Minersville Historic District

Built along Iron Street and nearby blocks on a hillside west of the Lower Works, Minersville is a working-class neighborhood of 93 buildings, mostly wood-frame houses. Cambria Iron Company began building identical one-and-one-half-story company doubles here in 1881, with further houses added in 1889 by the Hoover and Hughes Contracting Company. Each unit had five rooms, running water and a privy, and rented for $5.40 a month. The neighborhood is also known for its immigrant population, which shifted from northern European to Polish, Ukrainian and Rysyn residents after 1900. Privately built housing, including the 1911 Harrigan-Sturver Building and a ca. 1880 Second Empire house at 159 Iron Street, adds variety. Twenty-eight company houses survive, making it the largest concentration of such housing in Johnstown. The district was listed for its industrial and ethnic associations and its concentration of vernacular architecture.