Youngstown

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!

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Rotogravure Section

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Screenshot of the front page of the rotogravure section of The Sunday Vindicator. May 15, 1927. Public Domain.

Remember the “Brown section” in the Vindicator? This was a section of the Sunday newspaper printed in sepia tones with photographic portrayals of local and national human interest stories. When I delivered the paper, the Sunday Vindicator came in two parts. One was the newspaper part. The other bundle included the “Brown section” on the outside along with the Sunday comics, Parade Magazine, and various ad sections. Usually, we inserted this section inside the newspaper section, an extra step. Around holidays, this made for a very bulky paper.

The “Brown section” also known as the Rotogravure section was a favorite of many people for telling stories with high quality pictures instead of words, other than captions. Some of the greatest work of Vindicator photographers Edward A. Shuba and Lloyd Jones can be found on these pages.

I was inspired to write about this as I looked at the December 16, 1973 edition of the Vindicator on Google News Archive. The Rotogravure section from that Sunday had a front page story titled “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” with a number of cozy family images. Page two features “A Log Cabin for Five Generations,” showing the home of John Sonnedecker on E. South Range Road in Beaver Township. In what was once a log cabin, the Reverend Henry Sonnedecker founded a church in 1831. On page 3, “Super Bowl” is about the construction of a huge radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico (which collapsed in 2020 and has been de-commissioned). Page 4 is “Toy Trends” including the debut of the Big Wheel.

Page 5 features once famous movies stars Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford, and Gloria Swanson in a piece titled “Those Were The Days.” Photos of champion skiers on page 6 appear under the title “Winter King.” “The Ox Man” is the headline for page 7, featuring Irving Lamb, a west New York farmer with a team of four Red Devon oxen, an old English breed. Page 8 features an art spread called “In the World of Art,” page 9 shows women in a variety of furs that would be banned today, titled “Day and Night Elegance,” and page 10 is devoted to “The Girls” by Franklin Folger, a spread of comics featuring middle-aged women. that appeared regularly.

Where does the name “rotogravure” come from? It refers to a printing process using etched cylinders rather than flat plates, allowing for superior reproduction of photographs in terms of sharpness and tonal depth. Sepia ink was used to provide warmer, less stark images. Colors were consistent and the ink did not smear, allowing for immediate bundling. On Christmas of 1912, the New York Times printed its first rotogravure section.

The practice spread rapidly and the Vindicator printed its first Rotogravure section November 7, 1926. In 1936, it became a featured section of the Sunday Vindicator. In the 1970’s, the section became the Pictorial Section and featured color photographs. In July of 1986, the last Rotogravure section was printed, a feature on how the Vindicator of that time was put together. On August 31, 2019, in the last issue of the “old” Vindicator, the staff published an article on the history and highlights of the Rotogravure section, some of which I’ve used here,

For many, the “Brown section” was the first place they went in looking at the Sunday paper. Re-visiting these old sections offers a pictorial essay of life in the Valley and nationally in different eras. Before “digital” and “video” was a thing, talented photographers working in sepia did amazing work telling stories of human interest.

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

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Loblaws

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Loblaw ad from 1967

Other than Sparkle Markets, I don’t think any of the grocery store chains we shopped at when I was young are still in Youngstown. My parents shopped at A & P on Mahoning Avenue until it closed, then shopped at Sparkle. My wife’s parents shopped at Loblaws on Youngstown-Poland Road. Going through the Vindicator in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, you can see their ads every week, especially on Wednesdays, when stores advertised their weekly specials.

What I was surprised to learn was that this chain had a relatively short existence in the Youngstown area. Loblaws, then called Loblaw, had its beginnings in Toronto, Canada, in 1919 where they opened their first “Grocetarias,” cash and carry stores. By 1924, they had expanded throughout Toronto and into New York state, forming an American company headquartered in Buffalo. The American subsidiary was also known under the name “National Tea,” as you will notice in the ad from 1967, although Loblaws of Canada held the controlling interest.. They continued to expand into Pennsylvania and northeast Ohio.

The Canadian chain continued to expand after being acquired by the Weston family, who also had department store interests. They pioneered the concept of supermarkets, the precursor to our superstores. They also implemented a customer loyalty program with Green Stamps, that spread throughout the US.

Meanwhile, Century Foods operated 14 stores in the Youngstown area and 39 in the region. On June 11, 1961, the New York Times ran a story announcing the sale of Century’s 39 store to Loblaw, Inc. of Buffalo. That’s when the old Century Foods became Loblaw Food Stores and later Loblaws Markets. The chain grew as it continued to expand during the early 1960’s but then growth stagnated and declined.

A Loblaws ad from its last year in Youngstown in 1972.

In 1972, Galen Weston, the new CEO began a reorganization and downsizing of the chain, focusing on its most profitable stores and consoldating stores. As part of that, the Meridian Road warehouse was closed and the 14 stores (they never expanded in the Mahoning Valley) were sold off to other chains. And thus, the Loblaws name came to an end in Youngstown.

The reorganization paid off for Loblaws in Canada. By the1980’s, they were Canada’s biggest supermarket chain. They acquired Shoppers Drug Mart, Canada’s largest chain of pharmacies, in 2013. They’ve created their own line of superstores. But its all in Canada. So if you are ever in Canada and see a Loblaws, you can say you remember when they were in Youngstown. And if they don’t believe you, just show them this article with the Vindicator ads.

