(RETURN TO THE MAHONING AND TRUMBULL COUNTIES INDEX) 500 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY Sicaf use and Jacob G. Funkhouser, patrolmen ; D. C. Moore, special policeman. The municipality has a splendid new public building for municipal offices and the city is in unusually good financial shape. A program of public improvements held up during the war is now being carried out. Municipally-owned public utilities are dispensed with as the water supply of the city is furnished by the Mahoning Valley Water Company from its Poland Township lakes while lighting is supplied by the Pennsylvania-Ohio Electric' Company. Struthers has good means of transportation in its three steam railroads and two lines of the Pennsylvania-Ohio Company, reaching the north and south parts of the city. CHURCHES The United Presbyterian Church is one of the oldest of Struthers religious organizations, by lineage at least. It dates back to 1804 when a Presbyterian Seceders' Society was organized by Rev. James Duncan, pastor of the Associate, or Seceder, congregations of Little Beaver and Brush Run. Members of the Cowden, Lowry and McConnell families were among the organizers. Reverend Duncan was a rather remarkable character in the early days of Trumbull County, given to freedom of opinion that finally resulted in his suspension from the ministry. During his time, however, a log church was built at Poland Center by the Associate congregation. In 1820 Rev. Robert Douglass was installed as pastor of Poland and Liberty congregations, remaining until his death in 1823. He was succeeded in 1826 by Rev. David Goodwillie wh0 was pastor of the Poland and Liberty congregations until 1859 when he resigned the Poland charge to give his entire time to the Liberty Church. During his pastorate, in 1826, the old log church was replaced by a brick church and this gave way to another edifice in 1849, In 1884 the church building at Poland Center was dismantled and removed to Struthers. The old Associate Church had become identified with the United Presbyterian denomination on its organization in 1858 and United Presbyterian activities in Poland Township are now centered in Struthers. The present pastor of the Struthers Church is Rev. William E. Minteer. Struthers is prolific in churches, having no less than twelve, St. Nicholas' Roman Catholic was formed in 1865 with the founding of the village and from 1865 to 1870 was attended by Rev. J. J. Begel from Villa Marie. In 1871 a church edifice was erected under the supervision of Rev. H. D. Best of Youngstown. The church was attended from Villa Marie and Youngstown for many years and finally made a mission attached to the Sacred Heart Church at Youngstown, becoming a parish with the growth of Struthers in the early years of the twentieth century, with Rev. P. F. O'Byrne in charge. Rev. Nicholas Monaghan is the present pastor of the parish. Protestant Episcopal services had been held irregularly at Struthers for some years but these had been discontinued when Rev. W. H. Pond became rector of St. James' Church, Boardman, on December 1, 1915, YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 501 and began regular services. Under his direction St. Paul's mission at Struthers was formed, a building lot purchased in 1917, a church foundation built thereon and a building that was moved on to the lot was remodeled and furnished for church use. St. James' mission is still attended by Reverend Pond. The Lyon Plat Congregational Church was organized in 1917, although services were held there as early as 1911, continuing until a congregation was regularly formed. The congregation is worshiping now in rented quarters but has purchased a church site and has plans under way for a church building. There is no resident pastor at present. Methodist Episcopal activities in Poland Township began in 1832, and in 1834 the first church was built at Poland Village. The Struthers Methodist Episcopal congregation was organized in 1886 and the first church building was erected in 1889. Reverend Moore was the first pastor of this organization. A modern church structure replaced the old one in 1911 and the Struthers Methodist Episcopal Church is now a large body, with a membership of 400. Rev. H. F. Patterson is the present pastor. Presbyterian activities in Poland Township antedate those of any other creed, going back to 1802 when a Presbyterian society was organized at Poland Village by Rev. William Wick of Youngstown. The Struthers Church is an outgrowth of the industrial development of the village. Rev. S. S. Snyder is the present pastor. Baptist activities at Struthers began in February, 1918, when a half dozen families met in the upper room of the village fire station and organized a Baptist Sunday School with Bryce S. Martin as superintendent. The Sunday school now has a membership of fifty. In May, 1919, Rev. George M. Hulme, an evangelist, held a series of services lasting three weeks that resulted in the organization of the Judson Memorial Baptist Church on June 29, 1919. The original membership of twenty-five families has since been increased, to fifty. Preaching services were held regularly after organization, and on November 16, 1919, Rev. J. Frederick Mauer, LI,. B., of Brooklyn, New York, was installed as pastor. The congregation has since purchased a building site in the best residence part of the city where a modern church building will soon be erected. The remaining Struthers churches include the Reformed Church ; Evangelical Lutheran Church, attended from New Castle ; Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church, Slovak, Rev. Joseph Calibera, pastor ; Greek Catholic Church, attended by Rev. Valentine Balogh of Youngstown ; and the Shiloh Baptist Church, colored, Rev. Percy L. Herod, pastor. The last named is a thriving congregation of 400 members, CHAPTER XXV GIRARD STORY OF THE LIBERTY TOWNSHIP METROPOLIS AND CONNECTING LINK BETWEEN YOUNGSTOWN AND UPPER MAHONING VALLEY MUNICIPALITIES-EARLY DAY HAMLET THAT HAS SEEN GROWTH OF THE CANAL, RAILROADS AND INDUSTRIAL WORKS-RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL HISTORY-GIRARD TODAY, IN A BUSINESS WAY AND OTHERWISE, Girard lies on the extreme westerly edge of Liberty Township, Trumbull County, and while the Mahoning River runs through the municipality the town is almost entirely on the east side of that stream. Its limits on the west side are fixed by the Weathersfield Township line. Liberty Township was first settled in 1798 and the land was taken up rapidly within the next two or three years, so that settlement of the district that is now the municipality of Girard may be said to date back to the close of the nineteenth century. The grandfather of Ambrose Eckman, Girard's first mayor, came from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, by canoe about this time and camped at a spring opposite the present Hauser homestead in State Street. This pioneer later removed to Weathersfield Township, but was probably the first settler on the present site of Girard. It is certain, too, that a very early day, as history goes, there was a grist mill, the nucleus of almost every old city and village of the Western Reserve, located at this point. Whence came the name "Girard," no one seems to know. It is accepted by many that the municipality was named in honor of Stephen Girard, the great American philanthropist, who died in 1831, but there seems to be no ground for this except pure supposition. Stephen Girard had no interests in this part of the country, although he had admirers here, as elsewhere. For the first thirty or more years of its existence, however, Girard was a mere settlement. Its first notable growth came with the movement for the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal. While actual construction work on this waterway was not begun until 1838 the ultimate fulfillment of the project became a certainty several years before, and in 1837 a town plat was laid out at Girard by David Tod of Youngstown, and Warren men. This date marks the birth of Girard as an actual municipality, the village laid out on this occasion being much smaller, of course, than the Girard of even a few years later. Girard experienced a healthy growth from this time. The canal became a reality in 1839-40, the railroad came a few years later, and the '60s saw the era of coal mining in Liberty Township. For some time, Girard was the southern terminus of the railr0ad that is now the Erie - 502 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 503 road, and men and women still living can remember when Youngstown people bound for Cleveland or other points northwest of the Mahoning Valley had to go by canal packet, or drive or walk to Girard to take the train, Business interests came rapidly to Girard with the construction of transportation facilities and it had become a manufacturing and business center by the middle of the century. In 1840 a large flouring mill was built on the west side of the river by Jesse Baldwin and Abner Osborn, this being a notable industry because it is operating today after a continuous existence of eighty years, undisturbed by the changing character of industries in the Mahoning Valley and by the changes in Girard itself. It is still operated by water power, although the modern water turbine has been substituted for the old overshot, or undershot, wheel. The mill property and the mill dam with the accompanying water rights were taken over some years ago by the Carnegie Steel Company, but the mill is operated by W. J. Zeller. By 1860 the village had attained a population in excess of 1,000. About this time the coal mining interests began to spread throughout all Liberty Township, and even with the accompanying growth in other villages of the township Girard more than doubled in population in the next decade. Liberty Township had an especially large deposit of the famed block coal found in northern Mahoning County and a great part of Trumbull County, and Girard profited by this not only through mining operations but through the acquisition of industries. In 1860 the village tannery came into the possession of Krehl, Hauser and C0mpany, who enlarged the plant from time to time until it became a large industry. The blast furnace of the Girard Iron Company was built in 1866 by David Tod, J. G. Butler, Jr., William Richards, and William Ward, in time coming into the possession of A. M. Byers and others of Pittsburg. The Girard Stove Works was built in 1867 and operated for many years, although it was later removed to Youngstown and eventually went out of existence. The Girard Iron Works plant, a rolling mill with puddle mill, muck mill and finishing mills, was established in 1872-73 and operated for more than thirty years. With the era of iron and steel combinations in 1898-1900 it lost its existence as an independent concern and eventually became identified with the Carnegie Steel Company, being abandoned by that company about 1905. The growth that Girard experienced between 1860 and 1870 was thus duplicated in the next ten years, and continued in fact until well along in the '80s. With the gradual exhaustion of the coal beds, however, it experienced a business slump, or rather a period when it made little or no advance. In this respect it was more fortunate, however, than most of the villages of this vicinity that had sprung into activity with the opening of the shafts, for many of these went virtually out of existence, some in fact wholly so. Girard's location on the Mahoning River and its industries prevented it suffering this fate. Many families that had much to do with the early history of Girard and with its activities during the later decades of the nineteenth century, including the Krehl, Hauser, Falkenstein, Rush, Johnson, Carlton and Eckman families, remained and are 504 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY, still numbered among its active and public spirited residents. One of these, Edward L. Hauser, is not only postmaster there but one of the livest of Girard citizens in many respects. The business depression of the '90s was country wide and it was felt with especial keeness in iron and steel making districts. Girard merely remained stagnant during this period, as did other Mahoning Valley towns. It is during the last fifteen years that it has begun to experience the revival that has already brought it past the high water mark of activities of thirty and forty years ago and that will eventually make it a still larger municipality. Of its industries of that day the old flouring mill and the blast furnace are the only ones left, but the blast furnace is no longer an isolated stack. In connection with it the A. M. Byers Company has built a great puddling mill, muck mill and skelp mill plant. The plant of the Standard Textile Products Company, originally the Standard Oil Cloth Company plant, promoted by Youngstown capital, has come into existence on 'a site