The foundation of the building consists of 20 massive stone piers of circular section, 5 to 7 feet in diameter. Addison Hutton of Philadelphia, architect for the $55,000 project, built the French Gothic style structure. The Cambria Iron Company donated an adjacent tract of land, where the telegraph office had stood before the flood, to increase the library’s lot. The rebuilt library was located on the same site as the old one, at the corner of Washington and Walnut Streets. Instead, the library became one of the very first of more than 2,500 Carnegie libraries in the world today (as seen above in the slider, in a 1907 postcard.) He donated the money to build the museum after visiting Johnstown in late 1889 to survey flood damage, but it’s unlikely he felt any personal responsibility for the flood. Carnegie was a member of the South Fork Fishing & Hunting Club, which owned the dam that burst on May 31, 1889, causing the flood. The Johnstown Flood Museum is located in a building with an important flood connection – it is the former Cambria Library, built after the flood to replace the earlier library, using funds donated by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. “If the Association will allow me to pay the cost of this restoration, I shall be very grateful to it indeed.” Andrew Carnegie in a November 28, 1889, letter to the Cambria Library Association. The Oklahoma provides a perfect venue for the museum to exhibit its comprehensive collection documenting the recovery efforts after the Great Flood, which includes home furnishings and domestic items provided by the American Red Cross and other agencies that helped the survivors of the disaster. A wood shingle roof was installed, several exterior clapboards were replaced, and the exterior was painted. The Oklahoma was renovated for its inclusion in the museum’s exhibit. The Oklahoma House was moved from the Moxham neighborhood and placed on an existing patio adjacent to the museum. When informed of the historical significance of the smaller structure, Habitat for Humanity donated the house to the Johnstown Area Heritage Association. The house shared a lot with a larger residence, which had been acquired by Habitat for Humanity. The museum’s Oklahoma house was located in the City’s historic Moxham neighborhood, where it was discovered after its porch caught on fire several years ago. a shell-like affair of drab color and has about as many points of architectural beauty as the coal shed behind a country school house.” A reporter from the Harrisburg Telegraph, after seeing one of the small structures, described it as “. The houses were not attractive - nor were they suitable for the harsh Southwestern Pennsylvania winters. Many Johnstown families combined one large and one small Oklahoma to accommodate their needs. The one-and-a-half story temporary houses were developed in Chicago and came in two sizes - 16-by-24 feet and 10-by-20 feet. Originally manufactured for homesteaders in the Oklahoma Territory, these buildings were a very early example of prefabricated housing. Please park safely in the designated parking lot and not block any emergency access roads.In 2000, the Johnstown Flood Museum expanded its permanent exhibits with the addition of an original “Oklahoma” house, one of the first types of temporary houses erected to shelter the people left homeless by the flood. Follow Lake Road 1.5 miles until the visitor center appears on your right. Travel approximately 1.5 miles on PA 869 watching for a left turn onto Lake Road at the sign for Johnstown Flood National Memorial. At the end of the exit ramp head East on PA 869 (there is a park sign at the end of the exit ramp). Take US Route 219 to the St Michael/Sidman exit. The flood killed 2,209 people but it brought the nation and the world together to aid the "Johnstown sufferers." The story of the Johnstown Flood reminds us all, ".that we must leave nothing undone for the preservation and protection of our brother men." Nearby Activities The South Fork Dam failed on Friday, May 31, 1889, and unleashed 20,000,000 tons of water that devastated Johnstown, PA.
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