Working class

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Ohltown

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Did you ever hear of Ohltown? I first saw the name when I was learning to drive. My dad would take me out on the back roads around Meander Reservoir. One of these was Ohltown Road, which runs northwest toward Warren from Route 46 just north of Mahoning Avenue. It ends by the Ohltown United Methodist Church and the Ohltown Cemetery, next to the church. Austintown-Warren Road, crossing Meander Reservoir from the west dead ends at Ohltown Road. Depot Street veers to the northeast from there.

But where was Ohltown? Basically it was around those crossroads with the western part of the village now underneath Lake Meander. The church and the cemetery are now all that is left of the town.

Ohltown gets its name from Michael Ohl. Ohl’s parents, Henry and Abolona Ohl moved to Canfield from Allentown, Pennsylvania, settling north of the village. Michael, their oldest, was born in 1785 and married Eva Meyers (Meiers) in 1806. The young couple settled in southern Austintown Township for twelve years, having the first five of thirteen children. Around 1815 and 1816, Michael acquired 230 acres in southwestern Weathersfield Township along Meander Creek about a mile and a half west of Mineral Ridge. After damming the creek to create a millrace, he built a sawmill, and later a gristmill, which remained in operation for a hundred years. The sawmill provided the lumber for the family’s permanent residence.

Ohl was enterprising. He opened a general store doe the growing village as well as becoming the first postmaster, the post office in his house. A plank road ran through the property, connecting Canfield, Warren, and Cleveland. The house became a stagecoach stop and inn. Then in 1835, Ohl began mining coal on the south side of his property one of the seams of coal that were plentiful in the vicinity of Mineral Ridge.

Ohltown United Methodist Church, undated photo.

The Ohltown United Methodist Church traces its beginnings to 1838. They acquired a building from a Lutheran congregation in 1847. By that time, the town included a grocery store, post office, shoemaker, cabinet maker, and a blacksmith, along with the general store and mills owned by Ohl. There was also a school. In 1849, Ohl died.

This may have marked the peak years for the village. As canals and railroads were built, they bypassed Ohltown. By the 1880s, only thirty homes and a couple stores remained. By the 1900s, only a few homes, the church and cemetery remained. People went elsewhere for work.

Meanwhile, the industrial development along the Mahoning River, polluting the water of Niles and Youngstown, along with periodic flooding, led to the formation of the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District in 1927. A dam on Meander Creek was part of the plan to provide a clean source of drinking water and was part of a larger flood control plan. It would require flooding the town area west of Ohltown Road. Some people sold their homes, other homes were moved.

Today, as already noted, only the church, which has weekly services, and the cemetery remain as remnants of the town Michael Ohl built. But I can imagine that there was a time when this was a pleasant and comfortably prosperous place, located along scenic Meander Creek.

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

 

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Mayor Jack C. Hunter

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Mayor Jack C. Hunter in 1969 when elected for his first term as Youngstown’s Mayor, Youngstown Vindicator, November 5, 1969 via Google News Archive.

[This is a post about a historical public officeholder in Youngstown. Please don’t use this article for online debates about contemporary Youngstown or national politics.]

He was the only mayor of Youngstown I ever voted for, voting for him for his last two terms in office in 1973 and 1975. He is the only mayor in Youngstown history to complete four terms as of this date. And the mayor was a Republican in a city known at that time as a Democratic stronghold.

He was born March 13, 1930, growing up in Youngstown. A graduate of South High School, he served for four years with the Marine Corps, including a tour of duty during the Korean War as a sergeant. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Denver and a Master’s degree in political science from Kent State University. He taught at Youngstown State University and served as a trust officer and then a vice president at Mahoning National Bank, a position he held prior to and after his years as mayor.

