CHARTER
ORIGINAL CHARTER OF THE CITY OF JOHNSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
EDITOR'S NOTES: To distinguish this Charter from the Home Rule Charter adopted by the voters on May 18, 1993, this Charter shall be referred to throughout these Codified Ordinances as the "Original Charter of the City of Johnstown, Pennsylvania," or just the "Original Charter," and the other shall be referred to as the "Home Rule Charter of the City of Johnstown, Pennsylvania" or just the "Home Rule Charter."
The perimeter description in this Original Charter of the boundaries of the City of Johnstown includes the territory then forming a part of the Seventh Ward of the Borough of Johnstown and later designated the Seventeenth Ward by a decree of Court dated December 1, 1890. The Eighteenth, Nineteenth and Twentieth Wards were created out of the territory formerly comprising the Borough of Morrellville, which was annexed to the City by Special Ordinance 391, passed October 19, 1897. The Twenty-First Ward of the City was created out of the territory formerly comprising the Borough of Coopersdale, which was annexed to the City by General Ordinance 105, passed March 24, 1898. Reference should also be made to Table D - Annexation and Detachment of Territory - of the Tables of Special Ordinances in the Preliminary Unit of these Codified Ordinances, and to Chapter 206 of the Administration Code, for ordinances affecting the boundaries of the City.
PENNSYLVANIA, ss.
(Signed) James A. Beaver
( Seal of the State )
( of Pennsylvania )
In the Name and by the Authority of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
James A. Beaver,
Governor of the said Commonwealth.
To all to whom these present shall come,
Sends greeting:
Whereas, In and by an Act of the General Assembly of this Commonwealth, entitled "An Act for the incorporation and government of Cities of the third class," approved the twenty-third day of May, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine, it is among other things provided in the first section thereof that "Cities of the third class shall be chartered whenever a majority of the electors of any town or borough, or of any two or more contiguous towns or boroughs, situate within the limits of the same county, having together a population of at least ten thousand according to the last preceding United States census, shall vote at any general election in favor of the same," and in the second section of said act it is further provided that "If it shall appear by the said returns that there is a majority in favor of a city charter, the Governor shall issue Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of the Commonwealth, reciting the facts, defining the boundaries of the said City, and constituting the same a body corporate and politic";
And Whereas, It appears by the returns of elections held in the several boroughs of Johnstown, Grubbtown, Conemaugh, Woodvale, Prospect, Millville and Cambria, in the County of Cambria, on the fifth day of November, A.D. 1889, that there was a majority in each of said boroughs in favor of a City Charter;
And Whereas, It appears that said boroughs have together a population, according to the last United States census, of at least ten thousand;
And Whereas, The requirements of the said Act of May twenty-third, A.D. 1889, have been fully complied with;
Now Therefore, Know Ye, that I, James A. Beaver, Governor as aforesaid, in compliance with the provisions of the said Act of the General Assembly and by virtue of the authority in me vested,
Do Hereby Declare that the aforesaid boroughs of Johnstown, Grubbtown, Conemaugh, Woodvale, Prospect, Millville and Cambria, in the County of Cambria, to be and form the City of Johnstown, and do hereby define the boundaries of said City, as follows;
Beginning at a point in the center of the Conemaugh River, the same being the northwest corner of the Borough of Cambria; thence south thirty degrees, west 693 feet to the south side of the Pennsylvania Railroad; thence along said Pennsylvania Railroad south fifty-three degrees, each 1,650 feet; thence south fifty degrees, east 1,254 feet; thence south thirty- seven and one-half degrees, east 627 feet; thence south nine degrees, east 1,765 feet; thence south seventy-eight degrees, east 379.5 feet to the center of the Conemaugh River; thence up the Conemaugh River and Stony Creek to a point in the center of Stony Creek, said point being in a line with the northwestern side of Market Street, Johnstown Borough; thence by a straight line to a white walnut tree on the southern bank of Stony Creek and near the township Road leading to Mill Creek Furnace; thence south fifteen degrees, east 1,856.5 feet to a sugar tree; thence south forty-nine degrees, east 1,815 feet to a post on the bank of Stony Creek; thence south seven degrees, east to the center of Stony Creek; thence up the center of Stony Creek to the northeast corner of Grubbtown Borough; thence south seventy-one degrees, west 552.75 feet to a sugar tree; thence south fifteen degrees, west 805.2 feet to a reek oak; thence south thirty-five degrees, west 1,171.5 feet to a black walnut; thence south forty-seven degrees, west 577.5 feet to a post; thence south twenty-nine degrees, east 577.5 feet to a post; thence north fifty-seven degrees, east ninety-four feet; thence south twenty-eight degrees, east 1,610 feet to the center of Stony Creek; thence up the center of Stony Creek to a point fifty feet north of the north side of Cleveland Street (extended); thence north eighty-four degrees fifty-six minutes, east 1,500 feet; thence south seventy-seven degrees twenty-two minutes, east 1,528 feet, the two courses being the line between Charles Von Lunen and A. Rodgers; thence south sixty-five degrees