Thursday, May 21, 2015
YOUNGSTOWN
The Smoky Hollow War Memorial, the Market Block Building in Warren, and the Mahoning Dispatch Building in Canfield are the winners of the 2015 Historic Preservation Awards.
The awards honor people and projects in Mahoning and Trumbull counties who take an active role in preserving historic buildings, sites, and districts.
The winners are decided by the Historic Preservation Committee of the Mahoning Valley Historical Society Board of Directors. They will be honored at the MVHS’s annual meeting on June 16 at the Tyler Mahoning Valley History Center, 325 W. Federal St., downtown.
The Smoky Hollow War Memorial won a Community Revitalization Award. The memorial in the Smoky Hollow neighborhood on the North Side lists residents who were killed in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. It was found that the plaque on the memorial had one soldier’s name wrong and was missing another WW2 soldier completely. Through extensive genealogical research, Gerald Nunziato and Felix Lazazzera compiled information on all the soldiers, and a new plaque was made for the memorial.
The Market Block Building on Courthouse Square in Warren also won a Commercial Revitalization Award. The building, built in 1868, evolved through a variety of uses and was sitting vacant in the late 2000s. In 2011, the Chesler Group of Cleveland purchased the building to renovate it for the Raymond John Wean Foundation. The designers and architects restored original skylights, exposed the original masonry walls, and repurposed 1940’s-era doors and original 1868 pocket doors.
The Mahoning Dispatch Building and Canfield Historical Society won the Award of Achievement.
For 91 years, The Mahoning Dispatch served Canfield and the surrounding communities, earning the distinction of being the oldest continuously published newspaper owned by a single family in Mahoning County. In 1893, the business moved to 23 S. Broad St. The building was left to the Canfield Historical Society, which maintains it and all the printing equipment. In 2014 the Canfield Historical Society rewired the electrical system in the building for safety and preservation, and replaced the fluorescent tube lighting with period-appropriate pendant fixtures and 1910-era Edison incandescent light bulbs.
Other award winners include:
Jeanne D. Tyler, for her commitment to the historic preservation in the region, especially through her support of restoration projects for Stambaugh Auditorium, and the Tyler Mahoning Valley History Center and Arms Family Museum.
William Conti, for his dedication and leadership with preservation and restoration projects at Stambaugh Auditorium, including: the auditorium ceiling restoration, the E. M. Skinner organ, and renovations of the courtyard patio and the historic ballroom.