For many years, he lived with his mother on Youngstown’s Southside and in 1965 ran for councilman in Youngstown’s fifth ward where he served two terms. In 1969, he became the Republican candidate for mayor, running against incumbent, three-term mayor Anthony Flask. It was a hard fought campaign. At the time, most attributed his victory margin of 3368 votes to the recent riot and shooting at Stop 5 on Poland Avenue at the entrance to Republic Steel when two teamster factions clashed, with one man dying.

Hunter married Pauline Pieton while in office. When their first child was born at St. Elizabeth Hospital, she was greeted with a billboard at Rayen and Belmont Avenues as she drove to the hospital:

Dear Polly: If it's a girl,
think Jo-Lynn; a
good Irish-Polish name...
Jack

As it turned out, they had a boy, named Jonathan David.

While in office, he presided over the much ballyhooed Federal Plaza project, turning parts of Federal Street and Central Square into an outdoor pedestrian mall. After early enthusiasm, my sense is that it was unpopular with most Youngstown residents and Central Square was re-opened to traffic in 2004.

It seems that part of the secret of Hunter’s success was that he acted with integrity and refused to play politics. Councilman Jerome McNally, a Democrat, spoke at Hunter’s funeral of how Hunter encouraged him to enter politics and mentored him, even though they were in different parties. Former Democrat councilman Herman “Pete” Starks paid him this tribute at his funeral:

“I served under four mayors during my 22 years on council, and he was the best of them,” said Starks, who was a pallbearer for Hunter. “He was a man of his word. There was no such thing as Democrats or Republicans with Jack Hunter. He was about taking care of business.” (Source: Youngstown Vindicator)

When ground was broken for the Boardman Expressway in October of 1971, weeks before an election in which Frank R. Franko, a former Democrat mayor was running against Hunter, the two appeared together. Franko had been part of the planning of the freeway and Hunter was able to look past the rivalry in including him, along with former Democrat mayor Frank Kryzan.

Perhaps it was his good fortune to conclude his fourth term as mayor in 1977, a year before the devastating mill closures. He went on to serve ten years on the state board of education from 1982 to 1991, and then again from 1998 until the time of his death. At Hunter’s funeral, Susan Tave Zellman, Ohio superintendent of public instruction said of Hunter, “On any issue, he always asked, ‘Is it good for the children?’ ” (Youngstown Vindicator).

Throughout his life, he was a member of Pleasant Grove United Presbyterian Church as well as a number of business and civic organizations. He was known as a religious man and committed to community service, both in office and out. He died of cancer on June 9, 2001, having been diagnosed only the week before. He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

Jack Hunter represented a rare tradition of seeing public office as public service. He described his victory in 1969 as “not a Republican victory but a people’s victory.” In A Heritage to Share: The Bicentennial History of Youngstown and Mahoning County, Ohio, he wrote in 1976:

“I dream of a day when we put behind us the pernicious doctrine of what’s in it for me, or something for nothing, and give wholly and unstintingly of ourselves to make our neighborhood, our church, our schools, our community, a better place for all persons.”

Drawing on his business background, he worked hard to practice economy in government, making the most of people’s tax dollars. Then, he went on to serve Ohio’s children. My son, who graduated from high school in 2003 was one of those who benefited from his educational leadership. Thank you, Jack Hunter, for showing us the best of what is possible for those in public office, and for your service to your country, your home town, and the people of Ohio.

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

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Mementos

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My Grandfather’s Mantle Clock © Robert C. Trube, 2024.

I bet you have objects around your home that connect you with your Youngstown past. The clock above was inherited from my Grandfather Scott who passed away in the late 1970’s. He lived on the Southside. Not only does it work, but if you get close enough, you can still smell the cigars he smoked. It sat on the mantle behind his favorite recliner. It reminds me of Sunday afternoon visits and the stories with which he regaled us.

