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Society celebrates 140 years of Mahoning Valley history at downtown center
By Bob Jackson
YOUNGSTOWN
The Mahoning Valley Historical Society looks good for its age.
Established in September 1875, the historical society marked its 140th birthday Saturday afternoon at its Tyler Mahoning Valley History Center on West Federal Street.
A celebration was appropriate for the organization, whose mission statement is to “celebrate the history of the people of the Mahoning Valley,” said Jessica Trickett, collections manager.
The Tyler Center, which opened last November, was alive with area history and artifacts on all three of its floors Saturday. There were displays centered around, among other things, the Civil War, local media, artwork and photography and, of course, the steel industry.
Two of the more popular items on display were a huge, copper cheese kettle that was made in the 18th century and used at Isaly’s and a car from the Wildcat roller coaster that once roared around Idora Park on the city’s South Side.
For Jim and Valerie Esker, the Wildcat car brought back warm memories of summer days spent at the amusement park while growing up in Youngstown.
“We might have ridden in that very car,” said Jim, 78, smiling and squeezing his wife’s hand.
The couple now live in Florida, but both were born and raised in Youngstown. He lived on the West Side, she on the East Side, and they met at the former South High School in 1952, because they were both lousy at math.
“We both flunked math when we were in the ninth grade, so we had to go to summer school to make it up,” Jim said. “That’s where we met, and we’ve been together ever since.”
Valerie, 77, said they attended Saturday’s event because she wanted to see whether the historical society had any information about her father, who she said was an Aut Mori Grotto clown called “Soupy.”
“He was very well-known,” she said. “He was an Emmett Kelly kind of clown. He was just kind of a lovable tramp.”
William Lawson, MVHS executive director, said interest in local history has grown along with the economic development taking place in downtown Youngstown.
“The up-and-coming generations, and those [people] who left the area and are coming back, are really fascinated with what went on here,” Lawson said. “They work downtown. They come downtown to have dinner or a drink. Some of them live downtown. They want to figure out what’s going on here and how we got to where we are.”
He said most people regard the 1950s as the heydey of downtown Youngstown, but it was actually about 30 years earlier.
“You should have seen the downtown in the 1920s,” he said. “In terms of economic might and opportunity for employment, it was an incredible place.”
The opening of the Tyler Center gave the historical society a central, modernized facility to maintain its artifacts and archives. Before the Tyler, some artifacts were stored at the Arms Museum on Wick Avenue, while the rest had to be stored in other off-site facilities.
“The entire collection is back in one place now, and we still have room to grow if we need to,” Lawson said.
One of the features of Saturday’s event was the opportunity for visitors to actually walk through the museum’s 2,800-square-foot vault, which has state-of-the-art temperature control and fire suppression systems to keep the archives safe and properly preserved.
“Now, these things will be around a lot longer than if they were stored in an attic – put it that way,” Lawson joked.
Appeals Court Judge Mary DeGenaro, first vice president of the MVHS board of directors, said the Tyler Center gives the historical society a proper and professional facility for storing and displaying its diverse resources.
“It’s a top-tier institution now,” she said.