My Earliest Youngstown Memories

[Jennifer Centric]

My husband and I lived for a short time during the 70's on Tacoma Ave. a few houses up the hill from "Blind Bill the Accordion Man". Was he your grandfather? A really nice man. I remember chatting with him several times while I was walking with my daughter, who was a toddler at the time. We taught my little girl about how to approach his seeing eye dog.

I thought then that downtown looked dead,though in your memory it was bustling at the time. But my memories go back to the fifties, where downtown was the only place to shop or see a movie because none of the malls or shopping plazas had yet been built. McKelvey's and Strouss' were the main department stores and there were lots of smaller specialty shops as well, and several "five and tens"--Woolworth's, Murphy's, McCrory's, and it seems to me there was another but I don't recall the name. As for movies, they were magnificent places then: The Palace, The State, the Paramount, and The Warner. I used to pretend I really was a princess in my own Palace with graceful marble staircase and all the velvet draperies.  And each showed only one movie at a time (sometimes a double feature, but the idea of the multiplex hadn't come yet). Seeing a movie was a major occasion then.
I suppose it was the automobile, the freeway, and the outlying malls that combined to kill downtown. It was different when Downtown was the central location, bus service was cheap and plentiful, but parking was scarce. Now the freeways pull everyone away from Downtown out to the suburbs where there's plenty of free parking.
It always tickles me when some go-getter trying to breathe life back into Downtown makes a big deal of asking "Why won't people come?" when it's obvious--noplace to park free!

[andrea]

for the rest of my life i will always remember Youngstown as it was before the steel mills closed.  i came back in June to attend my nephew's wedding... after 29 years.  I was horrified.  Going downtown, we started walking the sidewalk on Federal Street, and i asked my boyfriend what was missing.... PEOPLE.  I remember going downtown in the 60 and 70's and being JOSTLED by all the people coming to work and shop and play. I could still remember what businesses were where, but was flabbergasted by what i saw.  It took me 4 times going over the Mahoning ave bridge to realize that the Wean United building where my uncle worked was flatened. I drove to the North Side, on Wick...my god!!!! Wick and Thornton... it boggles the mind!!!  Then to go down Tacoma Ave, where i grew up with my grandparents (some may remember Blind Bill the Accordian Man)... i started crying.... then going over the Hubbard Rd Bridge, and looking at where the steel mill used to be, i had an asshole honking at me and giving me the bird because i stopped at the side of the road....

I cant believe what we as humans can do to others, and destroy lives like was done... i took photos, but i cannot replace my memories with what i saw....In fact, i started writing down everything i can remember,which is a lot, considering that i was a kid at the time....

andrea

[Stacey_W._P.]

Wow... this really brings back fond memories of Youngstown.  I grew up on the Southside, just off of Glenwood.  My parents bought the house where I grew up, and where they would live for 35 years, in 1971.

As a child, I can remember spending lazy summer days at the Fosterville Playground and at the library.  We'd go to Mr. Paul's Bakery and Parker's Frozen Custard on Glenwood for melt-in-your-mouth treats -- the best ever! Parker's Frozen Custard, just across the street from the Sparkle Market, had the best ice cream ever!!   We would go exploring down in Mill Creek Park and to the nature museum and the windmill in Millcreek.  We loved going to Slippery Rock and We'd ride our bikes down "Ski Hill."  Boy, was THAT fun!  

I went to Cleveland Elementary and Princeton Jr. High, before graduating from Chaney H.S.  Back then, the neighborhood was a REAL self-contained and family friendly place to live.  All within walking distance were:  a playground, library, postoffice, drycleaner, bakery, service stations, frozen custard, doctor's office, a drugstore and theatre to see plays -- even an amusement park!  Who can forget Idora Park???  We spent many, many memorable occasions there!  I especially enjoyed Sheet & Tube Day @ Idora when, my father got free tickets and the park was jam-packed!  I can still smell those french fries and the malt vinegar and cotton candy!

We had a lovely home, and it was built with great attention to detail, a beautiful fireplace and hardwood floors, a lovely breakfast nook where I spent hours reading and look out the window.   It had a basement and an attic.  Compared to that house, my much newer home here in Atlanta is just pure junk!  They don't even build houses like they did back then.  There was even a secret room in the basement!

