Posted: December 31, 2024 12:30 pm
The Waters/Suppes family, which has lived Johnstown for generations, shared this video with us several years ago. It has been featured in the Archives & Collections section of this website, but we are now making it available as part of the Heritage Johnstown at Home series so that it’s more easily accessible!
The video documents Amelia Earhart at Sunnehanna Country Club in Johnstown on July 17, 1929. The occasion was the dedication of Johnstown’s first airport, which bordered the club along the 12th hole of the golf course. Earhart flew into the airport as part of the opening day’s festivities and stayed to visit with the crowd as seen here. Westmont Municipal Airport (as it was originally called) operated until 1948, when the Johnstown airport was moved to its current location in Richland Township.
Amelia Earhart, whose birthday was July 24, would have been about to turn 32 when she visited Johnstown. A pioneer in aviation, she had already achieved international fame at this point in her career. She had set the women’s altitude record in 1922, and in 1928 she became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean as a passenger. In 1929, the year of her Johnstown visit, she was in the process of organizing the first women’s pilot’s organization. Earhart would go on to be the first woman (and only the second person) to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1932. Tragically, she disappeared in a 1937 attempt to fly around the world.
The three-minute video includes some shots of speck-like airplanes high in the sky at the very end. But the best parts are the shots of a very recognizable, hatless Earhart and other guests on the ground at Sunnehanna. Enjoy the fashionable drop-waisted dresses and cloche hats on the ladies, the children who are obviously fascinated by the video camera, and the jaunty angles of the men’s straw boaters — as well as children playing on the grounds and in the swimming pool.
We thank the Waters/Suppes family for sharing!
