History
of Youngstown,
Ohio
Take a video tour of Youngstown/Warren area (from the Regional Chamber
of Commerce)
City and County Facts
(from Youngstown Public Library)
In 1797 John Young purchased 15,560 acres in the Mahoning Valley for
$16,085 from the
Connecticut Land Company. He and a survey team laid out
the Youngstown township along the
Mahoning River, seven miles west of the Pennsylvania line. The plan of
downtown Youngstown today remains
essentially the same as the plan for the original town that was laid out
by John Young. This was the beginning of settlement in the Mahoning
Valley.
Mahoning is derived from the Indian word mohonik, meaning "at the lick" or
"at the salt lick". Native Americans and colonial settlers came to the
area for the salt. In the following century, European immigrants were
drawn to the area by the promise of work in the steel mills that stretched
for twenty-five miles from Lowellville to Warren. The
history of
Youngstown is tied to the
history of these mills.
The introduction of iron making occurred early. In 1802, Daniel and James
Heaton
Youngstown's first industrialists, contracted for the rights to dig
coal and make charcoal along the banks of the Yellow Creek in Poland
Township. "Hopewell" became the first blast furnace in the area using the
air flow from the Yellow Creek to create the blast.
The opening of the Pennsylvania-Ohio
Canal provided inexpensive transportation between Lake Erie and the
Ohio River bringing trade and growth to
the new town. It provided cheap transportation for pig iron and iron ore,
the primary freight on the canal. Passenger traffic on packets (passenger
boats) was very popular. One way passage cost $3.50 from Cleveland to
Youngstown, including meals.
Activity created by the canal increased the population threefold between
1840 and 1860 to 5,300. The demand for metal during the Civil War also
contributed to the boom. (Railroads transported the passengers, then the
freight.) In 1872 the last barge floated down the canal.
Strategically located between Cleveland, and Pittsburgh, and New York and
Chicago,
Youngstown became a railroad center served by four different rail
companies; the Baltimore and Ohio; the
Erie Lackawana; the New York Central; and the Pennsylvania. More rail cars
passed under the Center Street Bridge per day than any other location in
the country.
The burgeoning metal industry brought prosperity. Wick Avenue became the
address of the well-to-do. Mansions were built on the north side of the
city for the industrialist and bankers. Tod, Wick, Butler, Powers,
Stambaugh; these names are imprinted on the buildings and the streets of
Youngstown.
The city's prosperity drew many including a large variety of European
immigrants. First the Irish and Germans; later the Poles, Czechs,
Armenians, Ukrainians, Russians, Italians, Slovacs, and Hungarians.
Lebanese came from the Middle East. With them they brought their religions
and their churches. The wealth of ecclesiastical architecture reflects the
ethnicity of those who came to work in the steel mills.
By 1880 the city had grown to a population of 15,435, nearly double the
population of 1870. Federal Street was the main commercial thoroughfare
and remained so for one hundred years. Incandescent lighting was
introduced in 1888 when the G.M. McKelvey Company installed a private
light plant. Later, the North Avenue power plant provided electricity for
Youngstown, Sharon, Wheatland, Mill Creek Park and Falls Street Car
Line. A new power plant was later built in Lowellville increasing the
electrical output to 60,000 watts. The telephone was introduced in 1880
and by 1915 automatic dialing was introduced. Within two years there were
75 subscribers.
The first hospital was started with a contribution of two and one half
acres of land on Oak Hill Avenue and $10,000 by John Stambaugh. The South
Side Unit of the
Youngstown Hospital Association is at
that same location on Oak Hill. St. Elizabeths Hospital had its beginnings
when two houses on Belmont Avenue were joined and the first patient was
admitted on December 8, 1911.
The Market Street Viaduct was opened in 1899
transforming a country road
into a thriving commercial street. Other bridges crossed the river on
South Avenue and Mahoning Avenue. McGuffey Street bridge spanned Crab
Creek. Eventually, bridges opened the entire city in every direction,
overcoming the natural barrier of the winding Mahoning River.
The turn of the century brought the automobile to the country and to
Youngstown. By 1904 Youngstown
had 22 cars including Henry Wick's $20,000 Blue Goose, a six-passenger
custom-built automobile. Charles T. Gathier, a local engineer, built the
Fredonia, a fast automobile that traveled 36 miles in 35 minutes.