Yes, life in Youngstown was sooo nice back then.  My family (including my parents) now all live in the Atlanta, GA area and in Columbus, OH, but we all still share fond memories of living in Youngstown.  I hope that Youngstown can be restored to it's former glory but, sadly, it seems very doubtful.  It would take A LOT of work and a developer with a true vision and appreciation of Youngstown's history.  

I have a grandfather who still lives in Youngstown, behind the old South High School, but I rarely go visit Youngstown anymore.  It's too sad.  I prefer to remember Youngstown like it was and not like it is now.  Before the steel mills closed down and crack moved in, Youngstown really was an awesome place to live.  I'll miss it forever.

Thanks for letting me reminence.

Stacey

Chaney '83

[kitten44505]

I have a xerox copy of the original newspaper article that told the story of Council Rock that appeared in the Vindicator in 1896, and it was quite a story.

My dear friend Clingen Jackson told me that his Uncle S. D. L. Jackson knew the people who got the story gotten and sent it to the paper under the name of William G. Connor.

If you would like to read the article, the Main Branch of the Library in it's Microfilm Department can licate it for you - It appeared in the March 12, 1896 Youngstown Vindicator.

It's interesting to note though that back some time ago, the American Indians held an event in Lincoln Park at Council Rock and gave credability to the story, so somewhere within the legend, there may very well be some truth.

[Jennie]

I'm Jon's big sister, and I well remember the "Big Snow" of 1950. I was in kindergarten at Roosevelt School at the time and missed a couple weeks of school because of the snow. Most of the stores in the neighborhood couldn't get deliveries, so the neighbor boys would make extra money by hiking up to the McCallister's Dairy up at the corner of Jackson and Shehy, which was about the only place that had milk.

Does anybody remember our grandmother's little store at the corner of Jackson Street and Kennedy, across from Roosevelt School? It had no sign out front, but most people called it "Mrs. Brightman's Store". Mrs. Brightman was actually our great grandmother, who had opened the store during the '20's, but she'd retired by the 50's and our grandmother had it. The store was about the size of a postage stamp but you could get most anything you really needed there except fresh meat and produce.

I had the great privelege of presiding over the big curved-glass candy counter, and Grandma taught me to make change and let me chisel penny candy from her all day. No wonder I've been overweight all my life!

Someone mentioned Lincoln Park and Council Rock. There was a story going around about Council Rock. If you'll recall, it has a big crack in it. The story went that four Indian chiefs were holding a meeting for their tribes to decide whether to side with the French or English during the French and Indian War. Apparently just as they'd voted to join the French, lightning struck the rock, killing the four chiefs, and the tribes figured the Powers That Be wanted them to side with the English--the rest is history. I have no idea whether it's true, but it's a good story anyway. Has anyone heard any more about that story?

Jennie

[Jon_Moody]

The store at Shehy & Byron was Rupp's Dairy.  It was called a diary but it was a regular general store.  My mom bought me my first pair of cargo pance there.

[kitten44505]

I remember Brown's and a frozen custart stand, but nit a hardware store.

There was a building at Park Hights and Himrod but it was empty when we move it the East Side.

At Shehy and Byron there was also another stire building that at one time held what looked to be three different small shops, but it was also empty.

[kitten44505]

I remember Brown's and a frozen custart stand, but nit a hardware store.

There was a building at Park Hights and Himrod but it was empty when we move it the East Side.

At Shehy and Byron there was also another stire building that at one time held what looked to be three different small shops, but it was also empty.

[Jon Moody]

Do you remember the frozen custard stand at the corner of Shehy & Park Heights?  How about Brown's Drug Store on Oak Steet (right across from where Landsdowne enters)?  Brown's was the first place that had more flavors of Lifesavers besides peppermint.  Also Holt's Hardware Store was right in that same area.

[kitten44505]

The Clover Leaf Dairy had the best Ice Cream. I remember the day the man that owned it died. He was at the store, and didn't come home for supper so his wife went down to see what he was doing. It as so sad, because they were a great old couple I enjoyed talking to.