that was the Youngstown baseball park in the '90s. The old tannery industry was abandoned when the plant was burned, but instead Girard has the big plant of the Ohio Leather Company. The plate mill department of the Brier Hill Steel Company is a Girard works, the Youngstown Trunk Manufacturing Company is a thriving Girard institution with its plant located within the municipality, the Girard Construction Company is anew industry and the McDonald mills of the Carnegie Steel Company are located but a short distance up the river above Girard. Although a thriving town has sprung up around these mills they are still a great asset here. Girard's population in 1920 was 6,556, an increase of 2,820, or 75 per cent, since 1910. Girard has four financial institutions, including a national bank, a state bank and two building and loan companies, the latter testifying to the present and anticipated growth of the municipality. The Girard Savings Bank, organized in 1873, was the pioneer institution of this kind This organization was formed by R. H. Walker, Evan Morris, O. Sheadle, William B. Leslie, R. L. Walker and John Morris and began business with R. H. Walker as president and 0, Sheadle as cashier. This bank was later discontinued. The First National Bank of Girard was organized on March I, 1893, and opened for business on May 8, 1893, with a capital of $50,000 and resources of $80,000. A. W. Kennedy was the first president, State Senator John J. Sullivan, vice president ; A. B. Camp, cashier. In January, 1905, the bank was reorganized with A. W. Kennedy as president; F. W, Stillwagon, vice president ; James J. McFarlin, cashier. The capital of the bank had been reduced to $30,000 in 1901 but in 1910 was again fixed at $50,000, and in the decade that has elapsed the institution has experienced a tremendous growth, the resources on December 31, 1919, reaching $1,210,000, an increase of 110 per cent in fifteen years. In 1913 the bank remodeled the home it owns in West Liberty Street and in 1919 purchased 41 feet in West Liberty Street, to erect suitable banking quarters to meet growing needs. The present officers include, F. W, Still. YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 505 wagon, president ; J. C. Krehl and E. L. Hauser, vice presidents ; James J. McFarlin, cashier; G. J. Hecker, assistant cashier. The Trumbull Banking Company, a state bank, and the Trumbull Savings and Loan Company, occupying the same banking building in Liberty Street, are the outgrowth of the Girard Savings and Banking Company, organized in 1911. This institution became the Trumbull Savings and Loan Company, and in 1918 the Trumbull Banking Company was formed. Officers of the Trumbull Banking Company are, S. K. Hine, president; R. T. Izant and J. W. Darr, vice presidents ; W. H. Zeller, secretary and treasurer; of the Trumbull Savings and Loan Company, J. W, Masters, president ; R. T. Izant, secretary; W. H. Zeller, manager. The Girard Home Savings and Loan Company was incorporated on January 29, 1919, and opened for business on September 25, 1919, in the Denison Building. The rapid business progress made was disclosed in the first report, issued on December 31, 1919, which showed resources of $101,850. The officers of this institution are, E. L. Hauser, president ; E. B. Blott and W. J. Zeller, vice presidents ; James J. McFarlin, secretary ; Tod A. Crum, assistant secretary ; Lynn B. Griffith, attorney ; W. J. Griffiths, manager ; Velma M. Morgan, teller. GIRARD ORGANIZATIONS The Girard Board of Trade was an active institution prior to the war, hen it passed its work and its energies over to the Girard War Board, n organization that gave Girard a creditable standing during the world nflict. In 1920 the Board of Trade was revived and reorganized to dvance the commercial, industrial and civic welfare of the community. L. Hauser is president of this organization, James G. Lewis, secretary, d James J. McFarlin, treasurer, Mr. Lewis and Mr. McFarlin being wo of the most active y0unger business men of the town. Girard has no newspaper. Several experiments have been tried along hat line but the proximity 0f Youngstown, Niles and Girard has made them futile. Girard has a number of civic and fraternal organizations in addition to its trade board. The Girard War Board was organized, as its name w0uld imply, to 'keep the community in the front line in response to calls for aid for the preservation of American institutions during the great conflict of 1917- 18, and it discharged this work so well that it has been continued as the Girard Community Corporation, a peace time organization for the civic betterment of the municipality. At a meeting on February 27, 1920, it was voted to ask a state charter and when this was granted plans were made for a "peace chest" campaign, the funds to be used in part as nucleus for the building and maintenance of a community building. Even before this step was taken the organization has assisted in several movements t0 the advantage of Girard other than those for which it was originally formed. S. K. Hine served as president of the War Board during its existence and Harry M. Blair acceptably discharged the duties of secretary. 506 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY Another indication of Girard's civic revival is, found in the public library association organized in- 1919. For library quarters the upper floor of the town hall was secured, a public subscription for library work was taken up, the library room was redecorated and fitted up and Miss Geraldine Knapp was installed as librarian. Girard fraternal societies include Girard Lodge, No. 432, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, instituted on July 20, 1869, with S. J. Lambert, Calvin Eckman, Hugh Gilmore, H. M. Prindle, C. D. Goodrich, John P. Miller, L. Beaver, W. F. Adams, Jacob Stambaugh, Emanuel Hartzell, H. A. McCartney, Evan Morris and C. S. Miller as charter members; Friendship Lodge, No. 65, Knights of Pythias, instituted on March 12, 1874, with Emanuel Hartzell, Joseph Hull, M. L. Kazertee, L. S. Fowler, Edgar Crandon, S. E. Knight, James H. Gifford, J. E, Jones, C. D. Goodrich, John Wilkes, A. J. Jewell, James Jones, Robert Thompson and Robert Hughes as charter members ; lodges of the Junior. Order of United American Mechanics, Protected Home Circle and Daughters of Isabella. Court Lily of Girard Lodge, No. 6625, Foresters of America was instituted on January 31, 1880, and recently disbanded. The Masonic and Knights of Columbus fraternities are well represented here by members who belong to organizations in nearby municipalities. PUBLIC AFFAIRS Girard received its first recognition as a village about 1836 with the establishment of a government postoffice. It had been agreed that if a postoffice were secured three residents whose places of business were centrally located would serve successively as postmaster, This agreement was kept. The position—it had little remuneration except the knowledge of public service being done—fell first to E. Crandor owner of the one public house in the village. This place, the "Black Horse Tavern," was located on the site of the present Denison block at Liberty and State streets. G. T. Townsend, furniture store proprietor succeeded him, while William Johnson was the third man to hold th position, continuing as postmaster for many years. Ambrose Eckmar then a boy, was the first mail carrier, serving under Postmaster John son, his pay being fifty cents a week for delivering the pouches from th railroad station to the postoffice. In the earliest days of the postoffice the mail was brought and carried away, of course, by stage coaches. Although the village had attained a population of probably mor than 3,000 in the '80s, Girard did not become an incorporated municipality until September 21, 1891. At this time it was granted a charter b the state and at the first municipal election Ambrose Eckman was named mayor ; David E. Jones, clerk ; C. D. Goodrich, treasurer ; Frederick Krehl, Henry Britt, G. J. Jones, Henry B. Shields, Evan Morris and R. C. McNeish, councilmen, James Torrence, marshal. Girard still retains the village form of government, although by the census of 1920 it is placed in the city class, the population having passe the 5,000 mark. The first city officers will be elected in November, 1921. YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 507 The "town" hall is one of the noted buildings of Girard. A more complete history of this structure is given in connection with the Girard schools, as the structure was used as a school building and public meeting place until after the incorporation of the municipality when it became the official village building. Mayor Thomas G. Blackstone is now serving his sixth term as chief executive of Girard, the other elective officials being, John L. Gleason, clerk; Charles Wormer, treasurer; Wick W. Pierson, solicitor; John E. Stringer, marshal ; John H. Deely, William T. Jenkins, James E. Stotler, Harry D. Miles, George Parker and David J. Rees, councilmen, Mr, Stotler being president. The Girard fire department is a volunteer institution under Charles W, Kyle, as chief, the firemen being paid for calls actually responded to. The fire department has its own station building in Liberty Street, and the equipment is motorized. The police department, under Marshal Stringer, includes John Sullivan as sergeant and Wade B. Matthews, D. B. Paden and Ollie Payne as patrolmen. The police station is in the town hall. Girard's water supply is municipally-controlled. The water comes from deep, drilled wells along the Church Hill road and is carried to the municipality by gravity, stored in a standpipe and pumped throughout the city. Girard also has an auxiliary water supply available from Mahoning and Trumbull Water Company's reservoir in the Squaw Creek Valley, the right to tap this company's mains having been granted in return for the concession of passing through the city. Girard lighting is furnished by the Pennsylvania-Ohio Electric Company. CHURCHES There are churches representing nine denominations in Girard, or within the Girard district. The earliest Methodist Episcopal Society in Liberty Township was formed about 1821, and in 1843 the Methodist Episcopal Church at Girard was organized by Rev. Dillon Prosser, pioneer clergyman of this creed. The original members of this church were Peter Carlton, Hannah Carlton, Mary Carlton, Abigail Osborn, Betsy McLean, Samuel McMillan and members of the Hollingsworth family. The first home of the congregation was a log schoolhouse located on the site afterwards occupied by the residence of O. Sheadle. Later the Hollingsworth store room was used, services were then held at the residence of George Spray and later in the frame schoolhouse Rev. Dillon Prosser was the first pastor. In 1852 a plain frame church was erected and in 1879 a more pretentious structure was put up, this being dedicated on January 18, 1880, This building, with a Sunday school room added later is still in use. Rev. C. B. Hess is the present pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church. The church has a membership of 650. Trinity Lutheran Church was organized as early as 1830, and perhaps even earlier, among the original members being Peter Barnishel, 508 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY Peter Reel, George Hood and Jacob Reel. A log building was erected just north of the village and in 1833 this was replaced by a more commodious structure. This is the pioneer Lutheran organization of this part 0f Trumbull County and is a flourishing organization. Rev. A, A. Ahn is the present pastor. The first Presbyterian society of Liberty Township was organized in 1832 by the Rev. James Satterfield of the presbytery of Beaver and a church was erected at Church Hill in 1832-33. The Presbyterian Church at Girard was organized on August 10, 1909, with Rev. B, B, Harrison as the first pastor. The congregation worshipped in the Welsh Congregational Church Building and subsequently purchased this building. The present membership of the church is 80. Rev. Thomas Robinson is pastor. Baptist services were held in Liberty Township at an early day and began in Girard in the '60s. The development of the coal mines brought numerous Welsh miners to the township, and a great many of these were of the Baptist denomination. It was 1883, however, before the Girard Baptist congregation was formally organized, the first church being built in 1884. Rev. J. H. Lloyd of Youngstown was instrumental in the early success of this congregation. The first resident pastor was Rev. W. J. Williams and the present church was erected in 1903. Rev. James Macphail is now in charge of the congregation, which numbers 149 members. Christian, then Disciples, activities also began in Girard in the '60s, early service being held in the school hall, now the "town" hall, The church was organized on February 5, 1867, by Orin