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

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Baldwin’s Mill

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Postcard of Baldwin’s Mill c. 1910 with the old Spring Common Bridge to the north..

When most of us think of a grain mill in Youngstown, we think of Lanterman’s Mill in Mill Creek MetroParks. But for much of the 19th century, the major grain mill was Baldwin’s Mill, at the foot of Oak Hill just south of the old Spring Common Bridge on the west bank of the Mahoning River.

The story of grain mills on this site goes all the way back to 1804, when James Hillman, who owned a 60 acre tract purchased from John Young on the west side of the river, sold an acre to Caleb Plum to erect a mill, the first in the village of Youngstown.

In 1858, Homer Baldwin built a mill near this site. Baldwin had experience with flour milling going back to 1840. The mill not only provided flour and grain for the community for several generations but rapidly grew so that its products were distributed throughout the United States. It was the first mill in the United States to replace the stone mill wheels, going back to the beginning of history, with rollers to grind wheat.

The quality of their flour won awards throughout their history. In 1876, Baldwin’s Mill won honors at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. In 1904, competing with grain mills throughout North and South America, Baldwin’s Mill won top honors for the finest barrel of flour in the Americas. In the 1890’s flour was $4 a barrel and the mill offered a 40 cent discount for those who paid cash. For a time, an old canal barge from the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal offered boat cruises starting at Baldwin’s Mill up the Mahoning River to Salt Springs Road.

Despite their reputation, the mill encountered legal troubles with the City of Youngstown when the city won a case challenging the dam Homer Baldwin had built to help power the grist mill. Baldwin counter-sued claiming damages from a diminished water supply that hampered mill operation.

In 1913, they faced a different sort of water problem–flooding. On March 23 to 26, 1913 it rained steadily with 7 to 9 inches falling, flooding low lying areas along the river including a good part of downtown Youngstown, the B & O Station, as well as the mill. This became known as the Great Flood of 1913, and spurred the city to take flood control measures to prevent future episodes.

Flooding at Baldwin’s Mill During the Flood of 1913. Public Domain

What finally ended the mill’s illustrious history was a fire on December 18, 1922. Twice, over the years, the building survived lightening strikes. That morning, during production, some grain dust spontaneously ignited. Aided by strong winds, the fire spread rapidly. Train traffic was stopped on the B & O line to run fire hoses across. The building was a total loss, amounting to $70,000, not only leveling a downtown landmark, but also ending a national business.

When we think of mills in Youngstown, we tend to think of iron and steel mills. But for 64 years Homer Baldwin’s Mill also made Youngstown famous for flour, due to his innovations and skill. Something to think about the next time you drive over the Spring Common Bridge.

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 Energy Crisis of 1973

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Hills Deparment Store ad. Youngstown Vindicator, November 23, 1973.

Do you remember skyrocketing gas prices? Long lines at the pumps? Limits of how much gas you could pump? Going into the Christmas holidays of 1973, the U.S. was confronted with an oil embargo from OPEC nations that resulted in the quadrupling of the price of a barrel of oil. U.S. production had declined and we had become increasingly dependent on imported oil to meet our fuel needs, not only for cars but also for heating and electricity in parts of the country where this was oil generated. The cause for this decision was a response to the support the U.S. gave Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. We were encouraged to lower our thermostats to 68, to conserve energy and carpool. We tried an experiment in year round daylight savings time. I remember going to early classes during winter at Youngstown State in the night.

Looking at the Vindicator for November 23, 1973, there were a number of indications of the impact of this crisis. One story urged us to “Expect Shopping to Not Be So Gay” [a reference to holiday cheer, not a sexual orientation]. The article detailed the curtailing of streetlighting and Christmas lighting displays in many communities. Some shortened the number of days for displays. Meanwhile, another article stated “The City’s Cost on Gasoline Jumps December 3.” Prices were up to over 35 cents! Of course, it offered an opportunity for price-gouging, with one station charging 86 cents a gallon on Thanksgiving, covered in a story describing how the station “Tries Gasoline ‘Blackmail.’ ” And there were signs that things could get worse with a front page story with the ominous news that “Arabs Threaten 80 Pct. Oil Cut.”

All of a sudden, interest in small cars became popular–Vegas, Pintos and cars from Japan like Toyota Corollas and Honda Civics. We all got used to wearing sweaters in chilly buildings and bragged when we saved a few pennies a gallom or even were able to buy a full tank. Speed limits were lowered to 55 miles per hour, which felt like crawling but was supposedly the optimum speed for fuel savings.

The Hills ad above continued with this copy describing the steps they were taking to conserve energy:

Hills Department Store ad, Youngstown Vindicator, November 23, 1973.

They cut back lighting, heating, appliance use on floor samples, encouraged carpooling, and set speed limits on driving for company business. And they encouraged the rest of us to join them. And as I recall we did–for as long as the embargo lasted. Then we relaxed although OPEC held this threat over our heads. In the late 1970’s, there were more shortages and restrictions. Remember odd-even days? And the prices always climbed.

It’s tempting to talk then and now, but I will resist that temptation–we’re in a different time and situation. I’d be interested in your memories of the gas shortages of the 1970’s and how you thought that changed your life around Youngstown. How did you respond? Did you buy a car that got more miles to the gallon? What other changes to your life do you remember?

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