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Photographer: Mike Wintermantel
Taken: June 14, 2014
Caption:
American Red Cross and the Johnstown Flood sign | Additional Description: On May 31, 1889, tragedy struck Johnstown, Pa., when the South Fork Dam collapsed, sending a wall of water estimated to be 20 to 40 feet high roaring into the Conemaugh Valley and destroying everything in its path. News of the disaster spread quickly. Clara Barton of the American Red Cross and 50 Red Cross volunteers arrived in Johnstown on June 5, ready to provide aid to the survivors. Barton and her team immediately set up headquarters in a tent on Prospect Hill, overlooking the stricken valley. Throughout the first month, the Red Cross group lived and worked in the tent, distributing relief supplies to devastated survivors.
As the recovery effort intensified, both Iowa and Illinois sent lumber to the Red Cross. It was used to construct shelters and an infirmary. For five months, the Red Cross provided housing, distributed supplies and helped locate the sick and injured in the flood-ravaged community.
When the Red Cross relief effort concluded in late October, Barton turned over the housing, remaining supplies and infirmary to local officials. By then, Barton and her volunteers had provided aid to 25,000 people. In the spring, with Johnstown on its way to recovery, the Red Cross temporary housing was dismantled to make way for new permanent construction.
Today, the American Red Cross continues to respond to disasters in Johnstown and across the United States. To learn more, visit redcross.org.
Top Photo
On arriving in Johnstown, Clara Barton and her volunteers immediately set up headquarters in a tent on Prospect Hill, overlooking the stricken valley. Another Red Cross group, from Philadelphia, soon arrived and set up hospital facilities in tents.
Bottom Photo
This structure is the fourth of many shelters built by the Red Cross to house families who lost their homes to the great flood.
Submitted: June 14, 2014, by Mike Wintermantel of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Database Locator Identification Number: p275747
File Size: 2.322 Megabytes
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