Working class

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Time for a Break

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Author's photograph of Mahoning Avenue between Maryland and Portland Avenues, looking east toward downtown, a glimpse of the Mahoning Valley
The view from where I grew up in working class Youngstown. © Robert C. Trube, 2019.

Just over ten years ago, I wrote an article on what it was like to grow up in working class Youngstown. Little did I expect at the time that this one article would turn into a series that has run to over 500 articles, published weekly, for ten years. I’ve explored our favorite foods, restaurants, our love for Mill Creek Park and all the other iconic places of our shared youth. I’ve written about events in our history, stories of the people who contributed to making Youngstown a great city, and the stories of people who went on from Youngstown to do great things. I’ve learned so much more about Youngstown than I ever knew during the 22 years I lived there.

I’ve decided that it is time to take a break. I’m in the final months of my working life and finding there is a lot to this transition. It has been harder to find the time to research articles. Maybe this will change in retirement. I think this is a good time for a breather. I’m not sure how long a breather yet, but at least three months, the time I have remaining before retirement.

I am amazed how much I’ve learned from my readers, who have filled in so many gaps for me. At the same time, you have confirmed for me what a great and good place Youngstown was to grow up in. There is so much more to the story than car bombs and closing mills. We grew up in a city rich in traditions of food, faith, and family. Working class did not mean cultural desert–not with the Butler, the symphony, the Youngstown Playhouse and so much more.

I’ve loved telling the stories of people who should not be forgotten, from fallen soldiers to city founders. A dominant theme I found in so many of the stories is a deep sense of civic responsibility. Many devoted their adult lives to making Youngstown a better place.

This blog will continue. I started this as a book blog and have many books awaiting review as I write. I am deeply concerned that we may be raising a generation of children who can’t read. How thankful I am for my parents, for good teachers in Youngstown’s schools and good libraries for fostering the love of reading in my life and I want to do all I can to pass it along.

The other good news of continuing the blog is that all the Youngstown articles are still here. Just click “On Youngstown” on the menu bar to see them all. Looking for something in particular? Just enter it under “Search my Posts” and there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find what you are looking for. Back in December, I wrote “Ten Years of Your Favorites” linking to the top viewed posts of each year from 2014 to 2023. And if you can’t find it? Drop me a note. I’ll be collecting ideas for new articles.

Wrapping it all up, I am so thankful for what have really been ten years of conversations about the city we love. I’m always amazed that people read what I write. I feel a profound debt of gratitude to all of you. Thank you.

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Petty Officer, 2nd Class Bruce Arthur Manton

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Picture of Bruce Arthur Manton

I grew up in Youngstown watching the Vietnam War on the evening news. Meanwhile, young men from Youngstown were serving, fighting and dying in Vietnam. The war was unpopular, and sadly, we took it out on the returning soldiers, who, living or dead, did not always receive the honor they deserve. Each year, on Memorial Day, I remember one of those who died, representing the sixty-four from Youngstown who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Until May of 1967, North Vietnamese troops used the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the countries as a sanctuary and staging area for attacks into the South, assuming they would be safe for attack. That changed on May 18 when Marines, along with South Vietnamese troops were sent in to clear the DMZ of North Vietnamese troops in what was called “Operation Hickory.” They succeeded in heavy fighting with the largest death toll up to this point in the war, 337 Americans killed.

One of those Americans was Bruce Arthur Manton, of Youngstown. He was a Navy hospital corpsman, Petty Officer 2nd Class assigned to the 3rd Battalion of the 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division and they were engaged in combat in Quang Tri Province. He was fatally wounded on May 20, 1967 while treating wounded servicemen during “Operation Hickory.”

Bruce Arthur Manton was born November 22, 1945 in Berea, Ohio. He and his family moved to Youngstown around 1960 when his father, a Methodist pastor became pastor of Belmont Methodist Church. He graduated from The Rayen School where he he sang in the boys octet and chorus. He was active in his church and a district officer of the Methodist Youth Fellowship. Upon graduation, he enrolled at Ohio Wesleyan University but interrupted his studies after his sophomore year to enlist in the Navy in May 1965.

