Before the Johnstown Flood of 1889 , the Yoder Hill area consisted of nothing more than a few farms , accessible by only a few steep , muddy roads . However , since the flood was so devastating to the city and to its major employer , the Cambria Iron Company , the iron company decided to develop the top of the hill as a suburb for its top personnel to live in . The company commissioned the famous landscape architect , Charles Miller , to lay out the grid for the settlement of " Tiptop " , later renamed Westmont . Westmont was located on a ridge high above the valley in which Johnstown is located , and thus in a place of safety . As such , it was also above the smoke , noise , and stench of the city , and attracted the well-to-do of the town , eager to escape what ( in many cases ) their own factories had wrought . An inclined railway , the Johnstown Inclined Plane , was built for easy travel to the city . With the problem of transportation solved , the new settlement began to grow , and it was incorporated as the Borough of Westmont on June 13 , 1892 . In 1935 , the borough bought the inclined railway from Bethlehem Steel
Johnstown Flood
Johnstown Flood
Westmont, Pennsylvania