×

Writer captures Johnstown’s resiliency

Farabaugh chronicles city’s historic floods

Saint Francis University professor Pat Farabaugh’s book, “Disastrous Floods and the Demise of Steel in Johnstown,” was published in October. Courtesy photo

On the night of July 19, 1977, the people of Tanneryville in Johnstown “went to sleep that night not knowing what was going to come,” said Saint Francis University professor Pat Farabaugh.

Heavy rains caused the local Laurel Run Dam to fail, killing 40 people and damaging countless properties.

Farabaugh — whose new book, “Disastrous Floods and the Demise of Steel in Johns­town,” was published Oct. 18 — has spent the last few years researching and understanding the impact that flooding has had on the area’s people, economy and industry.

He said writing the book showed him of the forces of nature that can upend entire livelihoods.

“I was reminded of the power, and just how ferocious, Mother Nature can be,” Farabaugh said. “I was also reminded of the resilience of human beings. I think that you have resilient people in Johnstown because you have to be tough.”

Saint Francis University Professor Pat Farabaugh's book, "Disastrous Floods and the Demise of Steel in Johnstown," was published Oct. 18.

Farabaugh’s reasons for writing a book about the Johnstown floods weren’t just to continue where previous authors left off. As the grandson of a Bethlehem Steel Co. coal miner, he had a personal connection to the area’s history.

Farabaugh credits his mother with instilling in him a love of reading. As one of six children, he grew up going to the library and listening to stories from his grandfather’s work in the mines.

He graduated from Cambria Heights High School in 1989 — having spent time as the sports information director of SFU before becoming a communications professor — and said he is thankful to have a job where he can enjoy reading while writing stories for others.

After reading David McCullough’s book about the Johnstown flood of 1889, Farabaugh decided to continue the story by writing about the subsequent disasters in 1936 and 1977.

But because of Johnstown’s geography and resources, the account became a larger history of the area.

“I wanted to pick up where (McCullough) left off,” Farabaugh said. “I was like, ‘Well, maybe I’ll tell the story of all three.’ The steel industry is just so intertwined with the floods, it ended up being a broader history than I initially thought.”

Johnstown is situated in a valley, which made it strategic for steel, an industry that relied on canal systems as a transportation mechanism. In the early days of the railroad, one connecting Altoona to Johnstown made canals less necessary.

Despite this, Johnstown’s natural resources — surrounding rivers and bituminous coal in the mountains — made it ideal for the steel industry to “blossom,” Farabaugh said.

So when the South Fork Dam failed on May 31, 1889, the resulting wave that caused over 2,000 fatalities had a direct effect on the jobs in steel mills and coal mines.

“The people of Johnstown not only had to ride the ups and downs of the steel industry, but then Mother Nature has thrown three major floods and other flooding events (at them),” Farabaugh. “But they keep on overcoming all of those challenges. There’s a resilience about them that I hope people take away from my book when they read it.”

Farabaugh’s book, however, goes back farther than the floods.

It starts with the city’s founding, walking the reader through its steel companies and bosses — including Charles Schwab, whose leadership led Bethlehem Steel to become the second-largest steel maker in the country.

The book then discusses the flood of 1889, as well as those in the 20th century, which happened in March 1936 and July 1977. It brings readers up to the present, with Hurricane Ida recently forcing about 3,000 people to evacuate after water levels reached within

18 feet of the top of Wilmore dam.

“Johnstown is still looking for its next chapter. It tied itself to this one industry for so long, and so many people raised their families on jobs with the steel industry that when they left, the city really lost its way,” Farabaugh said. “I sort of offer some suggestions for the direction they can go in terms of economics in the future.”

One misconception that Farabaugh hopes to address in his book is the notion that rust belt cities are “depressed” or that a lack of motivation causes low employment rates.

Farabaugh said this is misguided, since factors beyond residents’ control account for economic downturns — especially the unpredictable nature of floods.

Following the 1936 catastrophe, for example, Johnstown rechanneled its rivers and built flood protection walls only to experience 1977’s disaster, along with Hurricane Ida in 2021.

Richard Burkert, the president and CEO of the Johnstown Area Heritage Association, wrote the foreword in Farabaugh’s book. He also edited and fact-checked it for accuracy.

Burkert, as a resident of Johnstown for 40 years who redid the Johnstown Flood Museum, said he was able to use his expertise on the topic to contribute to the book.

He said it tells “a story that’s never really been told in a popular format.”

“It’s an amazing story of how America after the Civil War was becoming a modern industrial nation. Johnstown was leading this country into that new modern age… This was the center of invention back in the 19th century,” Burkert said. “But as Patrick points out, there’s a long list of things that made it uncompetitive and set the stage for failure. And I think that’s something that Americans still don’t understand — what happened to the industry here.”

Burkert added that Farabaugh “never quit working” on the story, despite the long time it takes to write a book.

“He kept it on the burner and never let it go,” Burkert said. “I think we’re the better for having it.”

For Farabaugh, the story is more than a recounting of Johnstown’s history — it’s a way to capture its essence in a way that honors community members and sheds light on past events.

“I think that the toughness of Johnstowners, from helping to drive the engine and provide the steel that really helped build America, also helped them get through these floods and get through the challenges of rebuilding their city,” Farabaugh said. “It’s interesting how people were sort of hardened by the way they made their livelihood. … They didn’t bat an eye when the floods happened. They would bury their dead, they would mourn their loss, and they would clean up and get back in the mills, … It reminds you that sometimes we don’t appreciate just how resilient we are, as people.”

The Farabaugh file

Name: Pat Farabaugh

Age: 51

Residence: Indiana

Family: Wife, Jenna, and three stepsons

Education: 1989 graduate of Cambria Heights High School; bachelor’s degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, master’s degree from Slippery Rock University and doctoral degrees from Penn State University

Occupation: Communications professor at Saint Francis University

Previous books: “An Unbreakable Bond: The Brotherhood of Maurice Stokes and Jack Twyman” (2014); Carl McIntire’s Crusade Against the Fairness Doctrine (2010).

Starting at $2.99/week.

Subscribe Today