Mahoning Valley Forum

Youngstown & The Mahoning Valley => Youngstown Memories => Topic started by: jay on June 15, 2006, 11:06:55 AM

Title: Monkeys' Nest
Post by: jay on June 15, 2006, 11:06:55 AM
Someone on the radio this morning mentioned the monkeys' nest area of Youngstown.  Did anyone on this board ever live there?
Title: Re: Monkeys' Nest
Post by: Leah on June 15, 2006, 09:23:14 PM
What was the monkey's nest?  This is the first I've heard of it.
Title: Re: Monkeys' Nest
Post by: jay on June 15, 2006, 10:23:12 PM
Monkeys' Nest is the area of Youngstown that is called Riverbend today.  Urban renewal removed most of the homes and streets of this old neighborhood.  It is the geographic bulge of the north side formed by the Mahoning River with West Federal Street to the north.  Decades ago it was the place where many immigrants first settled when they arrived in Youngstown.
A Monkeys' Nest reunion is held every year.

I would love to see photographs of Monkeys' Nest when it was a thriving area.
Title: Re: Monkeys' Nest
Post by: Towntalk on June 16, 2006, 10:13:59 AM
Tradition has it that the name Monkey's Nest came from a saloon in that area that had a live monkey on display.

I too would like to see pictures of the area. I looked through my library and wasn't able to find any, but I suspect that there are some at the Arms Museum library, and hopefully someone will take the time to research this for us.

So many of these long forgotten areas of our city have so many stories to tell.
Title: Re: Monkeys' Nest
Post by: Towntalk on June 16, 2006, 11:14:16 AM
Can anyone provide us with the names of some of the streets in the area that made up "Monkey's Nest"? If we had that information, we could piece together more information about this area using City Directories.
Title: Re: Monkeys' Nest
Post by: AllanY2525 on June 30, 2006, 03:22:45 AM
Here is a map of the Monkey's Nest area of  the North Side in 1928.
I pieced it together from Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from the OPLIN
site (Ohio Public Libraries online):


Title: Re: Monkeys' Nest
Post by: AllanY2525 on June 30, 2006, 03:24:11 AM
Here is a color map of what's left of the Monkey's Nest today:

(Clipped from DeLorme's Street Atlas 8.0)

Title: Re: Monkeys' Nest
Post by: solomia on June 30, 2006, 11:15:31 AM
Also, If I stand correct, that was also called smokey hollow?  When I was a teenager, I volunteered to help the YWCA daycamp out , and we would walk to a park down there so the kids could play.
Title: Re: Monkeys' Nest
Post by: Towntalk on June 30, 2006, 11:54:48 AM
No. Smokey Hollow is the area east of Wick Avenue. Monkey's Nest is in the Riverbend Area south of Rayen Avenue.
Title: Re: Monkeys' Nest
Post by: crescent on April 28, 2016, 01:31:10 AM
Greetings to all!  I am new to the fray and as I can see the Monkey Nest, gets no love. Yes! I lived there and was there to the very end before the freeway came through. People on the outside of it talk about it as if its a legend or something rather than a place but maybe it is a legend.   
Title: Re: Monkeys' Nest
Post by: jay on April 28, 2016, 07:08:13 AM
I'm not sure if the Monkey's Nest reunion still takes place.
Title: Re: Monkeys' Nest
Post by: crescent on April 28, 2016, 10:05:39 PM
There has been "Monkey Nest",reunions in the past but I have not been aware any in resent years. I would love to go
to one and reflect on days gone by.