Building has a ball turning 75

Will Rogers was the first performer featured inthe auditorium.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Music from a calliope and a bagpipe welcomed guests at the dinner dance commemorating the 75th anniversary of Stambaugh Auditorium.
"They don't make buildings like this anymore. It's fabulous," said Mayor George McKelvey, describing the colonnaded auditorium as "one of the original grand structures'' in the city.
"It's been completely refurbished. The variety of what the auditorium can offer now in terms of presentations is greatly enhanced," he added.
The mayor was among the 174 guests for Wednesday's event in the auditorium's ballroom, 75 years to the day after the auditorium's Dec. 5, 1926, dedication.
The auditorium, located at 1000 Fifth Ave., and designated as a gift to the community in the will of industrialist Henry H. Stambaugh, opened for its first public performance featuring Will Rogers the next day.
"We have a treasure here, and we have done our best to bring it back to life, and we have now an auditorium that is 75 years young. We have spent 10 years rehabbing and restoring this building,'' said Anna Jean Cushwa of Youngstown, president of the auditorium's board of trustees.
State grants have covered the cost of a new roof, ventilation and air conditioning, stage lighting and a new sound system for the auditorium -- a North Side landmark on the National Register of Historic Places.
The purchase of other equipment, furnishings and improvements has been privately funded.
Other plans: The next step is installation of a new heating system, said Barbara J. Armstrong, the auditorium's general manager, adding that the auditorium will soon launch a Web site.
Another goal is the $400,000-$500,000 restoration of the auditorium's rare Skinner organ, which is original with the building, to its full range of capabilities, she said.
The 2,554-seat main auditorium -- the city's largest auditorium -- has been the home of Monday Musical programs, which steadily bring nationally and internationally famous performers here, throughout its history. It is also the site of dance competitions and numerous high school graduations.
"It's prepared to host anything except a play that requires flying scenery," Armstrong said.
The annual Williamsburg Christmas craft fair, Junior League Angel Ball, the Goodwill auction, and numerous wedding receptions are held in the ballroom beneath the main auditorium; and weddings, small parties and business seminars are held in the upstairs marble room, which features a good view of the city from its windows.
The auditorium also houses the offices of The Junior League of Youngstown; the 73-member Henry H. Stambaugh Youth Concert Band, which will give its inaugural concert there at 7:30 tonight; and the Monday Musical Club, which will feature Tony Orlando in a 7 p.m. Sunday performance there.
Major names, groups: "I don't know of another building in Youngstown that has hosted Rachmaninoff, Eleanor Roosevelt, Yehudi Menuhin, Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Margaret Mead, Buckminster Fuller. You're talking about serious historical figures here," Cushwa said.
Among the major musical groups that have performed in Stambaugh Auditorium are the Cincinnati, Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras; the Rochester, Buffalo and New York philharmonic orchestras; the Minneapolis, Detroit and Pittsburgh symphony orchestras; Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra; the Canadian Brass, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Newport Jazz Festival, and the Count Basie Orchestra with Dizzy Gillespie and Billy Eckstein.