Streetcar Suburb
Johnstown Traction Co. Passenger Car on Diamond Blvd
Frank Otto recognized that trolley service was needed for any new development on the Westmont plateau. Only Hochstein Road, a farm road that followed Cheney Run, offered a feasible grade for a track to Otto’s Cambria Land and Improvement Company’s 127-acre farm site. The lower section of the former farm road was renamed Southmont Boulevard.
Johnstown Traction Co. Passenger Car on Diamond Blvd.
Otto began running a motorbus line to Southmont in October 1909. The Cambria Land and Improvement Company designed Diamond Boulevard for trolley service to Westmont. The Johnstown Traction Company began service on July 11, 1912. The street rail line ended at Menoher Boulevard where the trolley poles would be turned around and the double-ended trolley car would make a return trip to the City in the valley.