Gothic revival style. It was damaged in the

Johnstown flood of 1936 The Johnstown flood of 1936, also collectively with other areas referred to as the Saint Patrick's Day Flood, was a devastating flood in Cambria County, and Johnstown, Pennsylvania proper, referred to as "Greater Johnstown". The flood was prece ...

and ceased to function as a library in 1971. ''Note:'' This includes It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1972.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1973 establishments in Pennsylvania Buildings and structures in Johnstown, Pennsylvania History museums in Pennsylvania Museums established in 1973 Museums in Cambria County, Pennsylvania Tourist attractions in Johnstown, Pennsylvania Library buildings completed in 1891 Carnegie libraries in Pennsylvania Former library buildings in the United States Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Gothic Revival architecture in Pennsylvania Historic American Buildings Survey in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Cambria County, Pennsylvania Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Pennsylvania