Altoona
[key], industrial city (2020 pop. 43,963), Blair co., central Pa., on the eastern slopes of
the Allegheny Mts., near the source of the Juniata River; settled c.1769, laid out (1849) by
the Pennsylvania RR as a switching point for locomotives preparing to mount the Allegheny
Plateau; inc. as a city 1868. It is a railroad center with construction and repair shops.
Manufactures include fabricated metal products, food, machinery, electrical equipment, and
chemicals. Nearby tourist attractions are the Horseshoe Curve constructed by the Pennsylvania
RR, a world-famous engineering feat; and Wopsononock Mt. (2,580 ft/786 m high). A branch of
Pennsylvania State Univ. is in Altoona.
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