After basic training at Great Lakes, he went to Bethesda Naval Hospital, and then on to Camp LeJeune for further training as a hospital corpsman. He arrived in Vietnam in August of 1966.

Petty Officer Manton was awarded the National Defense, Vietnam Service, and Vietnam Campaign medals as well as being awarded the Purple Heart posthumously. His name appears on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall on Panel 20E Line 63. He gave his life saving the lives of others.

Rayen classmate Harry Kidd, who suggested this article, wrote this about Bruce Manton on the Wall of Faces:

FRIEND, CLASSMATE AND FELLOW NAVY VETERAN

Bruce and I attended the same high school – The Rayen School, Class of 1963. He and I separately both joined the Navy and are Vietnam Vets. I was lucky enough to come home. Bruce was remembered his fellow classmates at our class reunions.

Who do you remember this Memorial Day?

WE REMEMBER.

Other servicemen remembered in this series:

Lance Corporal Charles F. Azara, Jr.

SP4 Robert Thomas Callan

SP4 Patrick Michael Hagerty

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Henry K. Wick

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A few weeks ago, I wrote about Henry Wick, noting the challenge of keeping the various Wicks straight, particularly when Henry had a cousin, Henry Kirtland, or H.K. Wick. Henry K. was born August 31, 1840, the son of Col. Caleb B. and Maria Wick. He had eight siblings plus a brother who died in infancy and two half siblings. His education was exclusively in the Youngstown schools. At sixteen, in 1856, he began working as a clerk at the Mahoning National Bank.

Like Henry, H.K pursued a number of business interests including a process of planishing iron, producing sheets with a high polish. He owned a mill near Niles the grew into a large concern which he sold to a group led by James Ward. He also had timber and mining interests as well as serving as a director for the P., Y., and A Railroad and for the Youngstown Dry Goods Company. He was also the first president of Republic Rubber. But his big interest was coal, essential for the growing iron and steel industry. and from 1869 on focused major efforts on the coal industry, forming the H.K. Coal Company, one of the leading coal companies in the country, making him a multi-millionaire. The business interests extended far and wide and some of the largest were headquartered in Buffalo.

He was known as a gregarious man who loved to entertain. In the early 1880’s, he and his brother Caleb built what was known as the Wick Log Cabin in what was then the wooded area that eventually became the Wick Park district.

Wick Log Cabin from an 1889 photograph.

H.K. married twice. He married Clara Wells in 1886. She passed in 1899. He then married Millicent Rathbone Clark in 1900, moving first to a stately home on Wick Avenue and later building a lavish estate, named Ainwick, on Logan Avenue in Liberty Township. It took four years to build, being completed in 1914. A seven page spread appeared in the February 22, 1914 edition of the Vindicator, including the photograph below.

H.K. Wick helped found the Memorial Presbyterian Church and the Mahoning Institute of Art, a predecessor of the Butler.

Sadly, H.K. did not get to enjoy his Ainwick home for very long. He had struggled with failing health but felt well enough to visit his Buffalo headquarters in March of 1916. He became ill upon arrival on a Tuesday. By Saturday, it was clear he was fighting a serious case of pneumonia and Mrs. Wick rushed to be at his side. He died on March 22, 1916, three months to the day after his cousin Henry’s death from the same cause. He was transported to Youngstown and is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery, as are many of the Wicks. Millicent lived until 1953 but the couple had no children.

It is my understanding that the Ursuline nuns came into possession of the house and estate, eventually selling it off for development, resulting in the demolition of the mansion. What a loss, both architecturally, and as visible evidence of the life of H.K. Wick.

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Mother’s Day Gifts from the Nursery

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A picture of the vacant lot where my house once stood and the Mother's Day maple that has survived
Where my house once stood. The tree on the left is the Mother’s Day maple

The house where I grew up in Youngstown is no longer standing. There is one thing that is still there–the maple tree we bought my mother for Mother’s Day, probably around 1970. You can see the trunk to the left side of the picture. I forget the name of the nursery where we bought it out in Austintown. All I remember is picking it out with my father and digging a very big hole in our devil strip (tree lawn for some) to give the roots plenty of room to spread out.

