Johnstown Flood Museum

The Johnstown Flood Museum is a history museum located in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, dedicated to the Johnstown Flood of 1889. The museum is housed in the former Cambria Public Library, which is part of the Downtown Johnstown Historic District.^[1]

Johnstown Flood Museum

Location within Pennsylvania Show map of Pennsylvania Johnstown Flood Museum (the United States) Show map of the United States
Established	1973
Location	304 Washington St., Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	40.3278°N 78.9208°W / 40.3278; -78.9208
Type	Artifacts and Local History
President	Richard Burkert
Website	https://www.jaha.org/attractions/johnstown-flood-museum/
Cambria Public Library Building
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Area	less than one acre
Built	1890
Architectural style	French Gothic revival
NRHP reference No.	72001100[1]
Added to NRHP	June 19, 1972

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.^[2]

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. 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 and ceased to function as a library in 1971.^[3]

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

In January 2025 the museum, but not its contents, were damaged when cold weather caused a water valve to leak on the third floor.^[4] As a result, the museum was closed indefinitely.^[5][6]