Johnstown Flood National Memorial
National Memorial · South Fork, Pennsylvania
The remains of the South Fork dam, which failed on the afternoon of 31 May 1889 and sent twenty million tons of water down the Little Conemaugh valley into Johnstown, killing 2,209 people in the worst civilian disaster in American history to that date. The memorial stands at the dam itself, fourteen miles upstream of the city, where the two broken abutments still face each other across an empty gap. The lake behind it belonged to a private hunting and fishing club whose members included Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick, and who were never held liable.
733 Lake Road, South Fork, Pennsylvania, 15956, United States
Grounds open daily during daylight hours, free. Visitor centre generally 9 AM to 5 PM, with reduced days in winter. The Unger House and the club buildings at St Michael keep limited seasonal hours. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
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