Westmont was nothing
more than a few farms at the time of the
Johnstown Flood of 1889. Since the results of the
Flood were so devastating to the city and to the
Cambria Iron Company, the citys major
employer, the officials of the Cambria Iron
Company decided that they wanted a safer place
for their top personnel to live, especially since
the city was so flood-prone. Thus, they purchased
the hilltop above the city, the so-called
Yoder Hill and began laying out the
area as a suburban residential district. The
original name of this district was
Tiptop, but it was later renamed
Westmont. The Cambria Iron Company
commissioned the famous landscape architect,
Charles Miller. to lay Out the grid for the
settlement. Knowing that the few existing roads
to the hilltop were steep, muddy and, at times,
impassable, the Cambria Iron Company constructed
the Inclined Plane in 1891 at a cost of
$133,295.90. With its grade of 71%. it is the
steepest vehicular inclined plane in the world.
With its transportation solved. the new
settlement began to grow, and it was incorporated
as the Borough of Westmont by Decree of the Court
of Quarter Sessions of Cambria County, on June
13, 1892. The population of the new
settlement, whose boundaries stretched from the
Inclined Plane to what is now the Middle School,
began to grow rapidly upon completion of the
Inclined Plane. By mid-1893, Westmont had a
population of 312, including most of the
officials of the Cambria Iron Company. However,
there were also increasing numbers of average
workers living in Westmont. This was due to the
fact that the Cambria Iron Company was building
and leasing many Company Homes" in its
new suburb. The rents were reasonable, the
surroundings beautiful and clean. The area
attracted more and more people of all income
levels, excepting those of the lowest levels.
Westmont
was also home to the Johnstown Driving Park
Association, which rented twenty-eight acres of
land from the Cambria Iron Company from
1895-1905. The Association constructed a race
track, which was bounded by the present-day
streets of Dartmouth Avenue to Hood Avenue and
Wayne Street to Tioga Street, with Luzerne Street
as the central vertical axis. The racetrack was
one-half mile long and sixty feet wide, and was
enclosed by a wooden railing. There were fifty
first-quality stables and a separate building
which housed a secretarys office, a private
dining morn, and a public dining room. The
grandstand provided seating for 2,500 people.
As the
residential core of the borough continued to
expand, the Cambria Iron Company instituted
ordinances and restrictions to control
development. Deeds to homeowners contained
clauses barring the operation of tanneries,
distilleries, public houses and any business
deemed to be a public nuisance. The Johnstown
Tribune reported that the Company would prohibit
the sale of liquor in the borough as it is
proposed to make this a place of homes.
According
to local inhabitants, Westmont has always been
divided into two parts: the more affluent
southern section was referred to as the
dinner side, while the northern
section bordering Brownstown was known as the
supper side. The Cambria Iron Company
contributed to these divisions by building a
number of identical, smaller, double and single
houses in the northern section to rent to its
company miners and millhands. Yet it also built
mid-range houses throughout the borough. both for
sale and for rent. The Company sold these houses
on easy payments and also established
a fund from which i would finance and build homes
for people who paid for their own lots.
Thus, due
to these inducements by the Cambria iron Company,
the ease of accessibility, and the desirable
surroundings, the population of Westmont grew
rapidly. Furthermore, those with the highest
positions in the Cambria Iron Company quickly
relocated to Westmont. Tax records for 1899
showed that the General Manager, Charles S.
Price, all five superintendents and four foremen
of the Cambria Iron Company all lived in
Westmont. Most of these men owned their own
homes, but of the fifty-five laborers who resided
in Westmont, few were actual homeowners.
By 1912,
228 houses had been erected in Westmont, and most
of these were privately built. Architects Walter
R. Myton and Henry M. Rogers were two Johnstown
architects responsible for many of
Westmonts finer homes. Many of the
outstanding homes in Westmont are located along
Luzerne Street. in the area which the Cambria
Iron Company originally named, The Elm
Grove. today there are 195 elms planted
along Luzerne Street. making them the longest
continuous stand of American Elms in the country.
It is the last cathedral-arched boulevard left in
the United States. There are other elms
throughout the Borough. and most of the streets
in Westmont are tree-lined, making it one of
Johnstowns most pleasant suburbs.
The
Borough of Westmont continued to grow, both in
population and size. On July 7, 1924, Westmont
annexed the land from the present-day Middle
School to its present western boundaries. The new
area meant more room for expansion and
development. This expansion meant a new airport,
which was located along present-day Goucher
Street in the vicinity of Westwood. The
dedication of the airport took place on July 17,
1929 and was attended by such dignitaries as the
Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Aeronautics.
David S. Ingalls, Congressman J. Russell Leech,
Lt. Lester J. Maitland, the first man to fly from
the West Coast to Hawaii, and probably the most
important dignitary, Amelia Earhart. But the
airport never lived up to its grand beginnings,
and by the late 1940s all that was left of
the airport was the mail service.
More and
more people moved into Westmont, and on August
23, 1958, the Borough of Westmont annexed from
Lower Yoder Township that area known as
Sunnegrove Manor. This annexation established the
Borough boundaries as they now stand, with an
area of 1,578.16 acres. Westmonts most
rapid growth in population came during the decade
from 1950 to 1960, when the population jumped
forty percent. The present population of Westmont
is approximately 6,000 residents.
Westmont
is currently governed by the Weak
Mayor-Council form of government. There are
seven council members and a mayor who are elected
by the voters for four-year staggered terms. The
mayor votes only in case of a tie. The Borough
Council determines municipal policy, enacts laws,
approves borough officials, etc. Daily operations
are supervised by the Borough Secretary and the
Public Works Director.
Westmont
has a volunteer Fire Company and an ambulance
service. Police protection is provided by the
West Hills Regional Police Department.
Today
Westmont Borough, even though considerably larger
than that envisioned by the Cambria Iron Company
officials, still retains many of the
characteristics which attracted residents here in
the first place. It is, for the most part, still
a quiet. tree-lined community. One can see
joggers, walkers and children throughout the
community at all times of the day. Borough
restrictions against commercial enterprise are
still enforced: the only businesses allowed are
those within a private residence, the exception
being the Tioga Street Market. The Market, on the
corner of Bucknell Avenue and Tioga Street has
become an institution, and its appearance remains
virtually unchanged since being recorded in an
1894 photograph. Borough management is now a
public concern, not part or the Cambria Iron
Company, and few residents today are associated
with Cambria Iron Companys descendant, the
Bethlehem Steel Corporation.
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