Youngstown biographies

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — The Man Who Built Commercial Shearing

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Many remember when Commercial Shearing and Stamping (later Commercial Intertech) was a great Youngstown company. In 1975, the New York Times reported them 790th in the top 1000 companies but 16th most profitable and in the midst of building a $3.3 million foundry that would double their capacity. This was months after Charles B. Cushwa, Jr. had passed away. At that time it had 21 plants in the U.S. and abroad and employed 3,200 people.

Less is probably known about the man who built that great company. Charles Benton Cushwa, Sr. was born into a steelmaking family. Born in Williamsport, Maryland on November 15, 1878, he grew up in Pittsburgh where his father was superintendent of the Republic Iron Works. He started working there as an office boy, then bill clerk, assistant to the general superintendent and finally superintendent.

He came to Youngstown in 1901 to take the general superintendent position at Youngstown Iron & Steel Works, sold in 1918 to Sharon Steel Hoop Company. In 1920, he went to work with Brier Hill Steel Company as general superintendent and later general manager of their sheet mills in Niles and Warren. After Youngstown Sheet and Tube bought them out in 1923, he joined a group who bought out for $100,000 the Carnick brothers, the previous owners of Commercial. By 1934 he was president of the company.

Their business grew steadily during World War 2 as a supplier of fabricated steel parts for the Army and Navy–things like landing mat plates, Bailey bridges (a type of pre-fabricated truss bridge to quickly bridge rivers and capable of bearing heavy loads), as well as pontoon bridges and floats for submarine nets. They supplied critical components for underground water supplies and sewer systems, hydraulic machinery and storage tanks for liquid petroleum gas. One of their contracts in the war was for 15 inch semi-armor piercing bombs.

In 1948, civic leaders wanted to honor his 60 years in the steel industry with a big gala. Instead, he went to work at the plant, had dinner at home, and a quiet evening reading. He was a devout Catholic, supporting building campaigns for two parishes, serving as past president of the Holy Name Society, helping establish the Father Kane Camp at Lake Milton, and assisting in the founding of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, for which he was chairman of the board of advisors at the time of his death. He also donated funds for the construction of a science building at Notre Dame, beginning a family connection with that institution. He died on December 8, 1951 of a heart attack in the early afternoon after going to morning mass and working in his office.

His son, Charles B. Cushwa, Jr. (one of the candy butchers I featured last week) succeeded him and served as president until April 24, 1975 when he passed away. The family contributed a major gift to Youngstown State prior to his death helping to fund the construction of Cushwa Hall, at that time the home of the College of Applied Science and Technology. Charles B. Cushwa, Jr’s estate included a contribution which helped establish the Charles and Margaret Hall Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism, a major research center on the Notre Dame campus that continues to contribute to Catholic scholarship to this day.

Leadership of Commercial Shearing passed out of the family with Charles B. Cushwa, Jr.’s death. Both of his sons, Charles III and William worked in high positions in the company. In 1988 Charles B. Cushwa III went to head up Youngstown State’s Cushwa Center for Industrial Development, named in honor of his father, helping young entrepreneurs start small businesses. In 2003, Charles passed, and in 2020, his brother William.

Commercial has also passed, except for a remnant that carries its name and manufacturing heritage. Parker Hannifin bought out Commercial in 2000. In 2016, Parker Hannifin announced the closure of its remaining Gear Pump operation, with the loss of 137 jobs. There is a remnant of the company operating today as Commercial Metal Forming, making tank heads, supplying 65 percent of the market. with 175 employees at its three facilities, the largest of which is still in Youngstown.

Charles B. Cushwa, Sr. built a company from a $100,000 investment to a multi-billion dollar company. He and his family invested in key Mahoning Valley institutions in religion, higher education, and health care. His steady leadership of both his own company and of many boards fostered flourishing enterprises in many forms. He was another of Youngstown’s great builders, but one modest enough to prefer an evening at home to being feted by the who’s who of the city.