Gates, the original members of the church being Charles C. Fowler, James Shannon, Ambrose Mason, William Shannon, S. H. Miller, John Patton, Lucy Shannon, Laura Gilbert, Alice Harper, Louisa, D. Fowler, Nancy Reel, Elizabeth Reed, Malinda Phillips, Minerva Phillips, Elizabeth Stambaugh, Cynthia Young, Collins Atwood, Elizabeth Gantholtz and Florence McLain. Rev. Orin Higgins was the first pastor. In 1871 a substantial church building was erected, and this is still in use, although additions have been made. The congregation owns a large church site at Broadway and Stewart Avenue, and in 1919 a movement for a new church resulted in the pledging of $30,000 for this work. The outcome will be a $60,000 building ample for many years to come. Rev. B. F. Leach, a graduated of Rayen School and Hiram College, has been pastor of this congregation since August, 1913, succeeding Rev. C. S. Cliffe. The congregation is a large one, having 471 members. Societies in addition to the church organization include the Ladies Aid, C. W. B. M., Bible School and Senior and Junior Christian Endeavors. Roman Catholic services at Girard also began with the growth of the village during the early days of coal mining. The first services of this denomination were held on October 21, 1868, when Rev. Bernard B. Kelley of Niles read Mass at the home of John Kinney. Services were held in private homes and in rented quarters until 1891 when work on St. Rose's Church was begun. Girard as a mission had been attended YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 509 by priests from Warren, Niles and Brier Hill, but in April, 1892, Rev. James J. Stewart was appointed the first resident pastor. St. Rose's Church was dedicated on May 15, 1892. Father Stewart is still well remembered as one of Girard's notable men, his activities being civic as well as churchly. He remained as pastor until 1909 when he was succeeded by Rev. E. A. Kirby, D. D., who is now in charge. The parish is a flourishing one of eighty families. The Apostolic Christian Assembly was organized in 1878 by Rev. J. Bollinger who remained as head of the congregation until 1880. The original members were William Ludt, Mrs. William Ludt, Charles Schoenfeld, Mrs. Charles Schoenfeld and Mrs., Mary Fairchild, and services were conducted at the Ludt home by Rev. John Bakody even before the organization of the congregation. A church building was put up in 1878 and the congregation is still a thriving one. Bethel United Evangelical Church, Loy's Corners, dates back to 1822 when meetings were held at the home of George Herring, with Rev. Henry Yambert officiating. About 1830 a church was built east of Girard and later this church was moved to a location north of the village. Originally this was an Evangelical Association but ultimately became a United Evangelical Church and is now a thriving organization with Rev. W. L. Bennet as pastor. In addition to the Bethel Church there is a United Evangelical mission with a church building in Fairvew Avenue, Stop 24. This body was organized in 1919 and includes a church as well as a Sunday school. Rev. W. L. Bennet is the attending pastor. SCHOOLS There is some question where the first sch0ol was established in Liberty Township. There appears to have been a log school near Church Hill in 1810, and perhaps at an earlier date, and there is also said to have been a school at Girard before the above year, this building, also a log one, being on Peter Carlton's land, later the Evan Morris property. About 1833 there was an organized school at the village and when the growth began in 1836 there were also schools at Mosier and Weathersfield, About 1840 Girard had at least one frame school building. Little change occurred in school facilities until Girard began to respond to coal mining activities about 1860, when a movement was begun for better accommodations. The school directors, J. C. Allison, Abner Osborn and Henry Barnishel, with a citizens' committee consisting of William Johnson, Edward Ray, Martin Houston, Abner Rush and H. P, Gilbert met on March 12, 1861, and determined on the construction of a union school. Although this movement was undertaken in the dark days just when the Civil war was approaching it was most successful. David Tod donated an ample site in the section known then and since as Jefferson Square. Liberty Township gave $1,000 toward the construction of the proposed school and public spirited residents of Girard raised the remainder of the money by public subscription. The result was an unusually well-equipped brick structure that repre- 510 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY sented an investment of $21,000, the lower part of the building being devoted to school purposes and the upper hall converted into a public assembly hall. Professor Hugh Caldwell was engaged as the first principal of the school, being succeeded in 1870 by Professor Wayne Kennedy who remained for a number of years In 1887 a more modern brick high school was constructed and with the incorporati0n of Girard as a village in 1891 the school building became the village, or "town" hall. It is still used as a municipal building, the second floor being devoted to public library purposes. The Girard School District includes not only the municipality but considerable territory outside, extending along the Church Hill Road to the east and taking in Mosier and Arlington Park to the south and Avon Park to the north. The school system includes three large buildings with eight grades, three small buildings with four grades, one building with two grades, and one first grade high school, on the accredited list, The schools are under the supervision of Superintendent H. L. Cash, with R. C. Wilkin as high school principal and Gertrude Redic, Charles Brooks, C. L. Fox and Mrs. M. O. Fleming grade principals. High school instructors are, F. M. Crawford, E. E. Snyder, Louise Tomy, Pearl Kerr, Faye Lash, Alice C. Ripple, Estelle Williamson, and grade teachers, Ruth McIntyre, Mrs. Charles Pegg, Jessie Rees, Marion Hinchcliffe, Caroline Tuttle, Isabelle Hood, Anna Morrison, Pearl Knapp, Grace Hecker, Anna Zeller, Mrs. Emily L. Lynn, Mrs. W. J. Griffiths, Lillian Wormer, Hazel Hood, Marie Wormer, Alice Bird, Mary Williams, Mabel Batham, Artie B. Shull, Grace Reed, Letha Foust, Adelaide Harris and Mrs. J. B. Davidson. Members of the school board : D. J. Evans, president ; Dr, D, R. Williams, E. H. Lotze, G. L. Moore and W. J. Zeller, with George Bartholemew as clerk. St. Rose's Catholic Parochial School is one 0f the prominent educational institutions of Girard. It was organized in 1913 and a modern brick school building was erected in the same year. The school has 400 pupils, representing many nationalities, and has a high standing in educational circles. Rev. E. A. Kirby, D. D., is superintendent with Sister Margaret Mary as principal, and Sister Alphonsus, Sister Monica, Sister Mildred, Sister Patricia, Sister Colletta, Sister Bernice and Sister Ebba as teachers. The sisters belong to the Ursuline Order. CHAPTER XXVI LOWELLVILLE LOWER MAHONING VALLEY VILLAGE ONE OF THE OLDER MUNICIPALITIES OF MAHONING COUNTY-RISE TO PROMINENCE COMES WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF IRON AND COAL INDUSTRIES AND BUILDING OF CANAL-CHURCH, SCHOOL, BUSINESS AND CIVIL HISTORY. Lowellville is the southernmost, or southeasternmost, of the seven municipalities of Warren, Niles, Girard, Youngstown, East Youngstown, Struthers and this village, that are scattered along the Mahoning River and create a great industrial district twenty-five miles in length. The village is located in Northeastern Poland Township, but a mile from the Pennsylvania State line. The traveler along the Mahoning River Valley needs hardly be apprised of this when reaching Lowellville for here may be found the beginning of the foothills of the Alleghany Mountains. They tower above the village on either side, the country around it being a most picturesque one away from the hum of industry. The pioneer settler of the site now occupied by Lowellville was John McGill, who came to Poland Township from Pennsylvania in 1800 and bought 200 acres of valley and hillside land. Here at an early day he built a grist mill, usually the first industry in any Western Reserve settlement, and later Robert McGill built and operated a sawmill at the same place. For the first three decades after the original settlement of this village site there was little activity in Lowellville. Poland Village, located away from the Mahoning River Valley, was of more importance, and several other towns ranked ahead of it in a business way. Its growth actually began with the movement for the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal, although activity antedated the completion of this waterway by several years. It was 1839-40 before the canal was completed and in operation, while the village plat was laid out in 1836. The canal gave Lowellville great impetus. There were several reasons for this aside from the mere fact that the village lay along a route of what was then modern transportation. As early as 1828 coal had been mined at a "bank" near Lowellville that was later known as the Mount Nebo mine. In 1838 William Watson and John S. Hunter erected a large grist mill on the river, and this plant together with the Hope Mills, built by James Brown in 1857, made Lowellville an important point for many years in the production 0f fl0ur and other grist - 511 - 512 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY mills products. In 1840 the village was made a postoffice with S. H. McBride as postmaster. The chief industry that came to the new village, however, was the blast furnace built by Wilkes, Wilkinson and Company of Pittsburg, in 1845-46. This was the first stack in the Mahoning Valley to use bituminous coal as fuel. Mount Nebo coal had already become of commercial importance, as shipments were being made by canal, and the furnace company acquired and worked the mine for some time, although it was finally abandoned because of the deep water in the shafts. Coal mining, it might be said, remained an important industry about Lowellville for many years, continuing down even to the present day, In the operation of the blast furnace not merely the coal but the iron ore was a native product, ore being obtained from Mount Nebo and from other deposits in the Lowellville neighborhood. It was the rich limestone deposits in the Lowellville vicinity, however, that gave it its greatest commercial importance. This material began to be worked extensively in the '50s, the output being used not alone for the Lowellville furnace but in stacks throughout the entire Mahoning Valley. The Lowellville furnace has had an interesting history. In 1853 the Original owners sold the stack to Alexander Crawford & Company, who disposed of their interest in 1864 to Hitchcock, McCreary and Company, The Mahoning Iron Company purchased the plant in 1871 and sold out after a short time to McCreary and Bell. In 1880 the Ohio Iron and Steel Company was incorporated and on February 11th of that year took over the blast furnace and accompanying holdings. Previous to this, of course, the stack had been enlarged and modernized. The 0fficers of this company at the time of its organization were : Thomas H. Wells, president ; Henry Wick, vice president; Robert Bentley, secretary and treasurer. With valuable limestone deposits as well as the blast furnace this industry pr0spered greatly, manufacturing for many years an unusually high grade of foundry iron, The new company improved and enlarged the capacity of the stack and its advent into Lowellville marked an industrial revival in the village that had suffered from a depression for a decade or so. Mr. Bentley eventually succeeded to the presidency of the company and, has now been associated with it for a full forty years. Lowellville acquired an important industry when the open-hearth steel plant of the Youngstown Iron and Steel Company was erected in 1915. This plant has been considerably enlarged under the management of the Sharon Steel Hoop Company, which acquired it with the purchase of the-Youngstown concern in 1917. It is now one of the most modern establishments in the valley and employs a large number of men. This company now owns the physical property of the Ohio Iron and Steel Company, including the Mary furnace, and the steel plant secures its iron from that stack. At Lowellville is located one of the largest and most modern electric power plants in Ohio. This is the property of the Ohio-Pennsylvania Electric Company, and it supplies much of the current for the operation of the city and interurban car lines of that company as well as for steel YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 513 mills and factories of all kinds in the Mahoning Valley. From this plant a high-tension line of the most modern type extends up the valley to Warren and is being carried to Newton