Johnstown celebrates 100 years since a famous meteorite hit the city

JOHNSTOWN, Colorado (KDVR) — It was a 100-year-old birthday party in Johnstown as residents celebrated the day a meteorite struck the town a century ago.

On July 6, 1924, a burial at Johnstown Cemetery was interrupted by this meteorite, which struck near the spot where the procession had just passed.

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“This meteorite and Johnstown are very famous in the scientific world,” said Richard Binzel, professor of planetary science at MIT.

The Johnstown meteorite is normally on display at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, but on Saturday it was back in the city for the first time since its impact.

Binzel said that at the time, residents did not know what to do with it.

“There was a little warning because they heard what sounded like cannon or rifle shots,” he said.

The loud noise came from the meteorite flying through the atmosphere, causing a sonic boom. Binzel said the people who heard it volunteered to recover the mysterious rock.

“Because it was a funeral, they happened to have shovels with them and it was quite easy to run over to the site, dig them up and find the meteorite,” he said.

Colorado State Geologist Matt Morgan owns a small piece of the meteorite.

“I sold my shares in the British Museum of Natural History in the late 1990s,” Morgan said.

100 years ago the Johnstown meteorite fell to Earth

He said there have been 90 meteorites recorded and collected in the state and the Johnstown meteorite is one of the rarest, a volcanic rock that scientists have traced to Vesta, an asteroid millions of miles away but which bears similarities to our own state.

“There are rocks on Pikes Peak called gabbros that look almost identical to this meteorite under the microscope,” Morgan said.

And it’s not the only piece of Vesta in Colorado. Hard to believe, but in 2004 another meteorite from the same asteroid landed in Berthoud.

“It’s millions and millions of miles, and the distance is 12 miles,” Morgan said.

Now, 100 years after the impact, Morgan says it could be a while before there is another birthday like this.

“We may not see anything like this here in Colorado for 50, 100 years,” he said.

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