Williamson students hear history of Youngstown

By Billy Ludt

bludt@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Williamson Elementary students learned that the land where Youngstown now sits wasn’t much more than a forest a little more than 200 years ago.

Tina Smith’s history class Tuesday heard a presentation on pioneer life in the Western Reserve from the Mahoning Valley Historical Society.

“It’s just giving an overall picture of how Youngstown was settled,” said Traci Manning, curator of education for the MVHS.

Youngstown was founded by John Young in 1797, who purchased a parcel of more than 15,000 acres from the Connecticut Land Co. The 10-family settlement along the Mahoning River was originally named John Young’s Town.

“And then it was shortened to Youngstown, because we’re lazy,” Manning said.

Manning’s presentation detailed school life for children in colonial America, whose grade levels usually stopped at the eighth grade. Anything beyond that was considered a college education.

After the presentation, these Williamson eighth-graders were able to try on clothes, play with toys and handle tools and appliances from colonial America. They tried to land the ball on a string in its cup, and asked about how Jacob’s ladder worked. The toys, recreations from centuries-old originals, paled in age to the tools used day-to-day in Colonial America.

“These are items older than anyone in this room – older than anyone alive, for that matter,” Manning said.

A heavy clothes iron, readied with heat from a fire; candles in holders with drip pans; and a surveyor’s chain, a measuring tool from the time, were among the archaic items shown during the presentation.

“We know schools really struggle to go on field trips nowadays,” Manning said.

The historical society’s in-school program is free to teachers, and covers historical topics such as local industry, pioneer life and the Civil War. Manning said she spends nearly every day of the school year teaching in schools from the Tri-County area, reaching about 6,000 students a year.

The MVHS has existed for 142 years.

Manning, who has been with MVHS for more than five years, said that Youngstown is ripe with history that students should learn about.

“I think it’s important to know where my community came from and to know the history of this region,” she said.