Falls. The limestone industry ab0ut Lowellville flourished from the beginning and in its last days the old Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal—or the short stretch of that waterway that remained—was used exclusively for hauling limestone from Lowellville to upper Mahoning Valley points. Even before this time the railroads had been built in the valley and in 1872 the canal was definitely abandoned. The Pence quarry, the Moore, Arrel and McCombs and Johnson quarries were worked extensively in earlier years. The Bessemer Limestone Company, organized in 1887, the Arrel Limestone Company, organized in 1893 and the Carbon Limestone Company, organized in 1894, are numbered among the later big producers. From quarrying limestone alone activities in this field branched out with the organization of the Bessemer Limestone and Cement Company in 1919; The last named company, officered by John Tod, president; R. C. Steese, vice president ; F. R, Kanengeiser, vice president and general manager; G. G. Treat, secretary, and J. R. Rowland, treasurer, is a large producer of limestone for blast furnace and foundry flux, limestone for road work, asphalt filler and pulverized limestone for agricultural use. The same officers administer the affairs of the Bessemer Limestone Company and the Arrel Limestone Company. Robert Bentley is president of the Carbon Limestone Company; John A. Logan, vice president ; M. S. Logan, secretary and treasurer; S. D. L. Jackson, general manager. This c0mpany's quarries are located at Hillsville, Pennsylvania, across the line from Lowellville. The Meehan Boiler and Construction Company, a leading Lowellville industry, was organized in 1897 by Patrick Meehan, James Meehan, Robert Gray, Paul Meehan and John Meehan, the original name being the Meehan Boiler Company. The change of title came within a short while after the organizati0n of the company, the activities of the concern being broadened to include not alone the manufacture of boilers but steel construction work of all kinds. Lowellville's growth has not been as rapid as that of some 0f the neighboring municipalities of the Mahoning Valley in recent years. In the last twenty years it has been brought into closer communication with Youngstown with the construction of the interurban electric line that was extended through to this village in 1900-01, but this same period has witnessed the founding and growth of East Youngstown to the position of the third largest municipality of the Mahoning Valley and has seen the expansion of Struthers from village to city proportions. The present manufacturing tendency in the valley is northward until now (1920), Trumbull County towns are profiting most by new industrial growth. Youngstown, East Youngstown and Struthers are in like position with Lowellville, while Warren, Niles, Girard and Newton Falls are expanding rapidly, and the new town of McDonald has grown up about the McDonald works, far up the river. From its position so far removed from the headwaters of the Mahoning Lowellville is in the least advantageous Vol. I-33 514 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY position of all to profit by the construction of new industries that require a great water supply, but like these other Mahoning County municipalities is still a fertile field for small industries. It has many natural and created resources to induce these. Lowellville does an extensive retail business, and is withal a wealthy district. It serves a good sized farming as well as industrial section, both of these extending over into Pennsylvania as well as southward in Mahoning County. The population in 1920 was 2,214. Financially it is cared for by the Lowellville Savings and Banking Company, a state bank, incorporated on March 8, 1906, with a capital of $30,000, and succeeding the Lowellville Bank, that was founded but a year before. This institution is a thriving one. Lowellville has no board of trade or corresponding commercial body, Organization of one has been discussed from time to time but has not proceeded beyond the discussion stage. With the aid of the industries, however, considerable social welfare work has been carried on in the village. There are several lodges in the village, including Hillman Circle No. 368, Protected Home Circle, and the Daughters of Isabella. CHURCHES The pioneer Presbyterian congregation in Poland Township was established at Poland Village in 1802, and before the middle of the century there were several other churches of this denomination founded, With the growth of the abolition, or anti-slavery movement, a split came in the Presbyterian Church, as it came in other churches, and in Poland Township this grew to the proportions of a secession movement on the part of those who demanded an outright denunciation of negro slavery. The first meetings of the Poland Township seceders were held in 1848 in the Lowellville Village schoolhouse. Later an old warehouse was used, and in 1849 the Free Church, was formally organized, leading members at the time of formation including John McFarland, William McFarland, James S. Moore, John M. Porter, Andrew McFarland, John S. Hunter, Elias King and John Book. Because of its abolitionist views the church drew membership from surrounding townships and even from Pennsylvania. Rev. J. D. Whitham came as pastor of the congregation on its organization and remained for eight years. In 185o the first church building was put up. The Free Church had numbered adherents from various creeds, and with the close of the Civil war and the abolition of slavery the church was disbanded and the members returned to their denominations. Most of the congregation united with the Presbyterian Church, but after a time the Presbyterian congregation became inactive. It was revived in 1876, and continued as a church and Sunday school until 1888 when revival services brought increased membership and the church took on renewed life. June 3, 1896, the congregation was reorganized as the First Presbyterian Church of Lowellville, Rev. James W. Harvey be- YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 515 coming pastor of the Lowellville and Coitsville churches in May, 1897. In 1895 the Sunday school was also reorganized. The church has practically tripled in membership since the reorganization of almost twenty-five years ago having 185 members now. A new church building was erected at a cost of $55,000 in 1918, the church also having a parsonage built at a cost of $5,000. Rev. John K. Boston is the present pastor. Roman Catholic Church services began in 1867 under the direction of Rev. John Begel of Villa Marie, a parish was organized in the same year and work begun on the construction of a church building in 1868. A business depression set in, h0wever, and work was stopped, although the congregation was attended from Youngstown, and for many years by Rev, Nicholas Franche 0f Villa Marie. Under the direction of Father Franche the movement to build a church was revived about 1883, and in 1884 the church was completed and occupied, Mass being celebrated for the first time on Christmas day of that year. The church was dedicated on August 15, 1888, by Monsignor F. M. Boff, vicar general of the Cleveland diocese. The parish is now attended by Rev. Nicholas Monaghan of Struthers and has .a membership of 300. Methodist Episcopal activities date back to within a few years after the Methodist Episcopal congregation was organized at Poland Village. As early as 1840 there was a small Methodist Church building at Lowellville, the congregati0n having experienced a revival about this time. The membership was small in these days, but with the business revival in Lowellville in the '80s the church took on a new spirit and in 1884 was reorganized. It had, however, maintained both a church organization and Sunday school up to that time. Under Rev. Gordon A. Reigler, who removed to California in September, 1920, a fine, modern church building of creditable proportions was erected in Wood Street. The church has a membership of sixty-seven. Christian Church services in Lowellville began about 1870 and in 1886 the Christian Church congregation was formally organized. The same year a church building was put up at a cost of $4,000. This congregation was also without a resident pastor for some time, but its eighty members are now under the ministry of Rev. L. A. Betcher. The church also has a creditable parsonage. The religious history of Lowellville would not be complete without a reference to the Mahoning United Presbyterian Church. Actually, this is not a Lowellville or a Poland Township organization. It is not even a Mahoning County or an Ohio church. It is a Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, congregation and the church building is located across the line in Lawrence County. This church, however, was the parent church of the United Presbyterian Church in this section. The Mahoning congregation was founded in 1798 as an Associate Church, this being two years before the first church society on the Western Reserve was founded at Youngstown.. From the Mahoning church came the Rev. James Duncan who founded the Associate Church at Poland Center (now the Struthers United Presbyterian Church), in 1804 and the Liberty Township Associate Church 516 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY in 1805. Prior to the founding of these congregations settlers worshi at the Mahoning church and it is still attended by residents of Lowellville and of Eastern Poland Township. SCHOOLS The Poland Center School, southwest of Lowellville, was one of the earliest schools of Poland Township, and it is probable that at an early day there was a schoolhouse even nearer the present village. About 1833, shortly before the platting of the municipality, a school was built near the present site of Stop 24 on the Pennsylvania-Ohio Electric Line. "Those who taught in this school," says a well prepared sketch of the history of the village schools, "received the munificent sum of five dollars per month and the privilege of 'boarding around.' " This latter provision that teachers should be entitled to room and board at the homes of the parents of the various pupils during the school term was the regular procedure in the early days on the Western Reserve. The next school was located about two miles north of the present village, on the Youngstown and New Castle road. About this time a schoolhouse was erected within the present limits of the village at what is now the corner of Wood and McGill streets. Because of some dissatisfaction with this location another building was located on the Bedford road at the turn in this highway. This building was destroyed by fire. Another schoolhouse was then erected on the lot where the Cunningham Undertaking Company was afterwards located. This last mentioned building was a two-room brick structure. After it had been used for several years it was sold and a four-room frame building was built, also on the North Side. On the south side of the river the earliest building recorded was located near the farm afterwards owned by Lyman Stacy. The second one was located on the north side of Jackson Street near the site of the present South Side school. This building was abandoned in the '705 and later sold. On February 16, 1904, the four-room frame building on the North Side was destroyed by fire, and for the next year school, was held in halls, churches, st0rerooms or any other convenient place, but in February, 1903, the eight-room brick building authorized to take its place was completed at a cost of $35,000. In 1917 an addition to this building was constructed at a cost of $30,000, this structure containing a gymnasium-auditorium that seats 600. It is now an eighteen-room building. In 1888 another school for the South Side was determined, upon and a one-room structure was built. With the growth of the village this was subsequently made a two-room structure. The Lowellville High School was founded in 1876, or soon thereafter, but it was 1886 before the first class was graduated, this class numbering Miss Ibbie Dickson and W. L. Erskine. In 1904 the sch was advanced from third to second grade and in 1909, under Superin tendent D. W. Mumaw, it was made a first grade school and has retain this grade since. The parallel course of study—college, preparatory an YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 517 vocational—was added in 1911, and the Lowellville High School has since held a high rank in Mahoning County schools. The superintendents of the Lowellville schools since this position was created include, W. V. Nelson, 1876-79; John E. McVey, 1879-81; Walker Allen, 1881-82; S. 0. Ewing, 1882-84; Frank J. Roller, 1884-86; L. U. Howard, 1886-87; A. A. Galbraith, 1887-88; A. A. Prentice, 1888-89; J. C. Ewing, 1889-91; C. W. Gilgen, 1891-93 ; H. H. Bower, 1893-98; J. S. Alan, 1898-1901; E. L. Rickert, 1901-05 ; D. W. Mumaw, 1905-10; C. W. Ricksecker, 