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

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Howard C. Aley

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Photo Source: Howard C. Aley, A Heritage to Share. Youngstown: The Bicentennial Commission of Youngstown and Mahoning County, Ohio, 1975.

I never knew Howard C. Aley, but hardly a week goes by where I don’t reference his A Heritage to Share, his bicentennial history of Youngstown and Mahoning County. He traces the history of the Mahoning Valley from prehistoric times up until 1975. For most of the time from Youngstown’s beginnings, he recounts the history year by year, interspersing feature articles on events and key figures in the area’s history. Whenever I write about Youngstown history, I often start with two sources. Joseph Butler for anything up to the early 1920’s and Howard C. Aley for the whole time up until 1975. Sometimes, browsing through Aley’s book inspires an article. At other times, I ask, “what did Aley say?” While he was alive, I doubt anyone knew more about Youngstown history. Today, as I was browsing his history, I thought it would be interesting to tell his story.

Fittingly, Howard Aley was a lifelong Youngstown resident. He was born on January 12, 1911 to William and Rose Giering Aley. He experienced an illness during his youth that confined him at home. His parents gave him a typewriter to “amuse” him, and the writer was born. He graduated from South High School in 1931 and enrolled at Youngstown College, serving as an editor of The Jambar. He began a career as a teacher in 1935 that lasted until his retirement in 1974.

The series on Valley history

He taught history for seventh through eleventh graders for a year at the Rotary Home for Crippled Children. He began teaching at the Adams School in 1936. In the 1940’s he published a series of books on Valley history used in schools in a tri-county area. They won a Freedoms Foundation Award. He won a second Freedoms Foundation Award in 1960. He moved to Wilson High School in 1953, teaching there for 21 years until 1974. Former students would come up to him, asking if he remembered them, and he almost always did. They were eager to keep in touch with him because of his interest in them and because of how he instilled a love of historical knowledge.

He was a radio and TV personality in the Valley. His TV shows ran under the titles of “It Happened Here” and “Telerama” and “Footnote.” He was also active in a number of Valley organizations including the Monday Musical Club, Youngstown Hospital Association, Aut Mori Grotto and the Youngstown Charity Horse Show. He also edited “Chimes,” the monthly newsletter of Trinity United Methodist Church where he was a member. He loved the Canfield Fair and wrote a centennial history of it in 1946. He served as a president of the Mahoning Valley Historical Society.

His home in Boardman served as a kind of private historical archive. In some recent correspondence with a former neighbor, he mentioned that Aley had a library of several thousand volumes that spilled over into the garage. One summer, Aley found a house in Canfield with newspapers back to the turn of the century. The neighbor spent a summer working with him clipping articles for Aley’s archives. His obituary states that he could find the answer to any question about people or events in the Mahoning Valley in a matter of minutes.

My copy of A Heritage to Share

A Heritage to Share was a fitting capstone to his career as “historian of the Valley.” Completed in time for the celebrations of the national Bicentennial in 1976, it is a treasure trove. It is out of print. My son found a copy for me at a used bookstore. I never got to meet Howard C. Aley, who died in 1983, but I sometimes imagine him turning to me and saying, “do you know why…?” Thank you, Mr. Aley for all you did to tell the Valley’s story.

Source: “Howard C. Aley; Valley Historian,” Youngstown Vindicator, July 14, 1983, pp. 1-2.

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

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — William O. Brown of the Vindicator

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William O. Brown as a young man

The beginnings of The Vindicator and its history is wrapped up in two families, the Maag family and the Brown family. William O. Brown often seems to be left out of the histories I’ve seen of The Vindicator, I think, because he was never one of the publishers. But he was the key link of the passage of Vindicator ownership and leadership from the Maag to Brown families.

