Johnstown Flood Museum
Memorializing an American tragedy of massive proportionsAt the end of the 19th century, Johnstown, Pennsylvania was just a small mining town, unknown to practically everyone across the country. But one rainy day in 1889 changed everything.
According to most accounts, the rain started and just wouldn't stop. It filled the streets, and was bigger than the average yearly flood the town had dealt with every year as far back as everyone could remember. When the rains didn't let up, the townspeople began to panic when word spread that the dam near the town was beginning to burst.
When the flood finally started, it instantly became one of the biggest disasters the United States had ever seen. More than 2200 people died and fires raged around the outskirts of the submerged town. Although the flood was a tragedy, it sparked one of the first relief efforts led by Clara Barton and the newly formed American Red Cross.
Today in Johnstown, the great flood, as it has come to be known, is memorialized in a museum that not only tells the harrowing tale, but also houses artifacts that were later pulled from the flood waters. The strange collection includes a quilt that was used to drag drowning citizens out of the rushing water along with a multimedia map that follows the path of the flood from before the dam was broken.
Read more about Johnstown Flood Museum on Atlas Obscura...
Category: Museums and Collections, Disaster Areas
Location: Johnstown, Pennsylvania, US
Edited by: yamsaynot, atimian