1910-11; A. W. Ricksecker, 1911. The present attendance in the schools is 535 in the grades and 55 in the high school. In addition to Superintendent Ricksecker, the high school faculty consists of H. Boren, N. H. Weaver and Miss Sarah Gray, The grade school teachers are, Mary Maurice, Katherine Dill, Helen Harries, Martha Cowden, Selina Watson, Lillian Burke, Nellie Brenneman, Emma Seaholm, Jennie Flory, Besse Brenneman, W. D. McConnell and M. A. Kimmel. Lowellville district school board members are, Robert Gray, W. J. Maurice, G. E. Hamilton, W. J. Lomax and Dr. P. H. B. Smith. PUBLIC AFFAIRS Although laid out as a village in 1836, Lowellville did not become an incorporated municipality until April 15, 1890. At the first village election, held at this time, H. D. Smith was elected mayor; C. Meeker, clerk; George Quisner, treasurer ; J. M. Bryson, J. D. Dickson, H. Elliott, J. Lomax, W. S. McCombs and Thomas Sheridan, councilmen. Lowellville has not reached 5,000 population necessary to put it in the city class, the village form of government being retained. The present municipal officials are, C. J. Zuercher, mayor ; John F. Lash, clerk; H, W. Williams, treasurer; S. L. Burke, Joseph L. Johnson, James Meehan, Jr., Stephen Quinn, George P. Schrader and Myron Smith, members of council ; Thomas Gray, S. E. Hogue and Andrew Kroeck, members of the board of public works. The Lowellville Village Hall, built in 1870, houses the police and fire headquarters as well as the headquarters of the village officials. The police department is under Marshal George Boland, with C. E. Bratz as captain and G. Cluse and R. S. Burke as patrolmen. The Lowellville volunteer fire department was organized in 1903 and is now under Felix Samartino as chief, the fire fighting equipment consisting of a fire truck and hose wagon. The municipal water supply comes from drilled wells owned by the village, the waterworks equipment consisting of one large standpipe and pumping apparatus. D, C. Moore is health officer for the Lowellville, Struthers and Lyon Plat district, CHAPTER XXVII HUBBARD STORY OF THE SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWNSHIP AND ITS EARLY DAYS-FIRST EVENTS-RISE OF THE COAL INDUSTRY, FOUNDING OF HUB-BARD VILLAGE AND STORY OF ITS ACTIVITIES-CHURCH, SCH00L AND INDUSTRIAL HISTORY-COALBURG AND OTHER PARTS OF TOWNSHIP, Hubbard Township, originally township three, range one of the Connecticut Western Reserve, is the southeastern most township of Trumbull County. It borders on Mahoning County on the south and on Pennsylvania on the east and lies within the Shenango River drainage district, the chief tributary of that stream within this township being Yankee Run, or, more properly, Little Yankee Run, this name distinguishing it from the larger stream of the same name across the line in Pennsylvania. In the Connecticut Land Company draft of 1798 this township went to Joseph Borrell and William Edwards, Borrell having $7,000 interest individually, Edwards $1,400 and Borrell and Edwards combined an undivided interest of $17,406.46. William Edwards eventually became owner of the entire township and in April, 1801, he sold it to Nehemiah Hubbard, whose name was given to it after it had been settled. The first sales made by Hubbard were to Samuel Tylee and John P, Bissel, and the former became not only a land purchaser but agent for the proprietor as well. Tylee was born in Litchfield County, Connecticut, in 1766, and was married to Anna Sanford, by whom he had ten children. After making the land purchase in Ohio and receiving the appointment as Hubbard's agent Tylee came on to the Western Reserve from Middletown, Connecticut, and reached Hubbard on September 1, 1801. He was the first settler in the township. Following the death of his first wife Tylee married Elizabeth Ayres and by this second marriage had one child. Tylee died at Hubbard in 1845 after a most useful life, William Burnett came to Hubbard from New Jersey, probably in the same year that Samuel Tylee arrived. His son, Silas Burnett, born in December, 1802, was probably the first native white child of Hubbard Township. In 1802 Sylvester Tylee, brother of Samuel, came on from Connecticut and settled at the crossroads that is now the corner of Main and Liberty streets, Hubbard Village. Sylvester Tylee owned the southwest corner lot, Samuel Tylee the northwest lot and Alfred the northeast lot, and from this ownership the crossroads became known as Tylee's Corners. - 518 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 519 Occupation of Hubbard Township had been delayed for two or three years after the nearby townships now known as Coitsville, Youngstown, Liberty and Brookfield had been located, so that settlement was fairly rapid after newcomers first began to arrive. Jehiel Roberts, John Clark, Walter Clark and Edward Bussey came from Connecticut, other members of the Burnett family, Jeremiah Wolf, Jesse Hall, Absolom Hall, Morris Hall, John Ayres, Martin Swarzwelter and A. K. Cramer from New Jersey, William Porterfield and Matthew Mitchel from Pennsylvania. John Gardner was one of the pioneer settlers. Others who came to Hubbard in the early days of the township, or were landowners therein, included Joel Smith, Amos Smith, George Frazier, Sylvester Doughton, David Bailey, William Parrish, Jonathan Carr, Daniel Carey, Cornelius Dilley, William Erwin, Samuel Ewart, James Frazier, William Hanna, Thomas Hanna, Hugh Harrison, Henry McFarland, Benjamin Mayers, John McCreary, James Minary, Robert McKay, James Mitchel-tree, Samuel Leslie, Alexander McFarland, John Porter, William Parvin, Samuel White, William Veach, John Snyder, Edward Scoville, Henry Robertson, David Reed and Joseph Porter. Samuel Tylee, founder 0f the township, who later became a justice of the peace and was known throughout a great part of his life as Squire Tylee, built the first cabin in the township along Yankee Run. Necessarily this was a log house, a structure that he replaced a few years later by the first frame house in the township. In 1809 Squire Tylee also built on Yankee Run the first grist mill and the first sawmill in the township, following this pioneering movement in industry by putting up a distillery. About 1810 William Elliott built a carding mill near the Pennsylvania state line and Jehiel Roberts started a tannery. Dr. John Mitcheltree, the first physician in Hubbard 'Township, opened a small store near the state line about 1806, and shortly after this Tylee's Corners became a more important settlement. It was made a postoffice with Sylvester Tylee as postmaster in the opening decade of the nineteenth century and a few years later Samuel Tylee became a storekeeper there. An ashery, built by Samuel Tylee and Alfred Tylee, was also among the early industries of the township. The list of settlers above given does not include all the early day residents of Hubbard by any means. Settlement, as we have observed, was rather rapid in the first few years after the township was opened up, and except for primitive attempts at manufacturing the newcomers were almost entirely farmers. The township was heavily wooded and the settlers were confronted with all the hard tasks imposed upon pioneers in clearing the land and making it available for agriculture. Much of the land was well adapted for farming and it was well watered and also well drained, as Hubbard Township occupies rather high ground. For the first sixty years of its existence agriculture was the mainstay of the township. Additional sawmills, grist mills and tanneries were built and in 1824 Squire Tylee erected a carding mill and cloth-fulling mill on Yankee Run. These industries were common to pioneer settlements of the Western Reserve and served the local trade, as absence 520 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY of such mills meant long journeys through the wilderness to larger settlements. After the initial land sales, which brought settlers not alone from distant states but from nearby townships where earlier settlement had taken much of the cheap land off the market, the growth of the township was not rapid. It was not on the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal, a waterway that led to the early development of nearby towns. Nor was it included in the early railroad construction. The opening of the coal mines brought a transformation to the township. As early as 1840 coal mining began in Youngstown Township and with a realization of the value of this fuel the industry spread rapidly at Liberty, Weathersfield, Brookfield, Vienna and Hubbard Townships, new discoveries reaching their height about Civil war times. With the opening of the mines villages sprang into existence and the railroads came. Farming became perhaps more profitable but its industrial supremacy vanished and the black scars that denoted coal "banks" and the smoke of industries replaced peaceful agricultural fields. The era of coal lasted for perhaps a quarter of a century, and with its departure the manufacturing industries sought the Mahoning River valley. Politically, Hubbard Township was made a part of the civil township of Youngstown when that subdivision was formed in April, 1802. The Youngstown Township thus created for governmental purposes embraced ten actual townships, only two of these, Hubbard and Liberty, being within the present confines of Trumbull County, the remaining eight being within what is now Mahoning County. At this initial election Samuel Tylee was elected one of the trustees of Youngstown Township. In 1806 Hubbard Township was civilly organized, having attained a population by this time that entitled it to this distinction. Samuel Tylee was also one of the first, if not the first, justice of the peace in this subdivision. The present township officers include Benjamin Mayers, Norman Price and Frank Doughton, trustees ; Richard Williams, clerk; C. A. Randall, treasurer ; A. T. Roberts, justice of the peace; I, M. Brisbine, constable ; John McFetridge, assessor. HUBBARD VILLAGE Hubbard municipality, situated slightly south of the center of the township, existed as the settlement of Tylee's Corners in the early days, but as a village its history goes back only three score years. The development of the coal mines in this neighborhood was responsible for the transformation of a cross roads to a real village. This era began about 1860, the early mines being the Jackson brothers bank, the Veach and Burnett, the Smith and the E. P. Burnett banks. Accessions to the population began immediately, railroad communication was established and an erstwhile country road became a thriving business street. The coal business expanded to a great part of the township, with other mining settlements springing up, but with Hubbard Village the chief YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 521 municipality. These were rough days, as well as prosperous ones, in Hubbard, for the growth of the village in the first fifteen years of its existence was in the nature of a "boom" that brought its undesirable features as well as its desirable ones. Andrews and Hitchcock leased the E. P. Burnett coal mines and in connection with their fuel holdings engaged in the blast furnace business, bringing the first industries aside from the mines and the proverbial sawmills and grist mills of early Ohio days. The first of the Andrews and Hitchcock stacks was built in 1868 and the second in 1872. In the latter year, 1872, the iron works of the Hubbard Rolling Mill Company was also built, the plant consisting of puddle furnaces, muck rolls, bar mill and guide mill. This plant afterwards came int0 the possession of Jesse Hall and Sons, the Halls having been instrumental in founding the industry. Numerous stores came into existence, together with a hotel, seven churches, professional firms and saloons. In 1868 the village had attained such a population that it became an incorporated municipality with Nathaniel Mitchell as mayor; J. D. Cramer, treasurer; Samuel Q. March, recorder ; T. R. McGaughey, William Adams, John Hadley, Edward M0ore, trustees ; George Moore, marshal. By the '80s it had attained the maximum of its growth. The coal mining industry of Hubbard, like that of neighboring townships of Ma-honing and Trumbull counties began to decline with the exhaustion of the coal beds and the pre-eminence of Youngstown became more firmly established. Eventually mining as an industry capable of supporting a town vanished. The rolling mill succumbed to the competition. of more modern plants, in 1893 much of the machinery was removed to Youngstown and even the remnants of the mill were gradually dismantled. Hubbard's population became smaller and its business activity became noticeably less, although it remained a sizeable village and was brought into closer communication with neighboring municipalities in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys with the construction of the Youngst0wn and Sharon