43
Partnership invites you to celebrate Youngstown’s Birthday
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown will turn 221 years old Tuesday.
It’s on that day in 1796 when John Young came to the area for the first time.
“He was an opportunist looking to make some real money,” said Bill Lawson, executive director of the Mahoning Valley Historical Society.
Lawson plans to dive into what Young had in store for his town, and Phil Kidd, associate director of Youngstown CityScape, will give current and future downtown plans at the Downtown Youngstown Partnership’s “Happy Birthday, Youngstown” meeting Tuesday.
The free event, which includes birthday cake and the “Happy Birthday” song, will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Tyler History Center, 325 W. Federal St. At 6 p.m., the historical society and CityScape will lead a walking tour that will tell the past, present and future of downtown Youngstown.
The Downtown Youngs-town Partnership is a networking group formed by Kidd and others as a way for downtown stakeholders to get to know one another and know what’s going on in the city center.
The idea to celebrate Youngstown’s birthday came out of the Rotary Club of Youngstown. New members were encouraged to develop a unique project, and Kidd and others settled on an event to celebrate Youngstown’s birthday.
“This year, we thought this would be a good event to champion along with CityScape and the historical society,” Kidd said.
The difference this year is they will unveil one of the stations of a self-guided walk tour that should be up by summer’s end.
“We will have graphic artwork for the Central Square plaque,” Kidd said. “It’s a celebration of Youngstown’s heritage. It’s a fun event.”
Youngstown’s heritage begins with a farmer from New Hampshire who purchased the Youngstown land from the Connecticut Land Co. in 1797. Young bought the entire 25 square miles of township for $16,000.
In his plan for the town dating back to 1798, Young wanted a public square.
Eventually, the Market and Federal street intersection would be just that with wood-framed houses, churches and an opera house.
“Central Square was just a livestock pasture,” Lawson said. “It was set up as a public square. People would let their animals roam around. These are stories we like that we try to use to pique people’s interest.”
The square, which often was referred to as the “diamond,” was the transportation hub of the city, especially with the opening of the Market Street bridge in 1899.
In the 20th century, the wood-frame residences downtown were replaced with steel-frame skyscrapers and retail shops. Into the 1960s, the retail scene downtown was bustling until the popularity of shopping malls took over.
Along the tour, major buildings that have survived decades of changes to the downtown area will be discussed. These include the Mahoning County Courthouse from 1910, the Realty Tower from 1924, the Stambaugh Building from 1907 and the Wick Building from 1910.
The courthouse has undergone restoration, and the Realty Tower now has apartment units and a barbershop. Stambaugh is undergoing a transformation to a DoubleTree Hotel by the NYO Property Group, and the Wick Building is another NYO project that brought more apartments to downtown.
“This is where a lot of our history started,” Lawson said. “We need new things to draw people back down here.”