Cresson, PA

Cresson sits on the Allegheny ridge at the meeting point of old mountain transportation, a college campus, and present-day Route 22 traffic. The borough is about 13 miles west of Altoona and 30 miles north of Johnstown, high above the surrounding valleys. Its early resort history centered on the Mountainhouse Hotel, opened by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1881 for visitors seeking the area’s mineral springs; the hotel is gone, but the railroad-era reason for stopping here remains part of the town’s identity.

Mount Aloysius College now supplies one of Cresson’s clearest daily centers, with a 190-acre campus, career-directed programs, athletics, and student activity just off U.S. 22. The Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site lies near the Cresson ridge, preserving the engineering route that once carried canal boats across the mountains between Hollidaysburg and Johnstown. Borough government handles water, meetings, and local services. Cresson is a summit borough where a college, a vanished resort, and a national transportation landmark share the same high ground.