My mom loved that tree, guarding it as a young sapling and enjoying the shade it provided for our front porch in the late afternoons. In later years, it grew big enough that parts had to be trimmed out near the phone and power lines. The branches spread from our driveway to our neighbor’s. Mom passed in 2010 (though she’s forever in my heart). The picture reminds me of not only that particular Mother’s Day but all the pleasure that tree gave her over the years.

Mother’s Day for many of us meant a trip to the nursery. Maybe we would buy a rose for her rose garden, or a rhododendron (my mother-in-law used to have a big one in front of her house that was probably a Mother’s Day. Maybe you’d buy a flowering lilac, or perhaps like us that one year, a tree. And don’t forget the corsage for church! This J & J Gardens and Greenhouse ad from 1974 may remind you of some of those gifts.

A Mother's Day newspaper ad for J & J Gardens in Boardman from 1974

That J & J ad also reminds me of many trips there with my mother-in-law on visits home. Sometimes, we’d take her to mass at St. Lukes, and then drive down the street to pick up some plants for around the Brownlee Woods house she lived in until she was 84 and moved near us in a losing fight with cancer.

I was delighted to learn there is still a garden center at that location, now operated by Petitti’s. We lived for nine years in Maple Heights near Cleveland in the 1980’s and bought many plants for our garden from the Petitti’s nearby. So learning they are in Boardman at the old J & J site brought two sets of good memories together.

We’ve carried on the tradition of buying flowers on Mother’s Day, usually perennials that we don’t have to re-plant each year, a reminder of our perennial love. We were at the nursery on Tuesday. So remember to honor the mothers in your life. And mothers–you are simply the best and I wish each of you a special day this Sunday!

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Henry Wick

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A picture of Henry Wick in his youth
A picture of a young Henry Wick

The Wick name is one of the most well known names in Youngstown. As it turns out there are a number of Wicks who rose to prominence in Youngstown. Perhaps it has already been done, but a genealogical work showing the family lines and relations of the various Wicks would be a great asset for anyone who writes about Youngstown.

Henry Wick is a case in point. He might easily be confused with Henry K. (H.K.) Wick. The two men were born six years apart. H.K. was born August 31, 1840, the son of Col. Caleb B. and Maria Wick. Henry Wick was born born May 13, 1846, a son of Hugh Bryson and Lucretia Winchell Wick. As it turns out, this part of the family tree is relatively easy. Caleb and Hugh were both sons of Henry and Hannah Baldwin Wick, who came to Youngstown in 1801, establish a mercantile business, making Henry and H.K. their grandchildren and cousins to each other.

Henry was educated in the Youngstown schools of the day and graduated from Western Reserve College. He began working as a coal operator in Youngstown and Pittsburgh, forming the Witch Hazel Coal Company, of which he was president most of his working life. This led to an interest in the growing iron business. He organized and ran the Youngstown Rolling Mill Company, an early successful company in the iron business. He then joined forces to incorporate The Ohio Iron and Steel Company, serving as its vice president for many years. He also organized the Ohio Steel Company, a pioneer in Bessemer steel in the valley. A few years later they merged with the National Steel Company, of which he became president. Later this company was absorbed by Carnegie, which in turn became U.S. Steel. He also bought and reorganized the Elyria Iron and Steel Company, supervising its operations until his death.

He also was engaged in mining, lumber, and ranching operations in the west as well as operating several large farms near Youngstown.

If that wasn’t enough, he was involved in several key financial institutions in the city beginning with his partnership in the Wick Brothers & Company, and as an officer in the Wick National Bank, which was the successor of that firm. He also served was a director with First National Bank, Dollar Savings and Trust, and Youngstown Sheet and Tube.

