Due to an interior water leak on 1/23/25 caused by the recent extreme cold, the Johnstown Flood Museum ONLY is temporarily closed. Thankfully, nothing of historic significance was affected. As of 2/4, the water remediation team has concluded their work, and we are moving on to repainting, floor refinishing, and replacement of carpet and soundproofing materials. We fully expect to reopen by early spring. In the meantime, we apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we work to remediate and repair our beloved flagship museum.

The Heritage Discovery Center/Johnstown Children’s Museum is unaffected and operating normal business hours. Welcome!

Heritage Johnstown’s Mission

Who we are and what we do.

butchershopHeritage Johnstown (formerly Johnstown Area Heritage Association, or JAHA) is a non-profit, membership-based organization that celebrates, fosters, and creates:

  • History – We collect, preserve, and interpret our community memory of Johnstown;
  • Culture – We attract, educate, and inspire visitors of all ages and backgrounds;
  • Community –We transform and develop our community by nurturing and celebrating a sense of place and shared identity.

We operate the Johnstown Flood Museum and the Frank & Sylvia Pasquerilla Heritage Discovery Center. We opened the Wagner-Ritter House and Garden in 2006, the Johnstown Children’s Museum in 2009, and Peoples Natural Gas Park in 2012. We also began illuminating the historic Stone Bridge with colorful, animated lights in 2011.

Other major Heritage Johnstown programs include the AmeriServ Flood City Music Festival, as well as a variety of additional cultural programming and special events scheduled throughout the year. In this way, we enhance the quality of life for those who live in and around Johnstown, bring positive national attention and visitors to our area, and contribute to the region’s economic development through heritage tourism.

In addition, Heritage Johnstown is involved in a variety of community projects related to historic research, preservation, and community revitalization. We maintain an extensive archive of photographs, documents and objects that are significant to the history of this area.

Visit our timeline for more details on our museums, special projects, and other initiatives from our founding as the Johnstown Flood Museum Association in 1971 through the present.

Heritage Johnstown timeline

Heritage Johnstown serves our entire community and strives to be inclusive and welcoming at our museums, through the events we present, and at our workplace. In practice, this means things like:

  • Our exhibits reference and contextualize racial, ethnic, gender, class, and religious prejudice in the history they present.
  • We program the Stone Bridge lights for occasions that matter to a wide range of people in our community, including Pride, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Juneteenth, religious and secular holidays, health awareness events (well-publicized observances such as Breast Cancer Awareness and World AIDS Day, as well as observances for health conditions that are lesser-known but important to someone who lives here).
  • We participate in the Museums For All program to ensure our museums are accessible to individuals and families from all socioeconomic backgrounds.
  • Programming at the Sidney & Rae Goldblatt Johnstown Children’s Museum (such as craft activities in our MakerSpace, cooking classes and more) reflects different ethnicities, cultures, and religions.
  • Heritage Johnstown is an equal opportunity employer, and staff members who wish to signify their pronouns in email signatures and nametags are encouraged to do so.
  • The African American Heritage Society, Inc., an independent non-profit, has a permanent presence in the Education Room at the Heritage Discovery Center.
  • We work to present a diverse slate of musical groups within the bounds of our programming niche at the AmeriServ Flood City Music Festival and at other concerts presented at Peoples Natural Gas Park, both in the type of music presented and who’s onstage playing it.

Mission Statement

The Johnstown Area Heritage Association dba Heritage Johnstown is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the nationally significant historic heritage of the Greater Johnstown Area through its museum facilities, historical collections, and education programs. Heritage Johnstown operates as a clearinghouse and catalyst for revitalization efforts based on cultural tourism and historic preservation.