In an age of satellite communication and easy travel, it is difficult to appreciate the meaning of a natural barrier. In the early 19th century, geographical features like the Allegheny Ridge, rising steeply 1200 feet above sea level, stood in the way of national expansion. Crossing it with roads, canals, and rail was more than a challenge; it became the symbol of American technical prowess and the emergence of Pennsylvania as an industrial giant. The creativity and initiative that opened this industrial frontier grew out of the sweat and toil of a human drama. The struggle to overcome natural, social, and economic barriers lead to a multi-cultural society, prosperity, and a new American spirit that is celebrated throughout the Allegheny Ridge Heritage Area. The opening chapter of the Ridge story starts in Hollidaysburg, once an important port located at the western terminus of the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal, Juniata Division and the Allegheny Portage Railroad. The superhighway of its time, the Canal brought a flow of new people and ideas into the Ridge. Hollidaysburg’s Canal Basin Park and Reiser House Visitor Center present this story. The Allegheny Portage Railroad, an engineering marvel of its day, now a National Historic Site, carried canal boats up and over the Ridge.

The Horseshoe Curve, a huge loop of track cut out of a mountainside entirely by men using picks, shovels, and horses is the engineering masterpiece which conquered the Ridge. The story continues in Altoona and extends to the many sites and towns at the summit.

Small “hilltowns” set within the mountain landscape dot the Main Line, the next chapter in the Ridge story. These towns developed early as a location for resorts and small hotels. Included among them was the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, which eventually became etched in a history as the source of the Johnstown Flood in 1889. The Johnstown Flood National Memorial and the Johnstown Flood Museum both tell the story of the disaster and those who survived it.

The story continues in the Steel City that includes Johnstown and adjacent communities whose neighborhoods preserve the dense fabric of ethnic working class life. The Johnstown Heritage Discovery Center is a museum and cultural center that is dedicated to preserving and presenting this heritage. “America: Through Immigrant Eyes”, the center’s permanent exhibition, uses interactive media to put the visitor in the role of a recent immigrant to Johnstown in the early 20th century.
for more information, write or call:

Allegheny Ridge Corporation
1421-1427 12th Avenue
P.O. Box 348
Altoona, PA  16603
814-940-1922

www.AlleghenyRidge.org