What to See in Altoona - Top Sights and Attractions

Museum in Blair County, Pennsylvania. Horseshoe Curve is a three-track railroad curve on Norfolk Southern Railway's Pittsburgh Line in Blair County, Pennsylvania. The curve is about 2,375 feet long and 1,300 feet in diameter. Completed in 1854 by the Pennsylvania Railroad as a way to reduce the westbound grade to the summit of the Allegheny Mountains, it replaced the time-consuming Allegheny Portage Railroad, the only other route across the mountains for large vehicles. The Curve was later owned and used by three Pennsylvania Railroad successors, Penn Central, Conrail, and Norfolk Southern.

Horseshoe Curve was added to the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966. It became a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 2004.

Horseshoe Curve has long been a tourist attraction. A trackside observation park was completed in 1879. The park was renovated and a visitor center built in the early 1990s. The Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona manages the center, which has exhibits pertaining to the curve.^[1]

Amusement park in Blair County, Pennsylvania. Lakemont Park, located in Altoona, Pennsylvania, houses the world's oldest-surviving roller coaster, the Leap-The-Dips. On June 19, 1996, the roller coaster was added to the list of National Historic Landmarks by the National Park Service. The park opened in 1894 as a trolley park and became an amusement park in the summer of 1899. It is one of only thirteen trolley parks still operating, and the 8th oldest amusement park in the United States. The park was owned by the Boyer Candy Company from May 23, 1986 until July 1, 1988, when it was called Boyertown USA. The park was closed from 2017-2018, but re-opened in summer 2019. The park is located next to Peoples Natural Gas Field, home of the Altoona Curve Minor League Baseball team.^[5]

Building in Altoona, Pennsylvania. The Baker Mansion is a historic home located at Altoona in Blair County, Pennsylvania, United States. It was built between 1844 and 1848, and is a three-story, dressed stone building in the Greek Revival style. The front facade is five bays wide and features six fluted Ionic order columns. The building houses the Blair County Historical Society.

Baker Mansion was originally home to ironmaster Elias Baker and his family. Baker purchased the nearby Alleghany Furnace in 1836 in partnership with his cousin Roland Diller. Elias brought his wife, Hetty, and their two sons, David Woods and Sylvester, from Lancaster County to what was described as a "tolerable good mansion house" near the furnace. Shortly after they arrived, a daughter, Anna, was born. A fourth child, Margaretta, was born in 1839, but she died of diphtheria at the age of two. In 1844, Elias Baker bought out his cousin's share in the furnace. That same year, he contracted with Baltimore architect Robert Cary Long, Jr. to design him a new home. Work got underway on the mansion in 1845 but many problems and delays retarded its completion until 1849. The total cost was about $15,000. The cost overruns, coupled with falling prices for iron, pushed Mr. Baker to the brink of financial ruin before the home was finished. Still, Baker, ever the determined businessman, pressed ahead and achieved his dream house. He would enjoy it for fifteen years until his death in 1864. Hetty Baker remained a widow until her death in 1900.

David Woods Baker married Sarah Tuthill in 1851 and they had one daughter, Louise, in 1852. However, Woods was killed in a steamboat boiler explosion just two and a half weeks after the birth of his daughter. Louise later married Ernst Beckman and returned with him to live in his native Sweden. Sylvester and Anna both remained single and lived in the mansion until their deaths. After Anna died in 1914, the mansion was closed until 1922, when the Blair County Historical Society leased the building and opened it as a museum. With the community's support for a major fundraising campaign, the society was able to purchase the house in 1941. Since then, the mansion has served as the Society's headquarters and has become a beloved community landmark.

In 2001, the Society completed an exterior rehabilitation, returning the building to its original appearance. Work has begun on interior rehabilitation. The project is financed in part from a state Redevelopment Assistance Capital grant and from local matching funds the Society is working to raise.

In February 2015, Joseph DeFrancesco was named executive director of the Blair County Historical Society. In July of that year, the BCHS received an award from the Central Pennsylvania Community Foundation for Technology.

In August 2015, the double parlor was restored back to original condition.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.^[6]

Synagogue in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Temple Beth Israel is a Reform synagogue located at 3004 Union Avenue in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It was found in 1874 as the Orthodox Ahavath Achim. The congregation moved to adopt Reform liturgy in 1877. In 1890 the congregation reorganized and was renamed Mountain City Hebrew Reformed Congregation. The congregation changed its name to Temple Beth Israel in 1922, and moved to its current location in 1924.

Former rabbis include Nathan Kaber, Gary Klein, Richard Zionts, Burt Schuman (1995–2006), and Nicole Luna.

From 2006 to 2010, Beth Israel was served by student rabbis or lay leaders. Audrey Korotkin joined as a part-time rabbi in 2010. She had previously served in three other synagogues.

With a membership of approximately 70 families, Temple Beth Israel serves the greater Altoona metropolitan area. In 2011, Temple Beth Israel also hosted the Altoona Alliance Church for all of its services and functions; the Church was in temporary quarters that were sold.^[7]

Historical place in the Blair County, Pennsylvania. Fort Roberdeau, also known as The Lead Mine Fort, is a historic fort located in Tyrone Township outside Altoona, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1778, during the American Revolution and was occupied until 1780. Initial efforts were made in 1939–41 to reconstruct the fort by concerned local agencies with support from the National Youth Administration. The stockade was finally reconstructed as a Bicentennial project in 1975–76.

The original fort was built of horizontal logs with a bastion at each corner. The fort was originally erected by General Daniel Roberdeau to protect local lead mining activities from the Native Americans and Tories. The fort is open to the public as a historic site, administered and owned by Blair County.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

The site consists of the reconstructed fort and its structures (officers' quarters, storehouse, barracks, blacksmith shop, lead miner's cabin, powder magazine, and lead smelter), a restored barn (1859) which serves as visitor center, a restored farmhouse (ca. 1860), a sinkhole, a trail system, and a log house (2012) built in the style of an original frontier house. In July 2018, the Mt. Lion Observatory was opened on the grounds of the Fort, a joint venture between the Fort Roberdeau Association and Neil Armstrong Planetarium at Altoona Area High School. The site is open May 1 through October 31, and the Observatory hosts public and private groups throughout the year.^[8]

Downtown Altoona Historic District is a national historic district located at Altoona, Blair County, Pennsylvania. The district includes 240 contributing buildings in the central business district and surrounding residential areas of Altoona. The buildings were primarily built after about 1860 and include residential, civic, social, and religious buildings. Although it does not encompass the entire downtown, it is for the most part the most urban part of Altoona's downtown district. Notable buildings include the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, First Methodist Episcopal Church, First Presbyterian Church, First Evangelical Lutheran Church, U.S. Post Office, Fraternal Order of Eagles Building, Altoona City Hall, Casanave Building, Hutchison Block, McCrory's Department Store, and Aaron-Penn Furniture Building. Located in the district are the separately listed Central Trust Company Buildings, Mishler Theatre, and Penn Alto Hotel.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992, with a boundary increase in 2004.^[9]