Bridge dedicated to McGuffey

By Harold Gwin

Famed educator William Holmes McGuffey grew up in the Coitsville area.

YOUNGSTOWN — “We have always called this bridge McGuffey Road Bridge,” said Councilwoman Annie Gillam, D-1st, gesturing toward the 628-foot span across Crab Creek linking the city’s East and North sides.

It will be no trouble remembering now that it has been dedicated to William Holmes McGuffey, the man known as “America’s Schoolmaster,” Gillam said during a dedication ceremony Wednesday at the east end of the bridge.

McGuffey (1800-1873) grew up in Coitsville and got his early schooling on Wick Avenue.

He later became an educator and college official and was the author of the McGuffey Eclectic Readers, which served as the primary elementary school primer in the United States for decades.

The Mahoning County commissioners agreed in July 2007 to name the bridge, which was to be rehabilitated, after McGuffey, acting at the urging of the William Holmes McGuffey Historical Society, which organized the dedication.

McGuffey educated more children than any other educator, with his Eclectic Readers being read more than any books except the Bible and Webster’s Dictionary, said Richard S. Scarsella, society president.

He taught character, conservation, patriotism and citizenship, Scarsella said, adding that naming a bridge after him is “an honor overdue for such a great man.”

Near the east end of the span is a plaque announcing the dedication to McGuffey, “in honor of America’s Schoolmaster.”

McGuffey was “one of the great heroes of our valley,” said Harry Meshel, former state senator and chairman of the dedication ceremony.

Meshel, who grew up on the East Side and attended a four-room McGuffey School before it was torn down in 1940, said Youngstown, and particularly its East Side, has a long history of producing high achievers. He rattled off a list of top athletes and scholars who came out of the area, offering a quick history lesson to the 70 people attending the event.

Mayor Jay Williams, who spent many of his early years on Early Road on the East Side, said the city needs to appreciate and be proud of its history.

A number of McGuffey descendants, both young and old, attended the ceremony. Scarsella said 12 of the society’s 50 members are direct McGuffey descendants.

Gillam said the bridge, which underwent a $4.6 million rehabilitation, isn’t complete yet.

There has been significant landscaping done off the east end of the bridge, but there’s another $121,000 worth of landscaping coming, she said, noting that the Northeast Homeowners & Concerned Citizens Association has been involved in securing funds to beautify the bridge area.

There have also been numerous volunteers already working on that project, she added.

A bridge isn’t the only thing recently named in McGuffey’s honor.

The Youngstown Board of Education earlier this year renamed its West Elementary as the William Holmes McGuffey Elementary School.

gwin@vindy.com