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