Run for Your Lives! The Johnstown Flood of 1889 (Teaching with Historic Places)

Johnstown after the flood. National Park Service.

On June 1, 1889, newspapers across the country bore huge headlines announcing that on the day before, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, had been ravaged by the most devastating flood in the nation's history. With railroad tracks washed away and telegraph lines down, contact with the city was completely cut off, so most early newspaper editions carried stories based on rumor, conjecture, and the accounts of a few overwrought survivors. Learn more about this historic event and how it impacted the Johnstown community. (Click on the image to view the full lesson plan.)

Essential Question

What social and natural factors contribute to a disaster?

Objective

1. To analyze the reasons people shrug off the potential for disasters such as the Johnstown flood;
2. To outline the circumstances that caused the flood and to explain how it could have been prevented;
3. To use maps and photographs as well as the written record to analyze a historical event;
4. To describe humanitarian responses to such disasters;
5. To research local history to see if any disasters have occurred in their region.

Grade Level:

Middle School: Sixth Grade through Eighth Grade

Subject:

Social Studies

Lesson Duration:

90 Minutes

Common Core Standards:

6-8.RH.1, 6-8.RH.2, 6-8.RH.3, 6-8.RH.4, 6-8.RH.5, 6-8.RH.6, 6-8.RH.7, 6-8.RH.8, 6-8.RH.9, 6-8.RH.10, 9-10.RH.1, 9-10.RH.2, 9-10.RH.3, 9-10.RH.4, 9-10.RH.5, 9-10.RH.6, 9-10.RH.7, 9-10.RH.8, 9-10.RH.9, 9-10.RH.10, 11-12.RH.1, 11-12.RH.2, 11-12.RH.3, 11-12.RH.4, 11-12.RH.5, 11-12.RH.6, 11-12.RH.7, 11-12.RH.8, 11-12.RH.9, 11-12.RH.10