He was the grandson of Nathaniel E. Brown, a founder of the Brown-Bonnell Iron Works in Youngstown. Brown himself was born in Portsmouth, Ohio March 29, 1876 and moved with his family to Youngstown in 1878. The family lived in Brown’s grandfather’s home. He graduated from the Rayen School in 1897 and worked with the Ohio Steel Company. He began working at The Vindicator in 1902 and on September 9, 1903, married the daughter of the publisher, William F. Maag, Sr., Alma M. Maag. Brown’s marriage formed the link in this publishing dynasty.

William O. Brown started his work at The Vindicator in the advertising department. While working in advertising he worked tirelessly with large advertising accounts including General Motors and established the paper’s reputation with advertisers. At one point, he was called “Ohio’s Amon Carter.” Amon Carter was a famous Texas publisher. During World War I he served as a captain and ordinance officer in the National Guard.

He became business manager, treasurer and secretary upon William F. Maag, Sr.’s death in 1924. During World War II, he demonstrated his business acumen in making sure the paper always had a good supply of newsprint, which often had to be transported from Canada. In 1945 he became president of The Vindicator while continuing as business manager until his son William J. Brown took over the position in 1955.

Brown had a variety of interests. He was a champion pistol shot and treasurer of the Youngstown Rifle and Revolver Club. He also was a vociferous reader, especially of Dickens, Rider Haggard, and Conan Doyle. He was a foodie, and loved discovering small restaurants with special dishes.

William O. Brown later in life. Photo from The Vindicator, February 23, 1956.

Late in life he had serious heart problems and was confined to his home after December 1954. He died on February 23, 1956. When Brown came to The Vindicator it had a circulation of 15,000. At the time of his death, daily circulation was 100,000 and Sundays 140,000.

When William F. Maag, Jr. died in 1968, William J. Brown became publisher. He passed away in 1981.  Betty J. H. Brown Jagnow became publisher and president and her son, Mark Brown general manager. They continued to serve in these roles until The Vindicator ended publication on August 31, 2019, to be succeeded by a new Vindicator owned by the Warren Tribune Chronicle.

William O. Brown began three generations of Brown family involvement with The Vindicator. He helped build The Vindicator into a nationally known paper and his tenure spanned 54 of his family’s 117 year history with the paper. An editorial tribute appearing the day after his death said of him:

The Vindicator was his life and in more than half a century there were few days when he was not at his desk. The men and women who get out the paper were all his friends, and even in his last illness he ran the risk of setbacks to be among them.

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — The James Gibson Family

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Gibson family plats from a map of Mahoning County, 1860, Library of Congress

When I was dating the woman who is now my wife. She lived in Brownlee Woods while I was on the West side. I-680 ended at South Avenue when we first started dating. When the rest of it opened, I was able to get to her house in under 10 minutes! Until then, I often took shortcuts to avoid all the stoplights on South Avenue. Gibson Street to Roxbury to Zedaker to Midlothian got me there. I also remember playing Gibson Heights Presbyterian Church on East Dewey in our church softball league.

These places bear the name of another early Youngstown family, Captain James Gibson, and his descendants, who lived on the land through which Gibson Street passes. Captain James Gibson was born in 1740 on County Tyrone, Ireland, and came to the United States in 1760, settling in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. The “Captain” came from his leadership of a ranger company guarding the frontier from neighboring native tribes. He fought in the Revolutionary War. In 1799 Gibson, his wife, and four sons came to Youngstown, staying by a spring that was eventually called Gibson Spring, near what is now Poland Avenue. They moved on to Warren for a couple weeks, but finding no desirable land, returned to the location, purchasing 289 1/4 acres from John Young in Great Lot 43 which ran south from the Mahoning River just east of South Avenue to the Youngstown border. They built a temporary log cabin while they worked to clear the heavily forested land to farm it. His wife Anna Belle was a charter member of First Presbyterian Church. (Source: Captain James Gibson and His Wife, Anna Belle and Their Descendants Pioneers of Youngstown, O.)