This is a commemorative plate from the Tabernacle United Presbyterian Church from its centennial celebration in 1959. That’s the church in which I was baptized. I remember the building as being a great place for hide and seek with a winding stairway up to the belltower. It had organ pipes in the front of the sanctuary that I thought looked like giant pencils. The building was at the corner of Wood and Walnut near downtown and no longer standing (a search on Google Streetview shows it still standing in March 2021, but now a vacant lot). The church moved to Austintown in the late 1960’s and continues to minister under the name Tabernacle Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

Stored in a box in my garage is my old baseball glove. I loved baseball even though I played it badly! That glove bears countless hours of pitch and catch with my brother in our backyard, pickup games on the playground behind Washington School and Borts Field. It was the glove I was wearing on our church league team when a runner ran into me and broke my thumb. I thought it was dislocated and played out the game. I last used it in games of catch with my son. It’s stiff, needing a treatment of Neatsfoot, and small by today’s standards.

My old Schwinn Collegiate 5-Speed © Robert C. Trube, 2024.

Hanging in the rafters of my garage is my old Schwinn Collegiate. If you look closely, you can still see the Boardman Cycle Shop sticker, where it was purchased from, as well as the bike license sticker Youngstown used to sell. I bought that bike secondhand from a buddy who had graduated to cars, over 50 years ago. I rode that bike all over Youngstown, all through Mill Creek Park, and even to visit some friends over in New Wilmington (my first experience of getting chased by farm dogs!). It has survived trips on bike carriers to northern Michigan where my son and I went on many rides.

My wife’s childhood watering can. © Robert C. Trube, 2024.

My wife said, “you don’t have any of my mementos from my childhood.” So I threw in this antique watering can that she used to water flowers around her home as a child. We still use it for that purpose and it has held up better than the succession of plastic watering cans we’ve bought over the years!

Why do we keep these objects that our kids may think of as junk for a garage sale? Very simply, they remind us of our childhood in Youngstown–and are sometimes still useful. They are laden with memories, mostly of how good it was to grow up in Youngstown.

I’d love to hear of the mementos you still have in your home from younger days in Youngstown. You can leave comments here, or if you are reading on social media, leave pictures. I’ve probably brought back memories for you. Now it’s your turn!

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

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — The Great Blondin Walks Above Federal Street

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Photographer unknown, Charles Blondin, Public Domain

Did you watch in 2020 when Nik Wallenda walked 1800 feet on a cable across the mouth of the Masaya volcano, an active volcano in Nicaragua? That was truly scary and unimaginable for this guy with two left feet. Wallenda not only comes from a family of wire walkers but is the latest in a long history of them.

One of the greatest high wire artists was a man known as Charles Blondin or “The Great Blondin” and he filled the newspapers with stories about him during the latter half of the nineteenth century. He was born Jean François Gravelet on February 28, 1824 in Hesdin, Pas-de-Calais, France. He was trained as an acrobat and made his first appearance as “The Boy Wonder” at age 5 or 6. He came to the United States in 1855 and achieved fame in 1859 when he walked an 1100 foot cable stretched across Niagara Falls. He repeated this feat a number of times blindfolded or pushing a wheelbarrow or carrying his manager on his back or on stilts. One time, he stopped midway and cooked and ate an omelet!

In 1869, the same year he rode a bicycle across a highwire in the Crystal Palace in London, to the acclaim of the Prince of Wales, he visited Youngstown. A highwire was strung across West Federal Street from the Excelsior Building (roughly in the same location as the Paramount Theater was located) to the Gerstle Building, just east of Hazel Street. Horse and buggy rigs and spectators gathered in the street below to watch him walk above Federal Street as easily as those below walked on it. This was exciting stuff for the small town of Youngstown. You can see a photograph in this Business Journal article. He can be seen in the middle of the cable in the picture. He stayed in the Tod House during his visit.

He continued to wow the crowds for many years. In 1896, at the age of 72, he crossed a lake in Leeds several times, repeating the feat blindfolded one time, and once again. stopping to cook an omelet on another transit. He died February 22 of the following year, just short of his 73rd birthday.