electric line system in 1901-02. Since that time the plant of the American Sintering Company has been built at Hubbard and the blast furnace industry has been maintained. The two stacks of the Andrews and Hitchc0ck, enlarged and modernized, passed to the ownership of the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, and at Petroleum station, contributory to Hubbard, have been built the, plants of the Petroleum Iron Works Company and the Pennsylvania Tank Car Company. In 1881 the Ohio Powder Company built a powder mill in the southwestern part of the township. This Is now operated by the Hercules Powder Company. While this gain was not in keeping with that of other places in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys the present year (1920) saw the beginning of a new era in Hubbard Village. New industries were springing up in all adjacent cities and villages and Hubbard decided to keep pace with its neighbors. Its first effort was directed toward gaining the plant of the Powell Pressed Steel Company, organized in February, 1920, and the attempt was successful in spite of competing bids. This company 522 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY has a capitalization of $225,000 and while it employs less than one hundred men in its newly erected plant it is a business that is capable of expansion and is but the first of many industries that Hubbard proposes to get. The successful outcome of this public movement for a "Greater Hubbard" inspired the organization of a village trade board to carry on this work systematically. At an open meeting on February 27, 1920, attended by 85 public-spirited residents a committee c0nsisting of J. W. Powers, J. J. Boyle, L. G. Ebinger, R. H. VanNess and C. H. Anderson was named to apply for a charter for the "Hubbard Chamber of Commerce," and to arrange for a permanent organization. With the receipt of this charter the formal 0rganization was effected on March 10, 1920, S. D. Roberts being elected president ; J. W. P0wers, first vice president; F. M. Stevenson, second vice president ; Charles H. Anderson, treasurer; A. E. Robinson, secretary. A. J. Mayers, L. G. Ebinger, J. J. Boyle, W, M. Evans, R. A. Bell, R. F. Clash, E. S. Stewart, William Terry, J. A. Anderson and J. D. Marsteller make up the board of trustees. With steam railroad and electric line facilities and a fair supply of water Hubbard is likely to attain its ambition 0f becoming a far greater business center than it was even in former days. The village has a good financial institution in the Hubbard Banking Company, first organized in 1873 as the Hubbard Savings Bank, with R. H. Jewell as president and G. M. Dill as cashier. Samuel Q. March, president of they Hubbard Banking Company for many years, and leading citizen of the village, died in April, 1920. A. J. Mayers is cashier. The Hubbard Enterprise, a weekly newspaper, was launched in 1877 by J. F. Horton. In 1880 it came into the management of W. R. Wadsworth, and was owned successively by E. E. Gregg and Fred Powers, George Gaston, W. J. Baird and Son and H. W. Ulrich, the latter disposing of the plant to R. H. VanNess, the present owner. The Enterprise was not the pioneer among Hubbard newspapers, however. In 1868 A. D. Fassett started the Hubbard Standard, printed at the Mahoning Courier office at Youngstown. Within a few months Fassett set up a printing office at Hubbard and began the publication of the Miner, which ran until 1872 when the owner moved his plant to Youngstown and began the publication of the first daily paper there. The Standard continued for a short time and then suspended, being succeeded by the Hubbard Signal, an organ that lasted for a year or more. CHURCHES Hubbard Village in the heyday of its existence had seven churches and still has six congregations. Four of these were Hubbard Township organizations prior to the establishment of the village. The first Methodist Episcopal Society was formed in 1803 by Rev. Noah Fidler 0f the Erie Conference and for a, number of years this body met west of the present village. Later another congregation was formed east of the center, and in 1854 these two bodies, both of which YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 523 had previously erected church buildings of their own, united and erected a church in the village. This building was completely remodeled in 1894 and the congregation is now a flourishing one of 350 members with Rev, W. E. Speaker as pastor. The earliest Presbyterian organizati0n in the township was formed about 1804 or 1805 and a log church was built north of the center. Rev. James Satterfield was the pioneer minister of this creed and the early members of the church included Sylvester Tylee, Samuel Tylee, William Clingan, Thomas McMoran, William Porterfield, John Jewell, Charles Stewart and Robert Love and members of their families. In 1857 a house of worship was built within the village. The congregation now has a membership of 216 and is under the pastorate of Rev. George B. Booth. Baptist services were held in the early years of the nineteenth century and in 1819 a Baptist congregation was regularly f0rmed, this organization taking place at the home of Jesse Hall. This denomination suffered from defections to the Disciple creed but experienced a revival in activities with the opening of the coal mines and in 1870 erected a substantial house of worship in Hubbard Village. The congregation now has 200 members, with Rev. W. M. Ryan as pastor. The Christian, or Disciples of Christ, Church, as explained before, was an outgrowth of the Baptist congregation, being formed about 1830 by forty members of the older church. Meetings were held in a building owned by Jesse Hall at a cross roads north of the present village. This property Mr. Hall subsequently gave to the church and on the site an ample church building was erected. Jesse Applegate, one of the organizers of the church, became a minister shortly afterward and for twenty years ministered to this and other congregations. The Trumbull County yearly meeting of the Disciple Church was held here in 1837 and this gathering and the subsequent meeting of the Disciples of Ohio at Youngstown a few years later brought many new members to the church. Alexander Campbell attended both these meetings. This first Christian congregation of Hubbard Township is still flourishing, its "Corner House" Church being a familiar spot in the northern part of the township. The Hubbard Village Church is the Central Christian congregation. It was organized on December 31, 1899, and met in the old Welsh Congregational Church building and later in the abandoned Welsh Baptist Church structure, its own church edifice in South Main Street being erected and dedicated in 1901. Rev. A. C. Pierson was the first pastor of the congregation and Rev. A. J. Cook is the present minister in charge. The church building was entirely remodeled in 1919 and was rededicated in January, 1920. The congregation has a membership of 200. St. Patrick's Roman Catholic parish began with the development of the mines in the early '60s. The Catholics of Hubbard were attended by Rev. E. M. O'Callaghan of Youngstown from 1864 to 1867, services being held usually at the home of Michael Piggott. In 1867 a small frame church was erected and for three years the parish was attended from Youngstown and Warren but in 1870 Rev. John T. Schaffeld was in- 524 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY stalled as the first resident pastor. The present splendid St. Patrick's Church building was completed and dedicated in 1911. Rev. John F. Maloney has been pastor for the last nine years. St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Congregation was organized in 1867 by Rev. Frederick N. Wolf with a membership of twenty-five families, meetings of this denomination having been held previously, beginning in 1864. Reverend Wolf remained as the first pastor of the congregation and in 1871 the first church edifice was erected. Rev. C. Hemminghaus is pastor now. This congregation is now erecting a new church building. The Welsh Baptist Church of Hubbard was organized in 1863 and the Welsh Congregational Church in 1865 but both of these subsequently passed out of existence. SCHOOLS Log school houses were built in Hubbard Township in the opening years of the nineteenth century, the first of these being probably located on the farm of John Gardner in the southwest part of the township, Perlee Brush, first teacher in Youngstown and first teacher in Poland Township as well, was an early day teacher in Hubbard also, while Asahel Adams, of Canterbury, Connecticut, opened a select school at Hubbard in 1804. Until the revival began at Hubbard Village in the '60s its educational accommodations were of the country school type of that day, but in 1868 a movement was begun f or the establishment of a high school in the village and in 1870 this building was completed and opened, being erected by the entire township. As Hubbard had in the meantime become an incorporated village the erection of this school precipitated a school war between the village and the township that lasted for almost half a century. Both boards asserted their right to control the school and the rivalry reached a crisis in 188o when the township board selected D. A. Wilson as principal of the building and the village board selected D. Greenwood. The township board managed to gain control of the building and installed Professor Greenwood, but the feeling became so bitter that it was necessary at one time to maintain an armed guard over the building. Meanwhile the village school board appealed to the common pleas court for an injunction restraining the township board from asserting control over the school, from installing Professor Wilson and from interfering with Professor Greenwood. Judge Spear found in favor of the township board and the village board relinquished any attempt to gain control of the school by force but appealed to the Circuit Court, This court reversed Judge Spear and gave control to the village board in 1882. This latter body took charge immediately but the township board appealed in turn to the Supreme Court of Ohio and in 1885 a decision of this court reversed the Circuit Court and reinstated the township board in control. Instead of ending the Hubbard school feud this decision merely aggravated it. Feeling continued to run high, the two boards fought YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 525 for mastery and a second court battle resulted, ending again in favor of the township. The bitterness even reached a point where a partition, or dividing wall, was built between the village part of the school building and the township part. The war was demoralizing to the cause of education in Hubbard as the schools naturally deteriorated. Good system was lacking and the example of their elders was not edifying to youths of school age. The village was the chief sufferer as it desired a better high school building and a higher grade school but had neither the power to build, one nor the money with which to build it as the township had become wealthier in taxable property than the municipality. In the spring of 1916, however, the war was renewed by the village school board which circulated petitions throughout the township asking the consolidation of the township and village school districts. A sufficient majority was obtained to bring this about, but court procedure was again resorted to by the township board to prevent the merger. Again there was a long battle that began in County Court and was carried through the Appellate Court to the Supreme Court of Ohio but the village school board was sustained and Hubbard Township, including the village, was made one school district. Village and township both have profited under this arrangement with the construction of a new $250,000 high school building in the village, erected in 1920. This structure houses both high and grade schools and has an auditorium and well equipped gymnasium. The building not only provides for future growth of the school population but is a community center as well. With its completion the old school building and accompanying portable structures have been abandoned. In addition to the Hubbard Village building there is a six-room building at Coalburg, just completed and replacing the old two-room building, ,a two-room building at Petroleum and six one-room district schools. A. E. Robinson is superintendent of the Hubbard schools, Maude Slemons principal of the high school, J. W. Lawther, Ethel Forsythe, Verna Allison and Marie Gotshal teachers of high school classes and Lucy Amer, Myrta Bailey, Olive Roberts, Marjorie Hughes, Martha Vessels, Deeda VanNess, Ruth Stewart, Anna M. Pallett, Daphne Limbach and Genevieve Matthews teachers of grade classes and Neva Stewart teacher of music. Teachers in the one-room schools include Ruila Barnes, Irene Blythe, Mildred Jones, Laura