YOUNGSTOWN Black businesses stand test of time

All the businesses have remained family owned.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Several black-owned businesses here have crossed the 40-year mark, most with beginnings steeped in direct or indirect racial unfairness.
In the late 1950s, Ruth Danridge was working as a licensed practical nurse at one of the city's hospitals.
Her daughter, JoAnn Blunt, said Danridge enjoyed her work as a nurse, but was concerned with the growing need for long-term care of the elderly in the black community.
She said blacks were not accepted into white nursing homes during that time. They were relegated to one government-run facility, the Mahoning County Nursing Home, on Kirk Road.
Danridge, in an effort to give blacks another option, left her position at the hospital and opened a 19-bed nursing home on the first floor of her Glenwood Avenue home. The facility grew and eventually moved to Oakhill Avenue with 32 beds.
Five years ago, the nursing home, now run by Blunt, moved to a new modern facility on the city's East Side. There are 62 residents at the facility and a waiting list of other potential residents.
The nursing home has remained family owned throughout its 45-year history, and Blunt is hoping it remains that way. Her husband, Julius, and daughter Leigh Greene, a licensed social worker, work at the nursing home, along with 82 other staff members.
Moving company
Howard Pincham, owner of H. H.. Pincham Moving Co., started his business 40 years ago after the color of his skin overshadowed his training and skills in the job market.
Pincham left the military with training in communications in the 1950s. He said one of his first stops upon returning to Youngstown was at a telephone company in search of a job. He said the company, however, did not even look at his military training or credentials. He was shown the door.
Pincham said he went to work in the steel mills, but was not happy. With the encouragement of his wife, Edna, and a small loan from his father, he bought a used truck in the early 1960s. The family used the truck for personal use between Pincham's hauling jobs.
Pincham gradually moved more toward full-time hauling and away from working in the mills.
He acquired a contract with National Van Lines in the mid-1960s and made moving and hauling his full-time occupation.
Barber
In 1951, Morris Mays opened the doors to what may be the city's oldest black-owned barbershop.
Joe Mays said his father came to the Youngstown area in 1936 and began working in construction. Mays said his father did not like the dust that came along with job or the idea of continually working for white-owned companies. He wanted a business of his own.
Mays said his father took the train daily from Youngstown to Cleveland to attend a black barber school. Upon his graduation, Mays' Barber Shop, offering 50-cent haircuts -- 75 cents with a shave -- opened on East Federal Street. The business eventually moved to Belmont Avenue.
The barbershop is now run by Joe Mays, and he plans to pass the business on to one of his two sons.
Funeral homes
The oldest black-owned funeral home in Youngstown is Sterling-McCullough Williams Funeral Home on Belmont Avenue.
McCullough Williams, former councilman and city school board member, said the idea to become a funeral director was born during his high school days.
Williams said a teacher asked his civics class what they would like to be when they were adults. He said his initial thoughts were to become a sports coach or maybe a journalist, but he said he knew of no black sports coaches or journalists.
Williams did know black morticians, however, and found it to be a well-respected career in the black community. The funeral home has moved several times and bought out other funeral homes, including the Linton and Underwood-Alexander funeral homes. The business is now run by Williams' twins -- his son Sterling and daughter Crystal Williams Costa.
The city's second-oldest funeral home is F.D. Mason Memorial Funeral Home on Rayen Avenue. According to Frank and Genny Mason, the business opened in 1960, but not without a little sweat and hard work.
Genny Mason said banks were not keen on giving business loans to blacks in the late 1950s, so Frank Mason, without any construction training, took his savings and began building the funeral home by hand.
Frank Mason, with slips of design paper spread throughout his home, took more than four years to complete the project.
Genny Mason said her husband also added to the building years later.
"You just don't know you can do something until you try," she said.
Flower shop
The oldest black-owned flower shop -- Goldie's Flower Shop -- was born in the rear of McCullough Williams Funeral Home in 1952 by George and Goldie Williams.
The shop is now on Belmont Avenue and is run by the George and Goldie Williams' son, George Jr.
jgoodwin@vindy.com