I would guess that he walked no more than 150 feet or so from one building to the other (John Young laid the street out as 100 feet wide, far less than his other feats. But I suspect few if any in the crowd would or could do what he did, nor any of us reading. This was big news in 1869!

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

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Ten Years of Your Favorites

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It has been nearly ten years since I began writing about my hometown of Youngstown. Thankfulness is a true expression of what I feel for the richness of our town’s history, culture, physical places, and especially it’s food. I am also thankful for all the people I’ve met both in person and online who get why Youngstown has been such a great place for so many who grew up there. Along the way, I’ve learned SO much that I didn’t know during the 22 years I lived there.

Ten years of articles. Nearly 500 articles! That’s a lot of articles. Here, in one place, are your favorites. Each year, under a several different titles, I’ve listed the ten most viewed posts of the year–your favorites. To celebrate ten years of these, I’ve created a list of links by year to those “Top Ten” posts. Click on the year and it will take you to the list of Top Ten Favorites for each year. I also say a bit about some of the favorites for that year and link to the top viewed post for that year.

2014. I did not create a Top Ten post for my Youngstown posts for that year so no link. The top ten were: (10) Walking (9) Christmas Baking (8) Diaspora (7) Football (6) Restaurants (5) Wedgewood Pizza Columbus (sadly since closed) (4) Canfield Fair Food (3) Neighborhoods (2) Pizza. Your favorite of 2014: Food

2015. This “Top Ten” post itself became the most highly viewed post I’ve ever written. Among the articles was one on Neighborhood Bars (still often viewed), Pierogies, WHOT, Front Porches, and Cookie Tables. Your favorite of 2015: Kolachi (still a holiday favorite!).

2016. Some of your favorites were articles on Holy Name Church and School, Shopping Plazas, Spinning Bowl Salads (with the owner’s dressing recipe), The Silver Bridge, and Wedding Soup. Your favorite of 2016: Haluski

2017. You liked posts on Iconic Places (lots of pictures), Coal Mining, The Civil War Soldiers Monument, Jay’s Famous Hot Dogs, Italian Food, and Sides of Town. Your favorite of 2017: The View From Home. The image for this article was from a painting called “Morning Drive” by talented local artist Christopher Leeper, showing a view of the Valley from Mahoning Avenue, just west of Portland, the street on which I grew up. We now have a print of that picture in our home–it was the view I saw every day (and now still see!).

2018. Some of the top viewed posts from this year included The Great Thanksgiving Storm of 1950, Boots Bell (I received a t-shirt with an image of Boots from his daughter after that one!), Brier Hill (before it was a pizza), The Great Flood of 1913, and Brownlee Woods (where my wife grew up). Your favorite of 2018: Salt Springs (which includes a map printed by Ben Franklin in 1755 showing its location).

2019. The George Borts Farm, articles on Oak Hill and Calvary Cemeteries, Esther Hamilton, George Renner, Jr. (the owner of the Renner Brewery), The Blizzard of 1978, and Zedaker Farm were all popular articles. Your favorite of 2019: Southern Park Mall.

2020. You liked articles on Elijah Boardman, John Struthers and the Simon Family. Two greats from my alma mater, Chaney High School, were like by others, one on football great Frank Sinkwich and one on coach and teacher Ed Matey, who passed shortly before the post was written. A post on the 1918 Pandemic in Youngstown drew a number of views in this first year of the pandemic. Your favorite of 2020: Liberty Township.

2021. Some of the popular articles from this year included the story of Caroline Bonnell, a Titanic survivor from Youngstown, posts on South High School, the Village of Poland, and Gypsy Lane (which got its name from real gypsies. I found out that there were many names of Slumgullion. You loved a story on Youngstown as a Front Porch City. Your favorite of 2021: Pat Bilon (the Youngstown actor who played E.T.).

