Michael J. LaCivita: The ups and downs of life in ’40s, ’50s fondly remembered

Recently I visited downtown Youngstown, a not too common occurrence for me. I went to the WFMJ-TV station building on West Boardman Street.

It brought back teenage memories of about 1939 when it was built. Several of my East High School sophomore classmates and I liked to visit there. It had one of the first automatic operated elevators, so we could ride it up and down at will. It was a no-cost fun experience, that we could afford in those Depression-era penniless days.

ORNATE BANK ELEVATOR

I also checked out the beautiful old Union National Bank Building [the Chase Bank Building today] with it’s ornate brass doors. I still have my first bank book from there dated 1940, opened with earnings from my Vindicator newspaper Route No. 302. I rode the still beautiful elevators, which are now automated.

One of my neighbors had the envious Union National Bank elevator operator job in 1940. As I recall, he was dressed in a neat uniform.

I imagine many a story could have been written about the many important people that rode those elevators up and down daily.

FACTORY FREIGHT ELEVATOR

Another unique elevator in my life was a freight elevator, when I worked at the Republic Rubber Division for 20 years as a quality-control manager and production superintendent at Commercial Shearing Inc. [Republic Rubber Division of Aeroquip Corp.]

I would ride this elevator up and down many times to check departments that were located on each of the five production floors.

I rarely ride an elevator today as shopping has moved from downtown to the malls, where the moving stairway called the escalator has taken over.

Michael J. LaCivita of Youngstown is a columnist and member of the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame and the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame.