Stackhouse Park
Encyclopedia
Stackhouse Park is a park
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...

 in Westmont, Pennsylvania
Westmont, Pennsylvania
Westmont is a borough in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,523 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...

, a suburb of Johnstown
Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States, west-southwest of Altoona, Pennsylvania and east of Pittsburgh. The population was 20,978 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Cambria County...

. It is over 277 acres with 7 miles of hiking and bicycling trails.

This natural, wooded, deep ravine was a gift from the Cambria Iron Company
Cambria Iron Company
Cambria Iron Company is a National Historic Landmark located in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The company was founded in 1852 and made many important contributions to the iron and steel industry...

to the City of Johnstown on March 2, 1931. The park had been privately owned since the 1920s and was gifted to the city of Johnstown by Powell Stackhouse's father, the president of Cambria Iron Works, in remembrance of his son. The deed stipulates the land may never be timbered for profit and cannot be developed.

Between 1935 and 1936, Company 1397 of the federal Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) focused its efforts on the park. The CCC constructed the pavilion buildings used for picniing, 26 fire pits and 2-1/2-miles of knapped road. All of these sites can be seen in the park today.

The CCC was called away to other locations with the 1936 Johnstown flood. With the CCC no longer working in the park and the City of Johnsown, as its owner, having no provision for maintaining it, the park began to deteriorate. Several minor work projects were undertaken the 1970s with trail clearance and stream bank restoration.

Trail heads are located on Luzerne Street, opposite the Westmont Hilltop Middle School, and at D Street in the West End section of Johnstown. A map of the park is avaialbe at http://www.stackhousepark.com/Images/stack_map.pdf

It also features seasonal guided hikes, educational programs, and live plays. The park is at the following coordinates; Latitude: 40.3263, Longitude: -78.943.
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