five minutes, east ninety feet to the east side of the road leading to Kring's Mills; thence north fifty-three degrees, east 660 feet; thence north seventy-six degrees, west 313 feet; thence north twenty-three degrees, east 770 feet; thence south fifty-three degrees, east 511 feet; thence north eighteen degrees, easty 1,089 feet; thence north eighty-seven degrees, west 196 feet; thence north fourteen degrees, west 412.5 feet; thence north sixty-five degrees, west 462 feet; thence south forty-two degrees, west 734.25 feet; thence north seven degrees, west 544.5 feet; thence north eighty-two degrees, west 384 feet to the west side of the road leading to Kring's Mills; thence along the west side of said road north eight degrees, east 653.5 feet; thence north five degrees, east 191 feet; thence north five degrees, west 350 feet; thence north eight and one-half degrees, west 383 feet; thence north ten and one-half degrees, west 480 feet; thence north two degrees, east 284 feet; thence north one degree thirty minutes, west 790 feet to the south side of Bedford Turnpike; thence along the south side of said Turnpike north thirty-one and one-half degrees, west 190 feet (to the center of Horner Alley); thence along the south side of said Turnpike north thirty-three degrees, west 2,904 feet to a post at the intersection of Bedford Street and Horner Street; thence north twenty-two and one-half degrees, east 670 feet to a stump; thence north twenty-one degrees, west 726 feet to the corner between Johnstown and Conemaugh Boroughs; thence north seventy-two and one-half degrees, east 1,554 feet; thence north fifty-three degrees, east 1,518 feet; thence north twelve degrees, east 1,881 feet to the center of the Little Conemaugh River; thence up the Little Conemaugh River to the northeast corner of Woodvale Borough; thence south seventy-six degrees, west 2,128 feet; thence south eighty-eight degrees, west 1,452 feet; thence south fifty degrees, west 495 feet to the corner between Prospect and Woodvale Boroughs; thence north fifty degrees, west 850 feet; thence south thirty-six and one-half degrees, west 1,188 feet; thence south twenty-four and one-half degrees, west 577.5 feet; thence south forty-nine degrees, west 1,213 feet to the corner of Millville and Prospect Boroughs; thence north eighteen and one-half degrees, east 1,980 feet; thence north ten degrees, west 2,194.5 feet; thence north six degrees, west 1,996.5 feet; thence south seventy-one and five-tenths degrees, west 1,947 feet; thence west 1,056 feet; thence south twenty-one degrees, west 495 feet to the center of the Conemaugh River; thence along the center of said River north fifty-one degrees, west 1,089 feet; thence north seventy-six and one-half degrees, west 1,072.5 feet to the place of beginning.
And for the purposes of the organization and conduct of the City government and for all other proper purposes and until otherwise provided by proper legal proceedings, the wards of said City shall be and be numbered and designated as follows:
The First Ward of the City of Johnstown shall be and comprise the territory heretofore forming the First Ward of the Borough of Johnstown.
The Second Ward thereof shall be and comprise the territory heretofore forming the Second Ward of the Borough of Johnstown.
The Third Ward thereof shall be and comprise the territory heretofore forming the Third Ward of the Borough of Johnstown.
The Fourth Ward thereof shall be and comprise the territory heretofore forming the Fourth Ward of the Borough of Johnstown.
The Fifth Ward thereof shall be and comprise the territory heretofore forming the Fifth Ward of the Borough of Johnstown.
The Sixth Ward thereof shall be and comprise the territory heretofore forming the Sixth Ward of the Borough of Johnstown.
The Seventh Ward thereof shall be and comprise the territory heretofore forming the Seventh Ward of the Borough of Johnstown.
The Eighth Ward thereof shall be and comprise the territory heretofore forming the Borough of Grubbtown.
The Ninth Ward thereof shall be and comprise the territory heretofore forming the First Ward of the Borough of Conemaugh.
The Tenth Ward thereof shall be and comprise the territory heretofore forming the Second Ward of the Borough of Conemaugh.
The Eleventh Ward thereof shall be and comprise the territory heretofore forming the Borough of Woodvale.
The Twelfth Ward thereof shall be and comprise the territory heretofore forming the Borough of Prospect.
The Thirteenth Ward thereof shall be and comprise the territory heretofore forming the First Ward of the Borough of Millville.
The Fourteenth Ward thereof shall be and comprise the territory heretofore forming the Second Ward of the Borough of Millville.
The Fifteenth Ward thereof shall be and comprise the territory heretofore forming the First Ward of the Borough of Cambria.
The Sixteenth Ward thereof shall be and comprise the territory heretofore forming the Second Ward of the Borough of Cambria.
And I do also by these presents, which I have caused to be made patent and sealed with the Great Seal of the State, hereby constitute the same a body corporate and politic by the name of the City of Johnstown, and by the said name to be invested with all the rights, powers and privileges, with full force and effect, and subject to all the duties, requirements and restrictions specified and enjoined in and by the said Act of the General Assembly approved the twenty-third day of May, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine.
Given under my hand and the Great Seal of the State at Harrisburg, this eighteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine, and of the Commonwealth the one hundred and fourteenth.
(Signed)
Charles W. Stone
Secretary of the Commonwealth
By the Governor.