Joseph Butler, in History of Youngstown & The Mahoning Valley, Ohio – Vol. II, summarizes his portrait of Henry Wick:

“Henry Wick was a vital and compelling force.  He was a tireless worker and a natural leader of men.  He was a hater of sham and show, and a lover of truth and justice.  He was loyal to friends and just to every one.  He had a veritable passion for home and for the near ones who are the life of home.  His domestic life was one of peculiar charm and unusual happiness.  He was an active and influential member of the First Presbyterian Church, and an interested and liberal contributor to substantially all of the welfare agencies of his home city, and an active worker in many.“

Henry Wick died of pneumonia December 22, 1915. His wife, Mary Arms Wick, passed five days later. The Vindicator for December 23, 1915 published a story, “The Death of Henry Wick” which included this story, suggesting the character of the man:

“Speaking of how he stood steadfast to his principles, a close friend said that it was never better demonstrated than when several years ago he allied himself with a cause, in the winning of which he thought the community was to be bettered and benefitted. In support of the cause he gave unsparingly in money and indefatigable personal support. He was assailed by opponents but never faltered in the fight. The cause for which he battled went down in defeat, but he was never heard to criticise or complain. He fought for a principle and that it was not by the majority accepted may have caused him regret, but the defeat left no rancor with those he disagreed.”

How rare this is today! Perhaps this explains why he was so sought out to lead companies and sit on boards and enjoyed such success. His business interests included coal, iron, steel, mining, ranching, livestock and agriculture. One wonders how he crowded all this into one life. He is one of the reasons the Wick name enjoys such a reputation in Youngstown to this day.

To read other posts in the Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown series, just click “On Youngstown.” Enjoy!

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Dick Thompson, WHOT Good Guy

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Reproduction of 1963 newspaper ads for WHOT 1330 AM
WHOT Good Guys in 1963, when WHOT moved to 1330-AM and became a 24 hour station. Dick Thompson is the second from the left.

In the 1960’s, the disk jockeys at WHOT were known as “the Good Guys.” To this day, we all remember Boots Bell’s “Yes indeedie-doodie-daddy. Have yourself a happy…” or Johnny Kay’s morning broadcasts of the school lunch menus or shouting “Run, Bambi, run!” at the beginning of deer hunting season. Some of us remember Jerry Starr, Smoochie Causey, George Barry, and A.C. McCullough. He may not have been as memorable, but perhaps the mainstay of WHOT was Dick Thompson.

Dick Thompson was born in nearby Oil City, Pennsylvania in 1928. He got his start in radio when he hosted a program as a high school senior in Oil City. He had two stints in the army with
Armed Services Radio in Korea (Boots Bell was also a Korean war vet with a Purple Heart). Thompson briefly attended Grove City College between his two tours of duty.

He got back into radio when he came home. Later he moved to California, where he met his wife Sherry and worked for a time with Regis Philbin a newscaster at KSON-AM, where Thompson was working as program director. He also worked at radio stations in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Columbus, Ohio.

He was one of the early disk jockeys at WHOT, coming to Youngstown in 1958 when the station was a daytime only station at 1570 AM. He was soon joined by Johnny Kay and with the explosion of rock ‘n’ roll, they headed up one of the top 40 stations in the country. Boots Bell came in 1959.

As others joined the station, he took on more of a management role as program director. He still filled program slots in the day and on weekends. He also became “Big Al Knight” when WHOT started broadcasting 24 hours. Thompson recorded these programs, which ran from 12 to 6 am, saving the station from hiring another DJ. For many of us who stayed up, or were out late with the radio on, this is when we listened to Dick Thompson (and not all of us knew it). Thomas John, a later program director at the station said of him, “He did everything. It was fascinating to go by his office because you never know who would be in there.”

He worked at WHOT for 35 years. After a couple of years in retirement, he and his friend Johnny Kay teamed up once more in 1995 to do work together at WNIO and later WSOM, retiring once more in 2007. Johnny Kay passed away in December 2014. Thompson outlived his friend by a few years, dying at age 89 in November 2017.

While these voices no longer fill the Youngstown airwaves, you can listen to Dick Thompson as Big Al Knight on this clip from January 1, 1973:

He truly was one of the “Good Guys.”