Heritage Discovery Center

With a three year lapse between my initial review and this update, things have changed. Not for the better. On the initial visit I have to say that everything looked so much brighter and well taken care of, this time around you can see the wear and tear; also nothing is really lasting well.
The size and amount of exhibits have drastically shrunk. There is still five floors, but there is really nothing to look at past the third floor. The main draw here for adults is the immigration exhibit. Sad thing is that it hasn’t fared well over time. Noticeable everywhere you look here, from drab carpeting, to a missing light bulb, to many other things that are too numerous to mention.
The main draw here for children is the third floor which is designated as the Children’s Museum. This floor has held up much better than any other floor. There is the rooftop garden that looked as if they needed to do some weeding. The interactive water exhibits are fun, but might need to be cleaned a bit, some exhibits are missing pieces, worn down to the point that they don’t work properly, or in one instance needs to be cleaned thoroughly. I believe it looks like mildew could be inside.
The coal mining interactive exhibit is pretty fun if you are little. The slide still hurts to go down. And the company store/​kitchen exhibit can definitely keep any child busy for hours, maybe even some adults.
Sadly I don’t think that a return visit is warranted after this visit. The only way I would go back is if there is a massive overhaul of the museum. Update and/​or add exhibits, utilized the space better, and take care of what you already have on premise.

We stopped in the Heritage Discovery Center as part of our tickets to the flood museum in Downtown Johnstown.
When entering the center you get to choose identity cards from one of 12 immigrants entering Johnstown, similar to Titanic exhibits where you find out your fate as you walk through the exhibit. The cards have bar codes that are read by devices through the building that customize the messages given by some of the exhibits through the experience. Unfortunately, many of the card readers here did not work, which took away from the experience through the exhibit. There are some interesting props here that are good for families and children that visit.
There’s a lot to learn about the immigrant experience here, and is full of excellent exhibits for the Johnstown area. However, after visiting for the second time after a decade, the location didn’t hold as much appeal and appears to need updates.
Be sure to also explore the second, third, and fifth floors for more exhibits. Some exhibits don’t contain explanations. Many of the most interesting items are in the «Did You Know?» section of the building on the second floor, which gives the visitor some interesting facts on Johnstown.

Fun children’s museum, my son asks to come here everytime we visit family in Johnstown. What I can’t figure out is why no one local ever seems to be here. Both times I visited there were 5 or fewer kids there. Last time we were only people there.
The exhibits were interesting mix – the coal mine one seemed the best but the pretend hats were all missing the inside straps and ll and the jackets were gone for dress up. Some of the exhibits seemed better for groups of kids and were boring for my singleton kid – who wants to play grocery store without customers? But he loved the slide into the coal cart.
One beef I did have with musuem is that they only portrayed one side of the story of coal actually calling it «buried sunshine,» without mentioning anything about how coal is changing (to be be cleaner) and how too much carbon use can be damaging to the earth. I“m not saying let’s scare the kids into dreaming of climate change every night, but a balanced story would be appreciated.
There is a little ice cream shop with Galliker’s ice cream and other treats.

The Frank & Sylvia Pasquerilla Heritage Discovery Center in downtown Johnstown is really awesome! It’s five floors dedicated to the history, culture, geography of the greater Johnstown region. The first floor is America Through Immigrant Eyes, where it tells the life and times of immigrants to the city and their family. What working conditions they had to endure in mines & mills, how much money they made and the cost of basic items, religious services, etc (clothing, food, newspapers, insurance, etc) The 2^nd floor has a Gallery called The Pattern Makers Art which had wooden molds that were used to create the machinery in the local Steel Mills. The 3^rd Floor is the Newly opened (June 2009) Children’s Museum. Block Area, Containing a Mix Master Studio, Fashio Studio, General Store, Giant Kitchen Table, Steel Mill, City Works, Inclimber, Overlook Garden (closed due to weather), Water Room. Our daughter loved the Inclimber so much, it’s a giant slide that looks like the Inclined Plane, you have to take these stairs to the top, and you get to slide down into a cart of foam coal. While youre climbing up there are samples of different minerals in the wall.
The 4^th floor consists of offices. The 5^th floor is an art gallery with paintings and pictures from over the years. There is also an on site Galliker’s Café and a large gift shop. We were un-​able to check out the Iron & Steel gallery, due to lack of time. If visiting with children, please allow 2 hours.
It is part of the Johnstown Discovery Network, which also consists of the Johnstown Flood Museum and the Wagner Ritter House. One admission is good for all the sites. This museum has lots of hands on experiences for children and I’d really suggest visiting if you’re in the area. Admission is 7 dollars for adults.