Samuel Gibson

James died in 1816 and Anna Belle in 1834. When Oak Hill Cemetery opened they were re-interred in that cemetery. Their son Robert Gibson, who had lived with them, continued to reside on the farm, eventually building his own home. Eventually two of his children, Samuel and John owned their own portions within the plat, inherited from their father. You can see their properties above on the 1860 map above. John on the southern most property and Samuel owned two connected properties. He worked on his parents farm while going to school, then taught school at the Salt Springs school, and then returned to farming.

Hon. William T. Gibson

One of Samuel’s sons, William T. Gibson also distinguished himself in Youngstown. Born in 1850, he attended Youngstown City schools, and then Western Reserve University, graduating in 1876. He went on to read law with Youngstown Judge Arrel, being admitted to the practice of law in 1878. He served as city solicitor from 1896 to 1899, then as Mahoning County prosecuting attorney. In 1903 he became Youngstown’s mayor. He was a senior partner in Gibson & Lowry, and president of the Youngstown Savings and Loan. (Source: “William T. Gibson,” 20th Century History of Youngstown and Mahoning County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens.

The family story of the Gibsons is a familiar one in Youngstown history. Early settlers become an established family and eventually pillars of the community and civic leaders. They bought and cleared the land and established prosperous farms. One (the fourth generation in the city) was even a Mayor of Youngstown. Remember that when you drive on Gibson or hear the name.

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — The Buechner Family

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Buechner Hall. Photo from Facebook Page

When my wife and I were students at Youngstown State. We had friends who lived in Buechner Hall at 620 Bryson Street. On one hand, the lobby featured beautiful wood paneling and comfortable furniture, a bit like one would find in your grandmother’s parlor. That’s as far as guests could go, especially gentlemen guests. This was, and is, a privately operated residence hall for women, and it was a place where women on an urban campus could feel secure. The residence hall had its own food and a curfew. Yet the women who lived here generally seemed to accept the restrictions and overall were happy to live there.

Photo source: August 3, 1940 Vindicator

Buechner Hall was built in 1940-1941 to provide affordable lodging for both working women and female students at Youngstown College. Construction was funded by a $2 million bequest from Lucy R. Buechner, given in memory of her mother, Elvira Buechner. A non-profit corporation, the Lucy R. Buechner Corporation was established and continues to use funds from the bequest for building operations, keeping housing costs at an affordable price.

Elvira and Lucy Buechner.

Lucy R. Buechner was the daughter of an early physician and part of a family that invested significantly in Youngstown philanthropy. Her father, William L. Buechner, was born in Reinheim, Hesse, Darmstadt, Germany on December 3, 1830. He received his medical training at the University of Giessen, graduating in 1853. He emigrated to the United States that same year, living briefly in Pittsburgh before moving to Youngstown in 1854. In 1858, he married Elvira Heiner, daughter of Squire Heiner, an early resident of Youngstown. Two children followed, William H., who became a celebrated local surgeon in his own right, and Lucy.

He was recognized for his medical excellence by honorary degrees from Western Reserve University, and later the Rush Medical College of Chicago. He was one of the leaders in the efforts to establish the City Hospital (later North Side Hospital) in Youngstown and served on its staff until his death. He served both on the Board of Heath and the Board of Education. He was also a shrewd investor with investments in stocks of several of the major iron and steel companies of his day, and this established the family’s fortune. Tragically, he died on September 10, 1904, during a driving accident with an unmanageable horse in Mill Creek Park. When he died, at the request of the Mayor, businesses and the Common Pleas Court closed.

His son, William H. Buechner followed in his father’s footsteps in pursuing a medical career. Born in 1864, he graduated from The Rayen High School in 1882, and Western Reserve University in 1885 with his M.D. He pursued additional studies at the University of Pennsylvania in 1886. He went on to work as an assistant of a famous German surgeon, Professor Von Volkman in Halle, Germany, returning to Youngstown in 1890. He was on staff as a surgeon at the City Hospital of Youngstown, performing the first prostatectomy in the city, a delicate operation, according to Dr. John Melnick. He died on December 14, 1920 following a long battle with pneumonia in an age before antibiotics.

