Section of I-680 honors McGuffey

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The William Holmes McGuffey Historical Society will mark the naming of a section of Interstate 680 in Mahoning County after the famed educator with a ceremony July 20 in Mill Creek Park.

The state Legislature passed legislation earlier this year naming portions of the highway after McGuffey, Richard “Doc” Powell, who died a hero in the Vietnam War, and Korean War veterans.

Richard Scarsella, president of the McGuffey Historical Society, said the group will have a ceremony at 1:30 p.m. in the lower level of the Davis Center in Mill Creek Park to commemorate the Legislature’s action in naming the William Holmes McGuffey Memorial Highway. The society will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year.

McGuffey, who grew up in Coitsville, went on to become a noted educator and created the famed “McGuffey Eclectic Readers,” which became a reading primer used across the country for decades.

The section of I-680 named in his honor stretches from state Route 711 south to state Route 7.