Tyler History Center debuts long-awaited exhibit Saturday

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning Valley has always held tightly to the stories of its past.

Now that history – including the people and events that shaped the area – has a permanent home.

An exhibition titled “The People of the Mahoning Valley: Stories of Identity and Innovation” opens Saturday at the Mahoning Valley Historical Society’s Tyler History Center, 325 W. Federal St., downtown.

The $500,000 exhibition occupies most of the first floor of the building. Visitors can check it out Saturday for free at a one-day open house from noon to 4 p.m.

Bill Lawson, executive director of the MVHS, expects the exhibition will take its place among the city’s top cultural assets.

“There is a buzz out there about it,” said Lawson. “We want everyone to experience it and keep coming back.”

The MVHS has been planning and developing the exhibition for five years.

It offers a chronological tour of the city and its environs, and visitors should block out about an hour to absorb it all.

It starts with land developer John Young, who purchased a township of the Western Reserve in the late 1700s and established a town. Panels touch on the early industrialists who came next, the rise of the steel industry, and moves into the city’s blossoming into a metropolitan area with cultural, sporting and commercial icons.

Guests will recognize the names of the city’s early movers and shakers, many of whom have major streets named after them. Plenty of other names also show up.

Read more abouit it in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com