MV Historical Society to recognize Good Humor man, gun smuggler downtown

Staff report

Youngstown

The Mahoning Valley Historical Society will dedicate a new historical marker on West Federal Street at 5 p.m. Tuesday to recognize two historically significant downtown businesses at the site of the new Tyler Mahoning Valley History Center.

The ceremony is scheduled in front of the center as part of the society’s annual meeting.

From 1921 to 1935, the building at 325 W. Federal St. was occupied by Harry Burt, a confectioner who invented the Good Humor Ice Cream Bar.

James Ross bought the space in 1935. Ross was an electronics wholesaler who for a time was part of a network of gun smugglers supplying arms to Jewish settlers and refugees in the Palestinian territories.

The historical society purchased the building in 2008.

For information, contact the society at 330-743-2589 or mahoninghistory.org