Johnstown Flood, The Pennsylvania Disaster That Left 2,200 Dead
On May 31, 1889, the Johnstown Flood killed more than 2,200 people in southwestern Pennsylvania when the long-neglected South Fork Dam suddenly gave way.
Like many other towns in the Rust Belt, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was a bustling community in the late 1800s and early 1900s when the steel industry was at its height. Tragically, the Johnstown Flood of 1889 wiped out nearly ten percent of the area’s booming population.
Located 60 miles east of Pittsburgh, Johnstown was built on a plain between the Little Conemaugh and Stony Creek Rivers, which made the city prone to frequent flooding. In the mid-1800s, a dam was built on the Little Conemaugh, 14 miles upstream from Johnstown, to help control these disasters.
Unfortunately, when the dam failed 50 years later, Johnstown experienced one of the most devastating floods in American history.
The B&O Passenger Station in Johnstown after the flood tore a gaping hole in the exterior of the building. Rothengatter & Dillon/Library of Congress via Getty Images Wrecked houses on Main and Union streets. One house has a tree driven through it.Bettmann/Getty Images A closer shot of the toppled house with a tree lodged through an upper window. Public Domain Main Street in Johnstown after the flood, littered with the wreckage and debris of ruined homes and buildings. Library of Congress/Getty Images A man selling souvenirs in a shack at the site of the Johnstown Flood. The photo reads: "Johnstown Flood: He made a fortune from selling souvenirs ('It's an ill flood that wastes nobody good')."Bettmann/Getty Images A group of people standing on a bridge overlooking the flood debris collected beneath.Library of Congress/Getty Images The cover of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper with a drawing of the disastrous flood in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.Stock Montage/Getty Images The remains of houses and a church steeple.Library of Congress/Getty Images A destroyed freight car on its side next to twisted railroad tracks. The Cambria Iron Works Company warehouse in the background also suffered severe damage.Library of Congress/Getty Images A ruined factory building.Library of Congress/Getty Images People gathered around the street near the Masonite Headquarters after the Johnstown flood in 1889.Library of Congress/Getty Images A group of people at the flood site. Buyenlarge/Getty Images An overhead view of Johnstown several months after the flood. Public Domain A family that survived the Johnstown Flood living in a shack after their home was destroyed.Library of Congress/Getty Images Main Street, where homes were almost completely ravaged by the flood. A subsequent fire caused further mayhem. Public Domain The disastrous flood of 1889 killed over 2,200 people. Library of Congress/Getty Images A group of people stand by the destroyed Sisters of Charity building. Library of Congress/Getty Images A view of the lakebed from atop the broken South Fork Dam. Public Domain People combing through the remains of buildings.Library of Congress/Getty Images The remains of a home in Johnstown, just after the flood of 1889. Public Domain Ruins from the site of the former Hulbert House. Public Domain Pullman cars and engines, completely ruined as a result of the flood. Public Domain An illustration depicting the flood in the Conemaugh Valley of Pennsylvania and Johnstown. Some of the houses burn as they float.Public Domain Details of the construction of the South Fork Dam near Johnstown.Wikimedia Commons The site where the South Fork Dam once stood.Wikimedia Commons The remains of the South Fork Dam. The large notch in the middle, now covered by trees, is the section that gave way when the dam broke.Wikimedia Commons The South Fork Reservoir at the Johnstown Flood National Memorial. Wikimedia Commons
The Catastrophic Story Of The Johnstown Flood That Washed Away An Entire Pennsylvania Town In 1889 View GalleryThe Catastrophic Failure Of The South Fork Dam
In 1889, 30,000 people — many of them steelworkers — called Johnstown, Pennsylvania home. The town's residents were used to frequent flooding when it rained heavily or when snow in the surrounding mountains melted too quickly, but they were not prepared for what happened on May 31, 1889, when the South Fork Dam collapsed.
According to HISTORY, when the dam was built in the 1840s, it was the largest earth dam in the United States. The structure of dirt and rock that held in the water of man-made Lake Conemaugh stood 72 feet tall and 900 feet long.