The family had all lived at a stately home at the corner of Champion and East Federal Street. After her brother’s death, it was said that Lucy was rarely seen, and then only on her porch in a black dress until complications from an illness ended her life on September 10, 1926. Following her death it was learned that she had given the bulk of her fortune to establish a home for “student girls” and “those who are self-supporting and are engaged in gainful occupation.”

According to a story in The Jambar, some Buechner residents believe Lucy’s ghost haunts the residence. My wife and I don’t recall any such stories. Whatever is the case, Buechner Hall continues to serve Youngstown State’s students, with the restrictions on men visiting rooms that existed when we were there. Typically, there have been wait lists for rooms. Lucy’s gift, and the investments of the Buechner family have left a lasting memorial to Elvira. One can’t help but think she was an extraordinary wife and mother!

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Charles H Owsley and Charles F Owsley

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C F Owsley and C F Owsley

Charles H. Owsley and Charles F. Owsley

This father and son architect team designed some of of the most iconic and enduring buildings in Youngstown. Charles H. Owsley, the father, was born in 1846 in Blaston, England. He apprenticed under two Wales architects, Sir Gilbert Scott and Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt, who specialized in church buildings. When he finished his apprenticeship, he moved to the U.S. via Canada in 1868, buying a farm in Weathersfield Township. Originally he set out to farm but a few architectural commissions led to a career. Even before forming Owsley & Bourcherle in 1878 (Boucherle did the engineering work on Owsley’s buildings), Owsley’s projects included the original Strouss-Hirschberg store and the second Mahoning County Courthouse. One of his surviving structures, built in 1899, is the John R. Davis Building. It may be that his most enduring works were residential buildings. Among these are the Wick-Pollock House, Buhl Mansion in Sharon, and houses on Millionaires Row in Warren. He also designed the Carnegie Library in Salem, still in use today.

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Mahoning County Courthouse. Photo © Robert C. Trube, 2019.

Charles F. Owsley, his son, followed in his steps. After graduating from the Rayen School in 1899, he studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, and then went to Paris, studying at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. It wasn’t clear whether he would be an artist or an architect, but in 1905 he joined Owsley & Boucherle, and worked with his father on some of the notable buildings in Youngstown including the current Mahoning County courthouse, one of Youngstown’s architectural jewels, replacing the one designed by his father, the Reuben McMillan Public Library, and South High School.

After his father retired, the company was reorganized as the Owsley Company. He built homes for some of the powerful Youngstown families, and married into one of them, the McKelvey’s. Needless to say, one of his projects was the design of the McKelvey building, a grand building in which I was privileged to work. He went on to design both the original building of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital and North Side Hospital, Youngstown City Hall, and the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District buildings.

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Home Savings & Loan Building (now Premier Bank), © Robert C. Trube, 2019

Two of his most iconic works came at the height of his career. In 1919 construction was completed on the Home Savings and Loan building (now Premier Bank). I used to look out my back bedroom window with binoculars at the sign and clock tower, and the building represented financial stability of Youngstown for generations. Then, in a very different style, art deco, he designed the expansion of the Isaly Dairy plant with its distinctive tower.

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Isaly Dairy plant (now Hertz Rental and Storage), Photo © Robert C. Trube, 2019.

He built civic organizations as well as iconic buildings. He felt it important to gather business leaders over lunch to hear speakers and enjoy fellowship and formed the Rotary Organization in 1914, the 137th in the country. He was active in the Chamber of Commerce, the Masons, the Elks. His business began to wind down in the 1940’s with his last design being the Shenango Inn, in 1950. He died on March 17, 1953 of a stroke at his home.

His buildings live on. The classic beauty, detail, and stateliness of the courthouse, the dignity of the library, the striking art deco design of the Isaly building, and the distinctive presence the Home Savings Tower adds to the Youngstown skyline all are architectural gifts to the city. Yet these are merely the most prominent of many structures from commercial structures to residences given to us by this father and son. Now it is our job to preserve them.