Altoona is a city in Blair County, Pennsylvania, United States with a population of 43,963 as of the 2020 census. Located in the Allegheny Mountains, it is the ninth largest city in the state by population. Like hardly any other city in the USA, its history was significantly shaped by the railroad.
Some believe that the etymology of the word Altoona is a corruption
of the Latin word altus, meaning "high."
This explanation
contradicts the name of a place in Pennsylvania, which was named Altoona
after Altoona in the Danish province of Holstein, which became part of
Germany in 1864, by Colonel Beverly Meyer of Columbia, Pennsylvania, a
civil engineer for the Pennsylvania Central Railroad. The German city of
Altona is now known as Hamburg, Germany. Altona, Germany, is now a
district of Hamburg, located on the right bank of the Elbe River and an
important railroad and manufacturing center.
In 1849, David
Robinson sold his farm to Archibald Wright of Philadelphia, who in turn
deeded the land to his son, John A. Wright. According to his own
statement, he spent considerable time in Cherokee Country in Georgia. It
was here that he was attracted to the name Allatoona, which means "high
land of great value," and a book published in 1883 states that "the name
is not derived from the Latin altus or French alto, but from the
beautiful, fluid, expressive Cherokee word Allatoona." It is written.
For 60 days in 2011, the city officially renamed it "POM Wonderful
Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" as part of a marketing gimmick
for the film of the same name in exchange for $25,000.
Prior to European settlement, the Altoona area was inhabited by the
Iroquois Confederacy. Altoona was established by the Pennsylvania
Railroad (PRR) in 1849 as a site for a store and maintenance facility;
it was incorporated as a borough on February 6, 1854 and as a city by
acts approved on April 3, 1867 and February 8, 1868.
In late
September 1862, Altoona was the site of a conference of war governors
that brought together the 13 Union governors. This meeting gave early
approval to the Emancipation Proclamation. The town grew rapidly in the
late 19th century, with a population of about 2,000 in 1854, 10,000 in
1870, and 20,000 in 1880. Demand for locomotives during the Civil War
stimulated much of this growth, and by the late war Altoona had become
known as a valuable city for the North. Altoona was also the site of the
first interstate commission to create and design the Gettysburg National
Cemetery after the devastating Battle of Gettysburg. The town's
centrality and convenience of rail transportation brought these two
important meetings to the town during the war.
Horseshoe Curve, located at MP 242 on the NS Pittsburgh line, is a
curved section of track built by the Pennsylvania Railroad and is a
tourist attraction and National Historic Landmark. The curve was built
to allow trains to cross the Allegheny Ridge, which was a barrier to
westward trade. Twenty years earlier, the Erie Canal had been built in
New York City, diverting much port traffic from Philadelphia to New York
and increasing New York's commercial advantage. Because the Horseshoe
Curve was an industrial liaison to the western United States, it was a
major target of Operation Pastorius during World War II, when eight Nazi
saboteurs landed from a Kriegsmarine U-boat in Nazi Germany.
At
its peak in the early 20th century, the PRR's Altoona plant complex
employed about 15,000 people and occupied 122 buildings covering 3 miles
(5 km) in length, 218 acres (88 ha) of yard space, and 37 acres (15 ha)
of indoor workshops. The PRR built 7,873 of its The PRR formed the city,
created the city's fire department, and moved the hospital to a location
near the factory gates. Today, the fire department has 65 employees and
is the largest occupational fire department between Harrisburg and
Pittsburgh.PRR sponsored the city band and built a sports complex,
Cricket Field. In 1853, the PRR built the nation's first industrial
library, the Mechanics' Library, which now exists as the Altoona
Regional Public Library. Things began to decline after World War II as
demand for railroads declined. Many treasures of the city's history,
such as the Logan House Hotel and the railroad store, disappeared.
Horseshoe Curve is a popular tourist attraction, especially for
railroad enthusiasts. There is a cable car that takes visitors to the
observation area, or they can climb the 194 steps to the top.
On May 22, 2005, around 6 p.m., a tornado passed over southern
Altoona, and according to the Altoona Mirror, it originated near Sugar
Run Road in the Canaan Station area of Allegheny Township and ripped
through the southwest part of Altoona for 100 yards (91 m). It destroyed
100 yards (91 m) of Altoona's southwestern section. Houses lost shingles
and extensive tree damage occurred in the Eldorado and Llyswen areas of
town.
Another tornado touched down in Morrisons Cove, 20
miles (32 km) south of Altoona; in the Henrietta and Millerstown
neighborhoods, houses lost roofs and barns were destroyed. In Henrietta,
a 17-year-old girl was injured. Damage from these tornadoes was
consistent with 105-110 mph (169-177 km/h) winds.
Ted Fujita's
1974 map of all tornadoes in the U.S. between 1930 and 1974 maps these
two tornadoes as F1 tornadoes on the Fujita scale.
Altoona is one of the two seats of the Roman Catholic Diocese of
Altoona-Johnstown; it was renamed from St. John's Church to a cathedral
in 1851.
The Altoona Mirror, founded in 1876 by Harry Slepp, is
Altoona's oldest media outlet. It currently has a daily circulation of
32,000 and a Sunday circulation of 39,000. Approximately 13,000 people
read the online edition of this newspaper daily.