As prosperity spread, the workers in the mills demanded higher wages. In
1916 workers went out on strike seeking an increase in their nineteen and
a half cent hourly wage. Marching workers confronted mill guards at the
main gate of the Campbell Works. Shots were fired and three workers were
killed while twenty-seven were injured in the incident. As the workers
fled, anger grew and a riot took place. The crowd converged on the village
of East Youngstown, now known as
Campbell, and set fire to the business district causing an estimated
$1,500,000 in damage.
The First World War dramatically increased the demand for steel
production, thereby increasing the need for housing for the additional
employees. It was estimated that an additional 2,000 housing units were
needed in the city to accommodate the population increase.
Labor unrest continued. In 1919-20 strikes in the steel industry of the
valley idled 39,500 men. The demands of the workers were an eight-hour
day, a six-day week and the elimination of the twenty four-hour shift.
Other demands included double time pay for overtime and an end to company
unions. Again the labor unrest led to rioting.
Steel was "the industry" and
Youngstown boasted as being the third
largest steel-producer in the country behind Pittsburgh and Chicago.
Though the mills were producing at record output, problems began to
surface. Inexpensive transportation was by water and
Youngstown had become landlocked since
the closing of the Ohio-Pennsylvania
canal.
The Lake to River Canal was proposed as early as 1787. It became a passion
in the 1920's. Surveys were done and many routes discussed but the cost
was too enormous to undertake. Congressman Mike Kirwan spent his entire
career in the Congress trying to build the canal that would go from Lake
Erie to the Ohio River and on to
Pittsburgh. It became known as the "Big Ditch." A model of the proposed
canal is displayed in the lobby of the Maag Library on the YSU campus.
Another problem was a lack of cooling water. The Mahoning River did not
have the volume of water necessary for the needs of the growing industry.
The city of
Youngstown built the dam that created Lake Milton at a cost of
$1,000,000 in 1921. The lake provided enough water to supply The
Youngstown Sheet and Tube and the
Republic Steel Corporation. In later years even this supply would not be
enough.
By 1921 Youngstown was the second City
of Steel behind Pittsburgh.
Youngstown's payroll exceeded $100,000,000; its bank deposits
exceeded $75,000,000; and the steel mills alone represented capital
investments of $360,000,000.
Growth of the city was unstoppable. Predicting a population of 500,000 by
1971, the city reached 132,358 in the 1920 Census. It ranked fiftieth in
the nation and was among the fastest growing cities in the country. There
were fifty-nine miles of trolley car tracks inside the city and the
inter-urban lines extended to the principal cities of Eastern
Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. The fire department was the second
in the nation to be completely motorized. The Chamber of Commerce boasted
that "Youngstown offers unlimited
opportunity to all"(Aley, 233).
Far from the population of 500,000 predicated by 1971, the city reached
its maximum population in 1930 at 170,002. Future population growth took
place in the county outside the city. The suburbs made an attractive
alternative to the smoke filled city. The Great Depression hit the city
hard and Youngstown suffered
extraordinarily because of its single industry economy. The unemployment
rate in Youngstown was three times the
national average. Thousands were unemployed. Many businesses displayed
signs reading "No Help Wanted." Suicide was not uncommon and many were
homeless. Eating watermelon was considered a luxury.
Innovation in the steel industry continued. Cold rolled steel was
developed in an automobile repair shop on Logan Avenue. The Steckel mill
was a revolutionary process. It allowed rolls of steel to be reduced to a
thickness of one one thousandth of an inch while the metal retained most
of its physical properties without annealing. This high quality steel was
used in transformers, motors and other electrical equipment.
In 1930 Republic Steel was formed out of the Corrigan, McKinney, and
Truscon Steel Corporations, becoming the third largest in the industry
with a capacity of 6,000,000 tons. The industry was hoping for a 20
percent increase in the coming year. Twenty-three open hearths were in
production.
The Steel Workers Organizing Committee was formed in 1936 and by 1937 most
of the largest steel producers were under contract agreement. The
exceptions were known as the "Little Steel Companies" The group consisted
of Youngstown Sheet and Tube, Republic
Steel, Bethlehem and Inland Steel.
With the help and encouragement of such labor notables as Phillip Murray
and David J. MacDonald, the workers of the "Little Steel" companies called
a
strike on March 26, 1937. Gus Hall of the Communist Party USA was the
head of the local organizing committee. He was eventually arrested and
later acquitted of charges that he interfered with rail shipments into the
mill.
