Visit Johnstown PA | Iron & Steel Industries

Iron, Coal, & Steel Industries

Fueling the Fires That Built America: The Iron & Steel Industries in Cambria County

Iron & Steel Industry Attractions
Visit Johnstown PA Johnstown Heritage Discovery Center’s Mystery Of Steel Exhibit
Johnstown Heritage Discovery Center’s Mystery Of Steel Exhibit

Spectacular, three-story Iron & Steel Gallery includes a theater showing the film "The Mystery of Steel," which tells the story of how Johnstown played a crucial role in the early days of the steel industry - including high-definition footage of Johnstown's steel mills in 1992, just weeks before the mills closed. The exhibition A Steelworker's Story displays personal effects, product samples, signage and other memorabilia from the people who powered Johnstown's steel mills.

Visit Johnstown PA Cambria Iron Company National Historic Landmark
Cambria Iron Company National Historic Landmark

The Cambria Iron Company National Historic Landmark preserves a range of significant structures associated with one of the nation’s premier early steel companies, where many innovations in the technology and process of steel making were born and perfected. The former Cambria Iron Company’s principal plant, located across the Conemaugh River from Roosevelt Boulevard - PA 56/403, is visually accessible from Point Park, the Inclined Plane, the Boulevard, and from the Iron Street Trail along the bank of the Conemaugh River.

Visit Johnstown PA Eliza Furnace Historic Site
Eliza Furnace Historic Site

See one of PA’s best-preserved hot blast iron furnaces

A National Register site.  Dating from 1846, the Eliza Furnace is one of only a few iron furnaces remaining in the United States that still retains its original heat exchanger piping. Located along the Ghost Town Trail, one-half mile west of Vintondale.

Black Gold: The Area's Coal Kingdom

Windber is at the heart of a vast coal mining complex developed by the Berwind-White Coal Mining Company. This “model town” attracted immigrant laborers from Eastern and Southern Europe, who made this one of the largest coal producing regions in the nation. Windber was also a site of labor strife that ultimately led to improved wages and better working conditions.

The Portage Station Museum and Theatre

See the award-winning video about the 1940 Sonman Mine Disaster

Located in the 1926 original (restored) railroad depot building in Portage. Extraordinary displays of area history and culture formed through the influences of coal mining, railroads, steel, forests, water, and recreation. Pennsylvania Railroad artifacts, exhibits, train viewing, and the video 63 Men Down.

Miners Memorial Museum

While visiting the Johnstown Flood Memorial, stop by for a glimpse of the region’s coal mining heritage. The 1889 Park hosts vintage coal hauling cars, and a museum with various displays for visitors. There is also a memorial tree park dedicated to local coal miners and their families. Located along Lake Road. Open seasonally.