[Jon Moody]

Kitty:  My family went to Emanuel Baptist Church on Himrod and Garland.  After Sunday School (if we were good) my mom would treat us to skyscrapers at the Isaly's on Himrod & Truesdale, if my memory serves me.  

I've been in Sacred Heart Church many times with my friend Danny when he went for confession.  Of course I did the classic Protestant pratfall tripping over the kneeling rack. <g>  Also I recall some great festivals at SHC in the summer.

I recall Celso's Market.  It was right across the street from the Braden Branch Library which, I gather, is still there.  Further east on Himrod was something called the Clover Leaf Dairy.  Is that the ice cream parlor you are referring to?  I used to get my haircuts at Tony's Barber Shop on Oak at Medina, about a block away.

The Indian Village in Lincoln Park is, I assume, the area near Council Rock and Pony Hill right along Lincoln Park Drive.  I played there many a day and smashed my sled a few times while coasting on Pony Hill.

[kitten44505]

Jon:

Your story brought back some very fond memories.

My mother was Church organist at Sacred Heart Church, and we use to deal at Celso's Market on Himrod and Jackson.

We first lived on the corner of Himrod across the street from the Ice Cream Parlor, and then on Ayers before it started to go down hill.

Like you, I enjoyed exploring Lincoln Park, especially after I found out that before there was a Youngstown, there was an Indian village in the park.

Saddly the area has gone down hill very baddly.

[ForumManager]

Thank you for the lovely story!

[Jon Moody]

     My tiny nose was pressed against the cold glass as I gazed down from my bedroom window into the humungous heap of snow which covered even the roofs of some cars.  There was no traffic moving at all in the whole city, so my older sister and her fiends were playing right in the middle of Kennedy Street with impunity!  The year was 1950 and this was the Big Blizzard.  My dad's National Guard unit (he was a WWII veteran) had been called out on emergency duty. I wasn't allowed to go outside as I had the flu.  Also I was 3 years old but not that many feet high.  The larger drifts would have been over my head.  

     My family (mom & dad + my sister) lived in a small apartment complex near Lincoln Park on Youngstown's east side.  Our building had 8 side-by-side units and was flanked by another bldg with 5 units.  There were two alleys which formed a T behind the two buildings.  That's it...thirteen families living in a space the size of a modern day Stop-n-Shop!  On washdays in the summertime my mom hung out the laundry out on clotheslines that crisscrossed the alleyways.  The other moms did the same.  Nobody had such a thing as an electric clothes dryer. Navigating the alley on a tricycle involved weaving in and out between other people's bedsheets, trousers, sundresses, slips and undies.  You always knew what your neighbors were having for dinner cause you could smell it.  Marital spats were public performances heard from one end of the block to the other.

    Across Kennedy Street was an open field where some of the apartment dwellers grew flowers and vegetables.  On summer nights this field was absolutely ashimmer with hundreds of twinkling lightning bugs.  My friends and I would trap them in empty peanut butter jars to make "lanterns".   Kennedy Street ended at Jackson Street when my grandma owned a little store.  It was here thatt he words popsicle, jawbreaker, Fritos, etc. were added to my vocabulary.  (Imagine being 5 and your grandmother runs the neighborhood candy store!)  Across Jackson was Roosevelt School where I started in Kindergarten in 1952.  

    My family finally moved to Boardman when I was nine.  But the last three summers we lived on Kennedy Street (1954, 55, 56), I was allowed to go to Lincoln Park as long as I stuck around the playground, the shelter house, or the swimming pool.  Of course I didn't.  My nature was to wander and discover.  I explored Billy Goat Bridge, Devil's Cave and "The Woods" — that undeveloped area on the north hill of the Park which, to a child of 7, seemed like a magical forest from a fairly tail.  One time I ventured down the south end of the park and I saw what looked like a huge, black medieval castle.  I turned and ran. Turns out it was Gladstone Street Bridge!

     This was my world from age zero through nine.  A plot of earth no larger than a quarter of a mile in any direction.  Self-contained.  Everything you needed, (school, church, library, pharmacy, drycleaner, barber, grocery store, friends, relatives and magic forest) was a fifteen minute walk.  Amazing how life has changed in 50 years!

-Jon Moody