Altoona is home
to the world's oldest wooden roller coaster, Leap the Dips, located in
Lakemont Park.
New shopping districts and educational institutions such as Penn
State Altoona, a campus of Pennsylvania State University, developed in
the city center. Sights that have survived to this day include the
Mischler Theater, the town hall and the cathedral. Altoona is still a
popular destination for railway enthusiasts from all over the world
today.
The Railroaders Memorial Museum commemorates the great
importance of the railroad in Altoona. Also about five miles west of
town is the famous Horseshoe Curve, a 220-degree turn on the east ramp
of the PRR main line, which here curves very gently over the Allegheny
Mountains and is a popular destination for railroad enthusiasts . It was
built in 1854 and included in the list of historical milestones in
engineering architecture in 2003.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, established in 1901,
is based in Altoona. The Episcopal Church is the Cathedral of the
Blessed Sacrament, built in neo-baroque style from 1924 to 1960.
Published since 1876, the Altoona Mirror newspaper now has a circulation
of 32,000.
The local baseball club is called Altoona Curve.
Altoona Blair County Airport (IATA: AOO, ICAO: KAOO) regional
airport has connections to Washington, D.C. as well as Pittsburgh. The
airport is about 19 kilometers south of Altoona in the town of
Martinsburg.
Altoona is located in Logan Valley and Pleasant Valley at the base of Brush Mountain. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 9.8 square miles (25.4 km2), all land. It is located in the Allegheny Mountains.
Major neighborhoods in Altoona include Downtown Altoona, Center City, Logantown, Fairview, Juniata, Waynewood, Calvert Hills, 5th Ward, Westmont, El Dorado, East End, Dutch Hill, Pleasant Valley, Heilman Heights, 6th Ward Mansion Park, Lizwen, Garden Heights, and Highland Park. Little Italy, Gospel Hill, Toy Town, Columbia Park, Knickerbockers, and Curtin are important neighborhoods. Within Logan Township are Lakemont, Greenwood, Belle Meade, Westfall, Newburgh, and Red Hill, which are outside the city limits but considered part of Altoona. Many of the older neighborhoods have a mix of row houses and private residences. This is a common architectural style in railroad towns, as each provides housing for workers and managers.
Downtown is the cultural and commercial center of Altoona and
straddles the famous railroad. As is typical of traditional urban
layouts, Downtown is centrally located, with significant development in
all directions. A large portion of the area is listed on the National
Register of Historic Places as the Altoona Downtown Historic District.
Notable buildings include the Mishler Theater, the Penn Alt Building
(formerly the Penn Alt Hotel), the Gables Building, City Hall, the
Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Eleventh Avenue.
Altoona is also home to several well-known churches, including the
Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament at the corner of 13th Street and 13th
Avenue, the building that once housed the First Presbyterian Church at
the corner of 12th Street and 14th Avenue, and the First Lutheran Church
at the corner of 14th Street and 12th Avenue. Station Medical Center,
formerly known as Station Mall, is a downtown shopping mall built in the
1970s to replace many old railroad stores. Downtown contains most of
what is known as Altoona's Little Italy district.
Due to its
geography, Downtown has no precise or natural boundaries. As such,
downtown generally refers to the area between 13th Avenue and the PRR
Expressway and from 7th Street to 16th Street, which the city has zoned
as Central Business. However, areas within Logantown and Center City are
often described as "downtown.
Texas Hot Dog was founded in
downtown Altoona in 1918, but is better known for the Texas Hot Dog
restaurant in Paterson, NJ, which opened in 1924.
The downtown commercial core contains many multi-story residential,
commercial, and mixed-use buildings designed in the early 20th century
in a mixture of Victorian, Edwardian Baroque, and Neo-Romanesque styles.
This style is characterized by high ceilings, resulting in buildings
with taller than typical stories. High ceilings are typically
constructed of tin or plaster, but sometimes drop ceilings are used.
Individual houses, originally intended for PRR managers and
executives, are structurally similar to Victorian and Edwardian
mansions, but are built very narrow and high. They may be used as two-
or three-family apartments or converted to commercial space. Outside the
commercial core is a mosaic of multi-story commercial buildings,
mixed-use buildings, single-story commercial buildings, apartments,
multi-family buildings, and single-family homes.
The U.S. Post
Office in Altoona contains two oil on canvas murals ("Pioneers of
Altoona" and "Growth of the Road") commissioned by the WPA and painted
by Lorin Thompson in 1938. Road"). The murals were produced in the
United States from 1934 to 1943 through the Treasury Department's
Painting and Sculpture Division (later called the Fine Arts Division).
According to the Köppen climate classification, using an isotherm of 0 °C (32 °F), Altoona has a hot and humid continental climate (Dfa), or a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) using an isotherm of -3 °C (27 °F). Summers are hot and winters are moderately cold, with a wide range of temperatures. Average daily temperatures range from 28.4 °F (-2.0 °C) in January to 72.4 °F (22.4 °C) in July, with extremes ranging from -25 °F (-32 °C) in 1904 to 103 °F (39 °C) in 2011. Total precipitation is highest in September and lowest in February.