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Altoona was founded by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in 1849 as the site for a shop and maintenance complex. Altoona was incorporated as a borough on February 6, 1854, and as a city under legislation approved on April 3, 1867, and February 8, 1868. One explanation of the city's name is that the word "Altoona" is a derivative of the Latin word altus, meaning "high". This explanation is contradicted by Pennsylvania Place Names. Although Altoona, in Blair Country, is popularly known as "the Mountain City", its name has no direct or indirect etymological relation to the Latin adjective Altus, signifying "elevated, lofty." Two very different explanations of the origin of this name are current.