Johnston, with support from Bethlehem Steel Corporation, was an advocate of the consolidation of the boroughs of Bethlehem, South Bethlehem, and Northampton Heights, and in 1917, after a successful consolidation election, the boroughs were merged into the modern city of Bethlehem [REF].
Johnston also had a leadership role in the Wild Creek Project, a system of reservoirs and aqueducts bringing water from Penn Forest Township in Carbon County to new distribution reservoirs in Bethlehem and Fountain Hill.