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Plaque honors Brier Hill families
By jeanne starmack
youngstown
Say the words Brier Hill today, and you might think of that signature pizza — tomato sauce, grated Parmesan cheese and green peppers.
Italian immigrants from Colbraro, Italy, in the arch of the boot, brought that pizza to Youngstown when they settled in the Brier Hill neighborhood at the turn of the 20th century, said Tony Trolio.
“Everybody’s pizza all tasted the same,” he said, and they complemented it with homemade wine.
“You knew every neighbor; every house, I could tell you who lived there,” said Trolio, whose parents raised him in Brier Hill.
It was a neighborhood that kept its eye on its children, who learned respect.
“You broke a window, and before you got home, your mother knew about it,” Trolio said.
Doors were never locked, and food was always on the table, said Carol Rimedio-Righetti, a Mahoning County commissioner whose grandparents settled in Brier Hill on Funston Street.
“I used to walk up here to school. It was a good neighborhood,” said Righetti, who grew up on Pershing Street.
St. Joseph the Provider School on Turin Avenue was her school, and St. Anthony Church next door was and still is her church. Saturday, she and other parishioners gathered there for a Mass and an unveiling of a special tribute.
A plaque with the names of 125 Brier Hill families commemorates “a special place with special people.”
Each family paid $100 to be listed on the plaque.
Trolio, who spearheaded the fundraiser, said it raised $12,500 — enough to pay for the plaque and have $10,000 left over for a donation to the church.
“There were a few things I wanted to accomplish,” Trolio explained as he addressed parishioners after the Mass.
He wanted to tell everyone about Brier Hill, he said, so he wrote two books. Those books are “Brier Hill U.S.A.,” which he wrote in 2000, and “Brier Hill U.S.A., The Sequel,” which he wrote in 2004. Each has sold more than 6,000 copies.
Trolio also wanted people to know where Brier Hill is, he said. So he headed an effort to get four signs erected at the gateways to the neighborhood that say, “Welcome to Brier Hill, Home of the First Italian Immigrants in Youngstown.”
He said the plaque is the result of his wish to honor the parents of Brier Hill families.
“And along the way, we raised money for the church,” he said.
The Rev. Michael Cariglio told the congregation the church will use the money to update its kitchen to safety codes.
“This is wonderful,” he said later as he unveiled the plaque on a brick pillar outside the church entrance.
Righetti told the congregation that even though there are a lot of people who no longer live in the neighborhood, “you can’t take the Brier Hill out of us.”