2022. You were interested in the story of the Indian Scout Statue in front of the Butler, the inspiring life of Sue Thomas, deaf from 18 months who became an FBI investigator and the inspiration for a TV series, the brilliant and tragic life of Elizabeth Hartman, the history of Chaney High School, What We Did on Cold Winter Days, and the story behnd the Old Rugged Cross in Lake Park Cemetery. Your favorite of 2022: The Underground Railroad.

2023. This past week I posted your favorites of 2023 which included a feature on the Corneerburg Neighborhood, the story of Youngstown actor Joe Flynn, a brief history of Woodrow Wilson High School, stories about John A. Logan and the Shields family, and how the term “devil strip” is somewhat unique to Youngstown and northeast Ohio. Your favorite of 2023: East Palestine (written shortly after the major rail derailment).

I hope you enjoy this look back at some of the all-time favorite articles, perhaps during half-time in one of the bowl games or a quiet time between New Year’s festivities. I enjoyed this walk down memory lane and was reminded both of how much we love our food and how curious we are about our history. And I look forward to learning more and interacting with you all about our home town of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley in 2024. Happy New Year!

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

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Your Favorites of 2023

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“Downtown East Palestine, Ohio” by 636Buster is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

It is hard to believe it has been nearly ten years since my first “Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown” article–nearly 500 now (all available at the “On Youngstown” tab). Every year I share a list of your favorites, on the basis of which articles were most viewed. Here’s an opportunity to read the ones you missed and revisit some old friends. So without further ado…

Where my childhood home once stood on Youngstown’s Westside. © Robert C. Trube, 2019.

10. Memories of My Childhood Home. Many of our homes in Youngstown are no more including mine. I walked through my old home in my memories, which might bring back similar memories for you.

Cornersburg boundaries, From Youngstown Neighborhood Development Plan

9. Cornersburg. I recount the story of this neighborhood on the southwest corner of Youngstown, including the businesses that have a long history of serving the community.

Father and son enjoying one of our favorite memories. ©Robert C. Trube

8. Top Ten Fair Memories. On the weekend before this year’s fair, I recounted my own favorite memories of the best county fair in the country. My favorites might be different from yours but a lot of us enjoyed thinking of all the things we love about the fair.

“Joe Flynn,” By ABC Network – ebay.com, front of photo, back of photo, Public Domain.

7. Joe Flynn. Most of us remember him as the bumbling Captain Binghamton on McHale’s Navy. I cover his acting career and how he never forgot his hometown of Youngstown.

Mahoning & Shenango Railway and Light car #314 in Youngstown, Public Domain. Boarding downtown passengers headed to Idora Park.

6. Street and Trolley Cars. At one time public transportation in Youngstown, as late as 1959, was streetcars and trolley cars. At one time there were 59 miles of streetcar lines in the city.

Image by Joan Minenok Yanchick. ©Joan Minenok Yanchick. Used with permission.

5. Woodrow Wilson High School. I’ve written about the various high schools in Youngstown. I enjoyed great help from an alumnus on this one who provided some great images of this grand old school that is no more.

John A. Logan’s Oriole Farm, from a 1908 postcard. Public Domain

4. John A. Logan. A military and business leader who crowded so much into 35 years that Logan Avenue bears his name.

James H. Shields

3. The Shields Family. The Shields family were leaders in the local cattle and meat business in Youngstown at one time as well as actively serving on the Fair board. And yes, Shields Road is name after them.

© Robert C Trube, 2023

2. Devil Strips. You know that strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street. A lot (though not all) of us from Youngstown call it the “devil strip.” Most others don’t. We had a lot of discussion about this!

“Downtown East Palestine, Ohio” by 636Buster is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

1. East Palestine. I posted this shortly after the rail accident. I wanted to know more about this community near Youngstown and so I told the story of the town before the rail accident. Apparently many others wanted to know more about the town as well. It was the most viewed post on my blog in 2023.

So those were your top ten favorites. Look for a post next week with all of my “top ten” posts from the past ten years.

I hope amid all your holiday preparations, you have some time to revisit your favorites. I wish you all a joyous holiday!

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