Williams, May Rapple and Maude Reed. Marion Fowler and Christine Fowler teach in the Petroleum buildings and L. J. Moats and Rachel Sexton the Coal-burg classes. The number of teachers at the latter place will be increased to six with the opening of the new building. The Hubbard Board of Education members are: E. G. Ebinger, C. H. Drissen, F. F. Clingan, C. R. Stewart and Calvin Minglin. In addition to the public schools a parochial school is maintained by St. Patrick's Parish. This school was founded in the early days of the parish but in 1915 a new and modern school building was put up. The pupils are taught by sisters and the school is under the supervision of Father Maloney, pastor of St. Patrick's. 526 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY HUBBARD SOCIETIES In addition to the newly organized Chamber of Commerce the Village of Hubbard is represented in more than half a dozen bodies organized along fraternal and similar lines. Hubbard Lodge, No. 495, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is not only a thriving body but the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Temple is the finest of Hubbard's public buildings. The village also has a Rebekah Lodge, Knights of Columbus Council, lodges representing the Knights of Pythias, Protected Home Circle, Foresters of America and Hubbard Post, No. 51, American Legion. Progressive Grange is a Hubbard Township organization and is one of the most thriving 0f Trumbull County granges. PUBLIC AFFAIRS Hubbard retains the village form of government as the municipality will not reach the city class for another ten years at least. Elective officials for 1920-21 include : Charles F. White, mayor; T. F. Rock, clerk; W. L. Evans, treasurer; Dr. D. R. Jacobs, J. E. Schofield, G. R. Bailey, Dr. W. H. Button, J. J. Murphy and William Wolf, councilmen, Dr. Jac0bs being president of council ; J. D. Marsteller, William Terry and L. A. Mitchell, members of the Board of Public Affairs; Carl Furgison, marshal. J. W. Farrelly is postmaster. Marshal Furgison is head of the village police department and D. L. Windsor chief of the volunteer fire department. The village water supply is secured from drilled wells, the water being pumped to a standpipe for storage. Heretofore it has been used without any added treatment but the village filter plant is ab0ut to be built to insure better water. Hubbard lighting is supplied by the Pennsylvania-Ohio Electric Company, but lighting as well as water service is administered by the Board of Public Affairs. Hubbard has the usual complement of paved streets, a good sewerage system and is connected with Youngstown by a paved auto highway. It is on the Erie and New York Central steam railroad lines as well as on the electric line. COALBURG Coalburg, in the northwest part of Hubbard Township, is, as its name plainly implies, a product of the coal mining operations of many years ago. Mines were opened in this vicinity, in 1863 by Powers and Arms, the field being leased later to the Mahoning Coal Company. William Powers and Company opened a store there in the year the mines were opened, a postoffice was established with Jacob Sanders as postmaster and the village grew with mushro0m-like rapidity. At one time it had a population of upward of a thousand inhabitants, dependent almost entirely upon the mines. With the exhaustion of the mines Coalburg began to decline and even before 1880 had lost its commercial importance. Recently, how- YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 527 ever, it has experienced a revival with the construction of the New York Central Railroad freight terminal there. The terminal includes great railroad yards, roundhouse, coal tipple and ash conveyor. All yard work formerly done at Youngstown has been transferred there. Coalburg formerly had three churches, the Welsh Baptist, Welsh Congregational and Methodist Episcopal, but only the Methodist Episcopal remains now. The church building was erected in 1871 and is supplied by visiting pastors. The village also has a thriving Knights of Pythias Lodge with a lodge building of its own, this being one of the prominent structures in the village. In January, 1920, the last indebtedness was lifted from this building, the occasion being celebrated by a gathering in which members of the Knights of Pythias from all parts of Mahoning and Trumbull counties participated. CHAPTER XXVIII EAST YOUNGSTOWN STORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INFANT MUNICIPALITY OF MAHONING COUNTY-REMARKABLE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH IN TWENTY YEARS-EARLY DAYS IN EAST YOUNGSTOWN-MUNICIPALITY IN 1920. Although the youngest of the ten incorporated municipalities of Mahoning County, East Youngstown is now the second in size. Passing successively all its other sister villages and cities it now ranks only behind Youngstown in population. For many years the Fairview district of Coitsville Township, lying just across the line from Youngstown Township, was fairly well built up, but otherwise the territory lying between Youngstown and the Village of Struthers was but farm land. Insofar as communication was concerned the two places were far apart. The first connecting link aside from the dirt highways and the steam railroads was the interurban line built from Youngstown to Struthers in 1899. This speedily brought traffic between the two places, and yet in the summer of 1900 just twenty years ago—the present site of East Youngstown and of the great steel works that made that city possible was mere wooded hillside, waving grain fields and tangled river bottoms. This latter low-lying ground was the location selected by the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company as a site for its future plant after the company had been incorporated in November, 1900, its original name, however, being the Youngstown Iron, Sheet and Tube Company. Not even the organizers of this company dreamed of the ultimate magnitude of the plant they were planning, their original conception being modest. That a manufacturing works was to replace wheat fields, however, was justification enough for bringing an accompanying village into existence, in fact made this necessary. East Youngstown—called so for want of initiative or care in giving it another name—was born, and was born with a "boom." It would have been better for the future of the city had more care been expended on its founding; had there been some early and systematic development of the hilltop instead of having all energies concentrated on hastily erecting a village on a hillside and in a hollow. In the first half dozen years or more of its existence East Youngstown was a mere struggling sort of place, built in spots and not well built anywhere. It was a place 0f shacks and boarding houses; its - 528 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 529 population made up largely of foreign-born and of the type of Americans—some of them keen but restless and some merely shiftless—who flock into each new community. The inhabitants were largely unmarried men; the boarding houses were not of the kind that tends to elevation or uplift. Throughout this period the township form of government persisted. Although the village grew in population from a few hundred inhabitants to 3,000 or more its affairs were administered by township trustees, its law enforcement authorities were township constables and justices of the peace. And East Youngstown was lawless—although not more so than other newly founded municipalities where there is little restraint on the part of the law. Because it was part of a large township East Youngstown remained saloonless for some years, but was far from "dry." Youngstown was n0t far away and the illicit sale of liquor went on with no great restraint. Many of the stories concerning East Youngstown's lawlessless in its earlier years are exaggerated, and throughout its course there persisted the saving grace of lightheartedness that identified the village with humor rather than tragedy. It was not a frontier town as often depicted—at least not a frontier town in the accepted sense—for the American border settlement of fame and story has always a place made up of Americans, good and had, while East Youngstown was largely a foreign village from its founding. By 1908 East Y0ungstown had attained a size where the township fonn of government was plainly inadequate. It was a large village without any head and with little order. More enterprising residents instituted a movement for its incorp0ration into a separate municipality so that public improvements, police and fire protection and some responsible form of government might be possible, and this movement for incorporation was hastened by discussion of a proposal that the village be annexed to Youngstown. There was no great sentiment in favor of this latter step but much sentiment in favor of the former move, and on November 19, 1908, an election was held on the question of incorporation. The advocates of incorporation won by a vote of 158 to 59, the incorporation proposal containing a proviso that a municipal election should be held within six months. This first election in East Youngstown was held on April 24, 1909, and resulted in the election of David C. Hamilton as may0r; P. J. Carney, clerk ; George Warhurst, Treasurer; James A. Nestor, marshal, and I, M. Fink, O. G. DeFogarassy, William Gordon, Joseph Maust, Witham Ii. Reed and Jerry Daley as councilmen. These officials were named to serve only for an eight-months' term ending on January 1, 191o, their successors being named at the first regular electi0n in the village in November, 1909. THE EAST YOUNGSTOWN "RIOT" That East Youngstown was not wholly weaned away from its inclinations of early days even when it took on the dignity of a full- Vol. 1-34 530 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY fledged municipality was made apparent by the "East Youngstown Riot," so called because of want of a more appropriate name, although in truth it was a debauch rather than a riot in the generally accepted sense of that term. This event—the most notable, perhaps, although not the most creditable, occurrence in the history of Youngstown's next door neighbor—had its origin in the strike of steel workers of the Mahoning more particularly of the eastern end of the valley, that began with a walkout of tube mill workers about New Year's day, 1916. The business depression that began in 1913 had ended in 1915 with the receipt of "war orders" for steel, and the workers' demands were for higher wages and other concessions. By Tuesday, January 4, 1916, the strike had brought out additional men at the plants of the Republic Iron & Steel Company and Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company. Wednesday and Thursday saw these plants virtually closed down and Thursday there were minor clashes between strikers and the police authorities. The same day a notice of an increase in wages to steel workers was posted, but this step, too long delayed, was futile. Whisky added fuel to grievances and the more lawless of the strikers were in no mood for compromise or discussion of differences. While there were disturbances at Haselton and Lansingville and at the Poland Avenue entrance to the Youngstown Sheet and Tube plant, the real danger point from the beginning was in East Youngstown. Thursday night there were frequent, though not severe, clashes and weapons of all kinds were hastily assembled and piled in open view in the streets. The Sheet and Tube Company in turn summoned guards armed with rifles. Friday morning a mob compelled the village authorities of East Youngstown to free an accused rioter locked up in the village jail. The situation grew rapidly worse during this day, Friday, January 7, 1916. With thousands of idle men about, drink flowing freely in the open saloons and grievances inflamed, there was much apprehension of trouble and good grounds for the fear. Fights were common throughout the day and the village authorities failed to heed the warnings that the saloons should be closed. To everyone else it was apparent that the village police could not hope to cope with the situation and yet there was delay in asking help, although the governor had been asked unofficially to have troops in readiness. The crisis, insofar as violence that jeopardized human life was concerned, was reached about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Darkness had almost settled down on this early January day when the crowd of idle men and women increased at the village end of the bridge leading from East Youngstown over the railroad tracks to the Youngstown Sheet and Tube plant. It was about the hour for changing shifts in the mill and the assemblage grew rapidly with the attempt of a few workmen to enter the plant in defiance of warnings. Just who fired the first shot that precipitated the night of terror was a much disputed point until testimony