The "Little Steel" strike, while not a complete success, did lead to the
formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, better known as the
CIO. In 1941 the CIO was powerful enough to force the heads of the "Little
Steel" companies to sign on with the unions, something that the presidents
of those companies said would never happen.
During the Second World War, the Mahoning valley was an important area for
its production of steel in the war effort. The
Youngstown Sheet and Tube developed a special steel used in the
production of machine gun belts. These belts held fifty caliber shells
which were fired at an impressive rate of eight hundred rounds per minute.
Other specialty products included portable landing strips made of dense
steel grating that aided in the rapid construction of airfields on the
islands of the South Pacific and in Europe after the Normandy invasion.
The post war period brought prosperity and growth to the valley.
Automobile production increased and consequently the demand for steel as
well. However, Youngstown would continue
to be effected by the business cycles as its mills became less productive.
In 1932 Michael Ficocelli and his brother Carmine, sons of recent
immigrants, began the Little Symphony Orchestra. This "Little" orchestra
soon became the
Youngstown Symphony Orchestra and brought many nationally known
classical musicians and vocalists to perform with the orchestra. Today the
orchestra performs at
Powers Auditorium, formerly known as the Warner
Theater.
The Youngstown Diocese was established
in 1943. Bishop McFadden headed the diocese that included the counties of
Mahoning, Stark, Columbiana, Portage, Ashtabula, and Trumbull counties.
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Youngstown
Links |
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Youngstown CVB
(Convention and Visitors Bureau) |
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Current Youngstown statistics from
MovingVan.com
1990 Census Demographics - From the Center for Policy Studies,
University of Akron
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Median Household Income:
$13,286 |
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Unemployment Rate:
5.2% |
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Average Price of a House:
$138,000 |
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Property Tax Rate:
1.0% |
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Median Rent:
$338 |
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Crime Rate:
4.0% |
based on 1999 data retrieved
November 9, 2002 from MovingVan.com |
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Mahoning Valley Civil
War Round Table |
Historic
information about the role of Youngstown and its citizens in the
Civil War. |
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Cool pictures of Youngstown's skyscrapers |
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WORK AND PLAY IN YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO
by Ginny Pasha
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A student at
Youngstown State University provides good insight to the importance
of Idora Park in Youngstown. |
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http://youngstownscene.com/ |
Hip happenings
in Youngstown. |
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Take a
pictorial virtual road trip through Youngstown |
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http://bonfrog.com/ |
Art and Music
scene in Youngstown |
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Powers auditorium
(Former home of the first Warner Bros. Theater - in 1931) |
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Mahoning
Valley Historical Society |
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Welcome to Youngstown |
The displays in this on-line exhibit examine a variety of
representations of work and working-class culture, using materials
from family photo albums and scrapbooks, local museums and
publications, and other local sources, including the streets of
Youngstown. The exhibit was created by students in American
Studies 701/Labor Studies 740, Representations of Work in
Youngstown, during Spring Quarter, 1999 and Winter Quarter, 2000.
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Youngstown |
The funky rock band with an urban twist. |
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Interview on Jenny Jones
Photos during Jenny Jones show |
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Idora Park - Theme and ride park
http://www.idorapark.org/ |
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Photos of the Blast Furnaces in Youngstown by Harald Finster |
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NOAA photo library - Railroad bridge leading to Carnegie Steel plant
at Youngstown, Ohio in 1913. |
Photo of the
flood of March, 1913 which caused 527 deaths--the largest number of
deaths due to floods in the 20th century. |
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Youngstown State
University home page
YSU College Profile
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Youngstown's Hometown
Newspaper - The Youngstown Vindicator |
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POETIC IMAGES OF YOUNGSTOWN
by Susan Senich
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IMAGES OF A GHOST TOWN
by Mark M. Pecchia
Youngstown State University |
James J. Ling
by Midas Mulligan
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Crime City, USA??? |
Corruption and Organized Crime:
by Scott Danish and Kevin
Sturdevant
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How Youngstown's Other Half Lived
By Dan O'Brien
An article discussing the living
conditions of Youngstown's poor population in the early 1900's -
from
The
Business Journal Online
January 2000 |
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Information about Youngstown from the Hitchhikers Guide to the
Galazy
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Famous Ice Cream
in Youngstown |
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Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, talks about
some of the country's best places to buy frozen treats with USA
TODAY's Shawn Sell. - USA Today, July 19, 2002 |
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