Livermore, Pennsylvania is an abandoned town that was located on the

Conemaugh River The Conemaugh River is a long tributary of the Kiskiminetas River in Westmoreland, Indiana, and Cambria counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The name means 'Otter Creek', originating from the Unami-Lenape language word ''kwənəmuxkw'' ...

between Blairsville and Saltsburg in Derry Township, Westmoreland County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. The town was abandoned and partially razed in the early 1950s following authorization by the

Flood Control Act of 1936 The Flood Control Act of 1936, , (FCA 1936) was an Act of the United States Congress signed into law by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on 22 June 1936.Flood Control Act of 1938 for construction of the Conemaugh Dam and Lake to prevent flooding of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

. Much of the former town site now lies under the

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

and

floodplains A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

History

The town was established along the Conemaugh River within Derry Township in 1827 by John Livermore, naming the town after himself. The Pennsylvania legislature had established the Board of Canal Commissioners for the Commonwealth in 1825, and authorized a public canal and railroad project across the state, the Pennsylvania Canal system. The Main Line Canal's Western Division, which stretched 103 miles from Johnstown to Pittsburgh, was constructed past Livermore along the Conemaugh. The West Penn Railroad extended past Livermore alongside the canal in 1854, and a station was built in 1864, providing connections to Blairsville and Saltsburg. Grading from Blairsville to the Allegheny River was completed in 1857, and the same year, the state sold the canal to the Pennsylvania Railroad. Another grade was built in 1882 to bypass a hill. These tracks were used for 25 years until 1907, when a new straight line bypassed the canal curves. A new station was also built. With the growth of the canal, the town increased slightly. On February 13, 1865, the town was incorporated as a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

within the township, by the county courts. The Livermore Presbyterian Church was organized in 1851, though the congregation seldom met for lack of supplies, and ministers frequently shared time between Livermore and the congregation in nearby Salem. The first church structure was a frame that the Baptists and

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

s shared. A more solid brick structure was built in 1862. In 1906, the town had several stores and three churches with Presbyterian,

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

, and United Brethren congregations. It had one school that served thirty-two students. 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 rendered the Juniata Branch of the Pennsylvania Canal useless, stranding the Western Division from commerce in the east; canal towns, such as Livermore, began a steady decline. Between March 16 and 21, 1936, the

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainag ...

of the Allegheny and

Monongahela River The Monongahela River ( , )—often referred to locally as the Mon ()—is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-cen ...

s including the Conemaugh flooded as a result of heavy rainfall and melting snow and ice. The area had been experiencing extremely cold temperatures, and in many places the ground was frozen solid to a depth of four feet: water could not soak into the ground. Residents of Livermore and other low-lying towns Cokeville and Bairdstown were evacuated by rowboats in the evening of March 17, many gathering at higher ground in Blairsville. " The Great St. Patrick’s Day Flood" submerged the town under 18 feet of water, sweeping away the bridge spanning the Conemaugh and fourteen buildings, while others were ruined or severely damaged. Floodwaters destroyed eight homes, four properties, three barns, two garages, and the stocks of both general stores. The flood caused one fatality in Livermore. As a whole, the flood claimed about 80 lives and caused the region over $500 million in damages. Livermore Station

Following the flood, the Flood Control Acts of 1936 and 1938 authorized various flood control projects by the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

, including the Conemaugh River Dam and Lake at nearby Tunnelton. The project would provide protection for the lower Conemaugh Valley, the Kiskiminetas Valley, the lower Allegheny Valley and the upper Ohio River. The dam would restrict the river's flow, creating a

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

that would submerge Livermore. The project required the town to be demolished and the 57 remaining residents were relocated. Since completion in 1952, the Conemaugh River Dam has prevented over $2 billion in damage. $375 million in damage was prevented when the remnants of

Hurricane Ivan Hurricane Ivan was a large, long-lived, Cape Verde hurricane that caused widespread damage in the Caribbean and United States. The cyclone was the ninth named storm, the sixth hurricane and the fourth major hurricane of the active 2004 Atlant ...

struck the area in 2004.

Demographics

The 1850 United States Census was the first to publish populations for civil divisions below

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

. Livermore recorded an all-white population of 153 in 1850, and 165 in 1860. The 1870 Census recorded that Livermore, Pennsylvania had 209 native-born residents, and 2 foreigners, with 208 whites and 3 blacks, for a total population of 211. The 1880 Census recorded a significant decline in the population to 164, attributed to the decline of the Pennsylvania Canal. However, the population increased again to 211 in 1890, but again saw decline to 175 in 1900. Following the severe flood in 1936, the population declined to 113 in 1940, and 57 in 1950 before the town was

condemned Condemned or The Condemned may refer to: Legal * Persons awaiting execution * A condemned property, or condemned building, by a local authority, usually for public health or safety reasons * A condemned property seized by power of eminent domain ...

and abandoned.

Today

Several

urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

s surround the former town. One claims that the town was wiped out in a flood. While the site is now underwater, the buildings of the small town were condemned and torn down before the dam was built and the area was flooded in 1952. Another belief is that George A. Romero’s cult horror film ''

Night of the Living Dead ''Night of the Living Dead'' is a 1968 American independent horror film directed, photographed, and edited by George A. Romero, with a screenplay by John Russo and Romero, and starring Duane Jones and Judith O'Dea. The story follows seven pe ...

'' was filmed at the Livermore Cemetery. The cemetery scenes were filmed in

Evans City, Pennsylvania Evans City is a borough in Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,833 at the 2010 census. Geography Evans City is located in southwestern Butler County at (40.769310, -80.061409), in the valley of Breakneck Creek. It is ...

, more than 60 miles from Livermore. The site is nonetheless considered haunted, and the stories primarily center around the moving of graves that occurred when the town's cemetery was required to be moved to higher ground. The cemetery was not relocated, however, and has always been in its present location. Due to repeated vandalism, access to the cemetery is now restricted.

References

{{authority control Geography of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Ghost towns in Pennsylvania Former municipalities in Pennsylvania