National Park Service deputy superintendent Keith Newlin explores the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Clubhouse, a 47-room lodge that was a playground for some of Pittsburgh’s wealthy, including Andrew Mellon, Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Carnegie. The man-made South Fork dam failed and the heavy rainstorms of May 31, 1889, led to the dam’s collapse. Over 2,000 people died. In 2006, the clubhouse, in the St. Michael Historic District, was acquired by the National Park Service as part of the Johnstown Flood National Memorial. The Friends of Johnstown Flood is assisting the NPS in an ongoing renovation project, including recent installation of a new roof and making the building watertight and heated. Work at the site will continue through next spring in preparation for the 125th anniversary commemoration of the flood in 2014.
Steph Anderson Chambers | Photojournalist 