Historical Briefs
Lorain Borough
Lorain Borough is one of the younger municipalities which border the corporate limits of Johnstown.
The borough was formally chartered on November 4, 1915, but not until its promoters had gone through nearly one year of litigation in the Cambria County Courts. Objections by residents and officials of Stonycreek Township delayed formation of the borough for about 14 months.
The land area which now lies within the borough boundaries was taken from Stonycreek Township. However, the borough became a residential community through the eastward expansion of the Moxham section of Johnstown.
In its earlier days, the borough area was known as Constable Hollow after the family of that name. When the borough was subsequently created, two members of the Constable family were among its first office holders.
The movement to establish the borough was launched in 1914 with John Constable Sr. among the leading promoters. The name “Lorain” was chosen because a number of the village residents worked at the Lorain Steel Plant, now the Johnstown Works of the United States Steel Corporation.
The petition for incorporation was filed with Cambria County Court on September 23, 1914. The proposed boundaries of the new borough embraced the properties of 81 landowners, and 78 of them had signed the petition.
However, this borough quick protests from Stonycreek Township. On December 5, 1914, objections were filed by two township commissioners and 16 township property owners.
They complained that the petitioners were overly ambitious in designating the borough’s boundaries. They charged that the tentative map of the proposed borough not only included some land that actually was in Johnstown, but that it also included farm acreage that was not properly a part of the village known as Lorain.
They also complained that the proposed boundaries would (1) split Stonycreek Township in two parts; (2) take away one of the Township’s three school buildings; and (3) take away the township’s only election house.
As a result of these exceptions, a hearing was held in Ebensburg on January 15, 1915. At that time 47 pages of testimony were taken.
However, the dispute was settled when a new petition, setting forth amended territorial limits, was submitted to the court. The changed boundaries reduced the size of the proposed borough and Judge Marlin B. Stephens signed the incorporation papers November 4, 1915.
At the court’s direction, Lorain Borough established its own school district and conducted its first election on the first Tuesday in January, 1915. The court made these election appointments: Brinton Gilbert, judge of elections; Harry Tantlinger and Leo McAchren, inspectors of elections.
The following borough officials were named in the first election: H. J. Reed, burgess and justice of the peace; J. F. Lohr, John H. Constable, Frank Williams, Conrad Gearhardt, H. S. Gouchnour and R. S. Sann, members of council; Kline Ober, Elmer Shank and Roy Brandlinger, auditors; George Constable, tax collector, and R. S. Sann, assessor.
A total of 620 people lived within the borough as it was originally proposed, but this number was reduced slightly when the petition was amended and the present boundary lines fixed. The population increased to 984 in succeeding years, according to the 1980 census.
Lorain Boro VFD