The dam was an essential part of a canal system that was used to transport goods along the rivers of Pennsylvania before the Industrial Revolution. However, the introduction of railroads across America eventually replaced canals as the main means of transporting goods, and the dam fell into disrepair as its maintenance was neglected.
In 1879, the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club purchased Lake Conemaugh and the dam to use as an exclusive spot for wealthy members to go sailing, catch the fish that were stocked in the lake, and relax. Its members included some of the richest men in America, like Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick.
Bettmann/Getty ImagesThe barren area that was once Lake Conemaugh after the flood.
Despite having access to plenty of money, the club failed to properly maintain the dam. In fact, officials even lowered the height of the structure to make a wider road across the top of it and added screens to the spillway to stop the fish from swimming out, according to the National Park Service.
Both of these "improvements" greatly contributed to the dam's failure and the subsequent Johnstown Flood.
On May 31, 1889, an engineer at the dam noticed that the spillway screens had become clogged with debris after days of heavy rain. Sensing an oncoming disaster, he rode a horse into the nearby town of South Fork to warn its residents.
Unfortunately, the telegraph lines were down. Nobody could get in contact with Johnstown.
The dam collapsed just after 3 p.m., with a loud boom that could be heard from miles away, and the entirety of Lake Conemaugh rushed forward at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour.
The residents of Johnstown, just 14 miles downstream, had no idea what was coming.
The Total Devastation Caused By The Johnstown Flood
The tumbling water collected trees, buildings, and any other objects in its path as it swept through the villages east of Johnstown. By the time the wave of floodwater and debris reached the ill-fated town around 4 p.m., it was reportedly nearly 40 feet high.
A New York Times article from June 1, 1889, reported that Johnstown had been "practically wiped out of existence" after the flood "swept onward... like a tidal wave... houses, factories and bridges were overwhelmed in the twinkling of an eye and with their human occupants were carried in a vast chaos down the raging torrent."
As the 20 million tons of water tore through Johnstown, the flood destroyed everything in its path. Reliance on telegrams at the time made immediate reporting difficult, but one telegraph operator told reporters that he counted 63 bodies float past his office in just 20 minutes.
It didn't take long, however, for the true devastation to be revealed.
Library of Congress/Getty ImagesA group of survivors overlooks Johnstown after the flood.
Data from the Johnstown Area Heritage Association shows that a total of 2,209 people were killed by the flood, though 750 of them were never identified.
The flood claimed 99 entire families as victims, including 396 children. The waters carried some bodies as far as Cincinnati — 300 miles away. The last victim wasn't found until 1911.
The water wiped out four square miles of downtown Johnstown, destroyed 1,600 homes, and caused $17 million worth of property damage, with flood lines reaching up to 89 feet above the normal river level in places.
Some residents clung to trees, furniture, and roofs that had been torn from homes in order to stay afloat as the rushing waters carried them away. Eventually, all of the debris piled up downstream at the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's Stone Bridge. The heaps of debris stretched for 30 acres — and then it all caught on fire, killing many who had survived the initial onslaught of water.
By the end of the day, nearly ten percent of Johnstown's citizens were dead, and the small community was left to pick up the pieces.
Rebuilding Johnstown After The Great Disaster
Five days after the flood and fire, Clara Barton and the American Red Cross arrived to begin one of their first major peacetime disaster relief efforts.
The group managed to raise nearly $4 million to aid in the reconstruction of Johnstown. It took five years to rebuild the community, but unfortunately, nature proved to be an unstoppable force.
Library of Congress/Getty ImagesAn overview of the damage caused to Johnstown by the flood in 1889.
Johnstown faced significant, disastrous flooding again in 1936 and later in 1977, though neither event was comparable to the absolute destruction of the flood of 1889.
In fact, until the Galveston Hurricane a decade later, the Great Johnstown Flood marked the largest single-day loss of civilian life in American history — yet few people are even aware that it happened at all.
If you visit Johnstown's City Hall today, you can see for yourself the markers that indicate the high-water level for each flood and learn more about this little-known disaster.
The 1889 Johnstown Flood was one of the most devastating in American history. Learn how Britain faced similar destruction in 1953 when the North Sea flooded and killed hundreds of people. Or, explore the most devastating natural disasters of the 21st century.
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