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Join the author of Historic Theaters of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley and Lost Youngstown in an excavation of forgotten stories from bygone days. Beyond steel and rust, Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley share a rich, but often overlooked past. During the late 1910s, the ever-present smoke blanketing the area could not hide the fires from the burning business district of East Youngstown or the city streets deserted from Spanish influenza. Over twenty years later, the Mahoning Valley lived under another dark cloud, the Great Depression, but instead of violence and destruction, the men and women of the WPA busied themselves with building up the region and dreaming of better days. Journalist and historian Sean Posey excavates the history behind familiar landmarks, forgotten institutions, and historic sites that connect Mahoning Valley history to the story of the evolution of industrial America.
Youngstown, Ohio was a rapidly growing industrial city in the early 20th century. In 1900, the city had a population of about 45,000; ten years later, it nearly doubled to 80,000, and by 1920 had reached 120,000. This phenomenal growth was reflected in a number of structures that dotted the city's skyline, including the Mahoning Bank Building, the Masonic Temple, and the plants of three major steel companies along the banks of the Mahoning River. Youngstown also had new places for its citizens to play during this period-Idora Park, Mill Creek Park, and Wick Park. And this was all preserved for the future through another early-20th century phenomenon-the postcard. Over 190 vintage postcards illustrate this book, which will bring the reader back to the era when Youngstown was rapidly becoming the third largest steel producer in the nation.
The massive steel mills of Youngstown once fueled the economic boom of the Mahoning Valley. Movie patrons took in the latest flick at the ornate Paramount Theater, and mob bosses dressed to the nines for supper at the Colonial House. In 1977, the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company announced the closure of its steelworks in a nearby city. The fallout of the ensuing mill shutdowns erased many of the city's beloved landmarks and neighborhoods. Students hurrying across a crowded campus tread on the foundations of the Elms Ballroom, where Duke Ellington once brought down the house. On the lower eastside, only broken buildings and the long-silent stacks of Republic Rubber remain. Urban explorer and historian Sean T. Posey navigates a disappearing cityscape to reveal a lost era of Youngstown.
The blows of hammers and the humming of mills once echoed throughout the Mahoning Valley. Steel reigned supreme, and immigrants from every corner of Europe came to forge new lives and an enduring community. When the sounds of industry were silenced, Youngstown remained a strong and vibrant community. Editor Mark C. Peyko and the writers of the Metro Monthly create a portrait of their city through a beautifully rendered collection of vignettes. With stories of inventors, movie moguls, local cuisine and sports heroes, Peyko and company not only chronicle the history of Youngstown, but also capture the essence of their home.
In this book, Sean Safford compares the recent history of Allentown, Pennsylvania, with that of Youngstown, Ohio. Allentown has seen a noticeable rebound over the course of the past twenty years. Facing a collapse of its steel-making firms, its economy has reinvented itself by transforming existing companies, building an entrepreneurial sector, and attracting inward investment. Youngstown was similar to Allentown in its industrial history, the composition of its labor force, and other important variables, and yet instead of adapting in the face of acute economic crisis, it fell into a mean race to the bottom.Challenging various theoretical perspectives on regional socioeconomic change, Why the Garden Club Couldn’t Save Youngstown argues that the structure of social networks among the cities’ economic, political, and civic leaders account for the divergent trajectories of post-industrial regions. It offers a probing historical explanation for the decline, fall, and unlikely rejuvenation of the Rust Belt. Emphasizing the power of social networks to shape action, determine access to and control over information and resources, define the contexts in which problems are viewed, and enable collective action in the face of externally generated crises, this book points toward present-day policy prescriptions for the ongoing plight of mature industrial regions in the U.S. and abroad.
Founded in the Mahoning Valley during 1837, a tiny settlement of secular German immigrants grew into one of the most influential centers of Jewish life in the Midwest. Home to nationally renowned rabbis and Zionist firebrands alike, the community produced an astonishing array of leaders in an impressive range of fields throughout the twentieth century. This notable legacy ranges from the entertainment juggernaut of Warner Brothers to the Arby's fast-food empire and the prominent Youngstown Sheet & Tube, among many others. Authors Thomas Welsh, Joshua Foster and Gordon F. Morgan trace the unique history of one of Ohio's oldest Jewish communities from its humble beginnings into the challenging climate of the new millennium.
The Youngstown story often is told with a beginning in iron and steel and ending in decay with a subplot driven by violent mobsters and corrupt politicians. Aiming to provide a more well-rounded examination of Youngstown, this collection of essays provides an authentic look at the city through a diverse set of experiences from the perspectives of those who have lived there. Readers will gain a sense of the past, present, and future of the city.
Closing Chapters attempts to explain the disintegration of urban parochial schools in Youngstown, Ohio, a onetime industrial center that lost all but one of its eighteen Catholic parochial elementary schools between 1960 and 2006. Through this examination of Youngstown, Welsh sheds light on a significant national phenomenon: the fragmentation of American Catholic identity.
Once the symbol of a robust steel industry and blue-collar economy, Youngstown, Ohio, and its famous Jeannette Blast Furnace have become key icons in the tragic tale of American deindustrialization. Sherry Lee Linkon and John Russo examine the inevitable tension between those discordant visions, which continue to exert great power over Steeltown's citizens as they struggle to redefine their lives. When "the Jenny" was shut down in 1978, 50,000 Youngstown workers lost their jobs, cutting the heart out of the local economy. Even as the community organized a nationally recognized effort to save the mills, the city was rocked by economic devastation, runaway crime, and mob scandal, problems that persist twenty-five years later. In the midst of these struggles the Jenny remained standing as a proud symbol of the community's glory days, still a dominant force in the construction of both individual and collective identities in Youngstown. Focusing on stories and images that both reflect and perpetuate how Youngstown understands itself as a community, Sherry Lee Linkon and John Russo have forged a historical and cultural study of the relationship between community, memory, work, and conflict. Drawing on written texts, visual images, sculptures, films, songs, and interviews with people who have lived and worked in Youngstown, the authors show the importance of memory in forming the collective identity of a place. Steeltown, U.S.A. is a richly developed portrait of a place, showing how images of the Jenny and of Youngstown have been used in national media and connecting these representations to the broader public conversation about work and place: Bruce Springsteen's song "Youngstown," the book Journey to Nowhere, and other pop culture artifacts have helped make Youngstown the symbolic epicenter of American deindustrialization. And while many people see the need to get over the past and on with the future, in rushing to erase the difficult parts of Youngstown's history they might also forget the powerful events that made the city so important, such as the struggles for economic and social justice that improved the lives of steelworkers. This multifaceted study of the meaning of work and place in one community pointedly depicts the relationships among economic development, media representations, and community life. As we see how people's faith in the value of their work dwindled away in Youngstown, their stories can help us understand not only how the meaning of work has changed but also why the changing meaning of work matters.
In 1796, Daniel Shehy of Tipperary was the first Irish man to settle in Youngstown. In the early nineteenth century, the Ulster Irish moved into the region. Later, massive waves of Irish refugees from the Potato Famine settled in the area and filled the labor needs of the steel mills, canals, and railroads. Irish in Youngstown and the Greater Mahoning Valley recounts the history of the first Irish immigrants to settle the Valley up to the present and their prominent roles in community politics, arts, business, sports, entertainment, and religion. Through vintage images of families, church leaders, business owners, politicians, Irish dancers, and philanthropists, this book celebrates the influence of the Irish on the Greater Mahoning Valley.