Editing Johnstown, Pennsylvania (section)

===20th century===
{{Unreferenced section|date=December 2014}}
In 1923, Johnstown Mayor Joseph Cauffiel ordered the expulsion of all African-Americans and Mexicans in Johnstown who had lived in Johnstown for less than seven years. The edict was in response to a deadly shootout between Robert Young, a black man, and Johnstown police officers. African-Americans had settled in the Rosedale neighborhood during the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]]. Although Cauffiel's edict of expulsion was without legal force, some 500 African-Americans fled the city. The [[Ku Klux Klan]] burned 12 crosses outside Johnstown in an attempt to intimidate Rosedale's Black population. Pennsylvania [[Governor of Pennsylvania|Governor]] [[Gifford Pinchot]] intervened to prevent Cauffiel from enforcing the edict.<ref>{{cite web|last=Mitchell|first=Cody|url=https://pittsburghquarterly.com/articles/the-great-banishment-of-1923/ |title=The Great Banishment of 1923|publisher=Pittsburgh Quarterly |date=Fall 2018|website= |access-date=November 14, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Sutor|first=David|url=https://www.tribdem.com/news/local_news/johnstowns-rosedale-banishment-tulsa-massacre-occurred-in-same-era-of-racial-tension/article_f3ff8920-bf65-11eb-95b3-9f32c8d7f3b9.html |title=Johnstown's Rosedale banishment, Tulsa Massacre occurred in same era of racial tension |publisher=The Tribune Democrat |date=May 29, 2021 |website= tribdem.com |access-date=November 14, 2022}}</ref>

In the early 20th century, the population reached 67,000 people. The city's first commercial radio station, [[WKGE|WJAC]], began broadcasts in 1925. The downtown boasted at least five major department stores, including Glosser Brothers, which in the 1950s gave birth to the [[Gee Bee (store)|Gee Bee]] chain of department stores. However, the [[St Patrick's Day]] [[Johnstown flood of 1936|flood of 1936]] combined with the gnawing effects of the [[Great Depression]] left Johnstown struggling again. Seeking a permanent solution to the flooding problem, Johnstown's citizens wrote to President [[Franklin Roosevelt]] pleading for federal aid. In August 1938, the [[U. S. Army Corps of Engineers]] launched a five-year project that gouged, widened, deepened, and moved {{convert|9.2|mi}} of river channel in the city, and encased the river banks in concrete and reinforced steel. In a campaign organized by the Chamber of Commerce, thousands of Johnstown's citizens wrote to friends and relatives across the country hoping to bring new business to the town.

Professional [[ice hockey]] found a home in Johnstown, starting in 1941 with the [[Johnstown Blue Birds]] for one season and returning in 1950 with the [[Johnstown Jets]]. The Jets later hosted an exhibition game against [[Maurice Richard]] and the [[Montreal Canadiens]] on November 20, 1951. Newcomers to the town heard little about the tragic past. Johnstown proclaimed itself "flood-free", a feeling reinforced when Johnstown was virtually the only riverside city in Pennsylvania not to flood during [[Hurricane Agnes]] in 1972.

The immediate post-[[World War II]] years marked Johnstown's peak as a [[steel]] maker and fabricator. At its peak, steel provided Johnstowners with more than 13,000 full-time, well-paying jobs. However, increased domestic and foreign competition, coupled with Johnstown's relative distance from its primary [[iron ore]] source in the western [[Great Lakes]], led to a steady decline in profitability. New capital investment waned. Johnstown's mountainous terrain, and the resulting poor layout for the mills' physical plant strung along {{convert|11|mi}} of river bottom lands, compounded the problem.

New regulations ordered by the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|EPA]] in the 1970s also hit Johnstown, with the aging Cambria plant (now [[Bethlehem Steel]]) especially hard. However, with encouragement from the steel company, city leaders organized an association called Johnstown Area Regional Industries (JARI) and, within a year, raised $3 million for industrial development in the area. Bethlehem Steel, which was the major contributor to the fund, committed itself to bringing new steelmaking technologies to Johnstown because they were impressed by the city's own efforts to diversify.

Extensive damage from the [[Johnstown flood of 1977|1977 flood]] was heavy and there was talk of the company pulling out. Again, the city won a reprieve from the company's top management, which had always regarded the Johnstown works with special affection because of its history and reputation. As the increasing amount of federal environmental regulations became more difficult to comply with and the issues with the aging manufacturing facilities grew more significant, and as steel companies began closing down plants all over the country, by 1982 it looked as if Johnstown had exhausted its appeals. By the early 1990s, Johnstown abandoned most of its steel production, although some limited fabrication work continues.