Point Stadium: Sports were Always being Played

Once home to a minor league baseball team named the Johnstown Johnnies, the Point Stadium sits at the meeting place of the Conemaugh, Little Conemaugh, and Stonycreek Rivers. Opened in 1926, the original park held 17,000 fans and was a weekend staple for many in the area. The Pittsburgh Steelers have practiced there in the off-season, and President Truman once addressed the city from the field.

Today, the field hosts Bishop McCort High School's many sports teams, as well as the annual AAABA, an amateur-ranking baseball tournament on the national level. Fans gather to cheer on the latest teams hoping to win the title, as well as up-and-coming baseball stars looking for MLB chances. Families have even gathered for entertainment during community day festivities for the city.

War Memorial: Catch a Show

The Cambria County War Memorial Arena was constructed in 1950, and has been the home of several Johnstown hockey teams, starting with the Jets, who later changed their name to the Chiefs. The arena expanded its sports offerings to include boxing in the years that followed. As the name implies, the arena was also meant to pay tribute to members of the armed forces who lived in the Johnstown area, providing a place for visitors to learn about wars and view artistic representations of events.

Today, the arena hosts a new hockey team, the Johnstown Tomahawks, as well as a variety of music artists and conference events throughout the year. The annual Showcase for Commerce provides participants with hands-on interaction with local government officials and large businesses within the area dealing in government contracting. The arena earned the first awarding of the Kraft Hockeyville competition in 2015, giving it $150,000 for needed renovations and the chance to host the Pittsburgh Penguins for a preseason game.

Johnstown High School: Learn Here

Just outside of downtown, in Moxham, sits Greater Johnstown High School. Started in 1895, the school has served approximately eight hundred students per year. It was featured promiently in the 1985 football film All the Right Moves starring Tom Cruise.

With a newly constructed building in 2010 came new problems. The school's academic report is currently falling. It's high on Pennsylvania's lowest-performing schools list, averaging about 15th position. Latest polls show that students test below average on the PSSA tests, and about 17% of students will go on to college, a steep drop compared to the rest of the state.

Glosser Brothers: Latest Things

     Glosser Brothers was the talk of the town. I always hear the elderly citizens talking about memories of the department store that stood on Franklin Street from 1906 to the early 1990s. It sold clothing, food, and the latest records and 8-tracks. Newsboys would stand on the corner of the store's street and perform their calls for the nearby Tribune Democrat. The brothers expanded the line of stores around the city decades later, and yet this store was their most popular. Folks raved about the sight of the elaborate animatronic Christmas decorations the store would display at the end of the year.








The building is now occupied by Press Bistro, a fine dining establishment that serves burgers, wraps, and craft beers. The air is filled with a variety of local artists playing their music and the chatter of friends talking about the day over a brew. Rather than animatronics, the employees illustrate the windows during holidays and special occassions, adding color to the middle of the city.

Inclined Plane: See the Sights

876.5 feet of track take it's visitors from the bottom of Yoder Hill to the top, and vice versa, in ninety seconds. Constructed by the Cambria Iron Company, the Inclined Plane was responsible for saving thousands of lives during the many floods that ravaged the area. With cabins capable of holding small vehicles and a 70.9 degree slope, it it called the steepest in the world.

Today, the Inclined Plane is one of the most popular tourist spots in the city. It now houses a gift shop and is within reasonable distance of many restaurants. The gift shop includes resources for visitors to learn the history of the engineering marvel.

Welcome to Downtown Johnstown!

     This place used to hold a lot more. Families would come by on shopping days for the latest gadgets or to get a bite to eat at one of the many restaurants. People would learn and live here. Out-of towners would come to see the sights or catch a show. Sports were always being played.
     What happened? As the city's main source of income dried up (steel) funding went with it. So too did jobs, lifestyles, and certain appeals. Take a journey through what Johnstown once was, and what now stands in place of it.