adduced in legal proceedings later established that there was a single revolver discharge from the YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 531 crowd below aimed at the mill guards stationed on the bridge. The guards replied with a volley from their rifles and the crowd broke and fled. Actually this ended the hostilities between strikers and guards. The "riot," curiously enough, was an aftermath and only indirectly related to this clash. The crowd that broke under rifle fire apparently forgot the cause of its grievance. It became a mob, and the mob members, already filled with drink, broke into saloons and plied themselves still more. Almost an hour after the clash at the bridge a flame burst out in a nearby building and in a moment the mad attempt to burn down a city was on. For six hours or more pure anarchy reigned. The "riot" was a drunken frolic rather than a real riot. Building after building was fired, gasoline poured into the flames, the fronts of buildings battered in to speed the blaze. The drunken members were actuated only by a desire to see a conflagration, while the sober ones, and the women, prudently came with wagons and bed ticks and their stout arms and looted the stores. It was a never-to-be-forgotten sight in the hours intervening until a volunteer committee of citizens was organized and halted further excesses, although unable to check the natural spread of the flames. Meanwhile troops had been summoned and toward morning 2,700 infantry and machine gunners were on the ground. The "riot" was over, the rioters had dispersed and morning found only blackened ruins to mark the business part of the city. East Youngstown had had its mad frolic and became peaceful under the martial law that prevailed for the next week. It was an occurrence probably without a parallel in our history, for during the hours of wild disorder virtually no attempt was made to destroy the property of those against whom the grievance was originally directed. Today, almost five years after its occurrence, East Youngstown bears marks of the riot in scarred buildings and unoccupied lots. Not for a long time will the last mementoes of this affair disappear, although they might well be dispensed with to the advantage of the city. In general, however, better buildings have risen from the ruins and the rapid growth of the municipality has made its marks even less noticeable. Among the most enterprising the rebuilding program was begun immediately, although the usual compensation of insurance was denied, the riot exemption clause operating to prevent any salvage to property owners in the shape of insurance money. A suit for the recovery of insurance money has been won in the County Court but the case is still pending on appeal. Brick and steel structure buildings in many instances served to replace unsightly frame buildings. The Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company emergency hospital, a $75,000 structure, was completed and opened in 1916. This building, in fact, was near completion at the time of the riot and although on the edge of the fire belt was left unharmed. The Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad Young Men's Christian Association building near the Youngstown-East Youngstown line is an- 532 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY other of the notable structures of the city. High up on the hill above the business part of the city the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company has acquired a large acreage of land and has laid this out with paved streets, sidewalks, sewers and shade trees. On this land have been already erected more than 300 modern concrete homes, suitable for both large and small families. It has still considerable acreage and proposes to erect additional homes for its foreign-born and colored workmen here as fast as they can be rented. The city hall, at 3126 Wilson Avenue, erected after the incorporation of the municipality, was enlarged considerably in 1917 and is now a creditable building. This structure houses not only the administrative offices of the city but is the headquarters of the fire department and police department as well. Several business blocks are also excellent structures. Paved streets are replacing the unsightly thoroughfares of a few years ago, improvements of this kind being made not without difficulty owing to East Youngstown's location on a precipitous hillside. EAST YOUNGSTOWN'S RESOURCES Financially East Youngstown is, or should be, one of the richest cities in America, for there is perhaps not another municipality of its size in the country with an annual payroll as great as East Youngstown. This is true even though this payroll—now more than $22,000,000 annually—comes from one plant alone, the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Works, or that part of the works in the immediate vicinity. Actually, of course, it is Youngstown rather than East Youngstown that profits by this great annual expenditure of money, since a greater proportion of the money is earned by residents of Youngstown. Some day East Youngstown will perhaps share in this to a greater degree. Early financial institutions of East Youngstown were the Hamory International Bank and the branch bank of the Dollar Savings and Trust Company of Youngstown. These and foreign loan banks sufficed until scarcely more than a year ago when East Youngstown acquired a bank all its own in the formation of the People's Trust and Savings Bank. This concern, formed with the cooperation of the older financial institutions that surrendered the field, was 0rganized early in 1919 and opened for business on April 21, 1919, with a paid in capital of $200,000. It is essentially a people's institution in fact, having 235 stockholders. The officers of this institution are : President, D. R. Fithian; vice presidents, Eugene Crow and G. V. Hamory ; secretary-treasurer, J, M. Reed; assistant secretary-treasurer, John Roberts ; trust officer, Harry G. Gibson; finance committee, John McGarry and Frank Porembski. For a year the bank occupied temporary quarters under the bridge but in 1920 completed and occupied its own building at Wilson Avenue and Tenth Street. The institution had resources approaching $1,000,000 at the close of its first year. YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 533 EAST YoUNGSTOWN'S CHURCHES AND SOCIAL WELFARE ACTIVITIES The church showing in East Youngstown is not especially favorable, considering the size of the municipality, but this paucity of religious organizations is more apparent than real. A large proportion of the residents are identified with Youngstown and Struthers churches. And while East Youngstown has no regularly organized Protestant church, an inter-denominational church, or community religious center, is now being established under the direction of the Federated Churches of Youngstown. St. John's parish, made up of Slovak-speaking Catholics, is the largest religious body. This congregation was organized in 1916, and in 1918 erected a fine church building in Reed Avenue. Originally an independent church, it is now under the jurisdiction of the bishop of the Catholic diocese of Cleveland, although temporarily without a pastor. St. John's Greek Orthodox Church, a Ruthenian, or Uhro-Rusin, congregation, also has a splendid church building, located in Gordon Avenue. Rev. F. Kulchimsky is pastor of this parish. There are two other churches for foreign-speaking residents, the Slovak Baptist Church, at Reed Avenue and Sixteenth Street, and the Italian Baptist Mission in Reed Avenue, the latter taught by Miss Ada Poesgate. Rev. G. W. W. Jenkins was, until his death, in charge of a colored union mission that meets in a former store room in Wilson Avenue adjoining Community Hall. The Community Hall at East Youngstown is one of the best social assets of the city and is the center of the wide and varied activities of the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company among its employes. This institution is in charge of Prof. George B. Fout and it conducts almost every kind of educational and uplift work including religious ,teaching -by various other organizations. Here are conducted free day-and night classes for foreign-speaking people, in which English is taught to such of the more than forty different nationalities found among this company's 15,000 employes. Entertainments, dances, social gatherings and similar attractions are provided, and all sorts of welfare and Americanization work carried on by a considerable corps of teachers and others. Much progress has been made in this rather difficult field and the schools in operation there have numerous branches in that locality. Catholic Sunday School services are held each Sunday morning in the community meeting place with Miss Lorene Durbin in charge, assisted by seven teachers, all these of Youngstown. Each Sunday afternoon the same room is given over to Sunday School services conducted by H. W. Hawkins and eight teachers from the Evergreen Presbyterian Church at Youngstown. On Tuesday and Thursday evenings of each week classes are held in the hall for fifty or more boys in which there are two Boy Scout troops. Wednesday and Friday evenings are devoted to classes for young men who make up the East Youngstown Community Club for athletics. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings classes are held for teaching English to foreign-born men and women and on the same eve- 534 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY nings educational classes are held for colored people in the annex, or store room next door. Basket ball games and community dances are held each week for the foreign-born young people. The same hall is used as a meeting place for eight different societies, for church suppers and in fact for any and every activity in keeping with the purpose of Community Hall. The Americanization idea is kept to the forefront in all things, even the dances being of the most modern American kind. Plans for the still further use of Community Hall in higher education for foreign-born and American-born alike were formulated in 1919 to be carried out in the winter of 1919-20, but this ambitious plan was halted by the steel strike of 1919. The program provided for classes in EMERGENCY HOSPITAL OF THE YOUNGSTOWN SHEET & TUBE COMPANY AT EAST YOUNGSTOWN reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, grammar, United States history and classes in first and second citizenship papers for the foreign-born to supplement the rudimentary instructions in the English language already given. The schedule arranged for the American-born provided for instructions in all branches of architecture, including drawing and designing, building, blue print reading, molding and die setting ; chemistry, including industrial, acids, alkalies, iron and steel and gas ; engineering, including electrical, mechanical, concrete, structural and civil ; metallurgy mining, including coal, ore coke, acids, alkalies, gas and oils ; also instructions in arithmetic, geometry, algebra, mensuration, trigonometry, pattern making, boiler repairing, etc., in fact also every branch of activity useful in an industrial community. This program, arranged under the direction of Mr. Fout, has merely been postponed, however, and not abandoned. It will be taken up when the readjustment made necessary by the strike is completed. YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 535 The Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company supports this work for social and material betterment in addition to carrying on an extensive program of its own through its welfare department. In this especial attention is given to American sports—next to education the surest method of Americanizing—and the program already in effect is but the beginning. Because of its topography East Youngstown is ill-suited to playground, athletic field and other outdoor activities, but even this difficulty is being overcome. East Youngstown, in fact, has not even a park of its own today, although Campbell Park is in reality largely an East Youngstown institution, and provision for playgrounds has been made in the housing plans of the big employing corporation. The Youngstown Sheet and Tube Hospital is another important unit in the community. This company took up the problem of better sanitary and health conditions in East Youngstown with added vigor following the trachoma outbreak in the spring of 1914, a step that was much needed as the village was decidedly backward at that time from a health viewpoint and living conditions, yet far from desirable, were almost unbelievably bad. The hospital, a first aid institution supported by the company, was projected soon afterwards and, as noted before, built in 1915 and 1916 and opened in the latter year. Dr. S. M. McCurdy is in charge as superintendent of this institution with a staff of ten or more, while Miss Sue Dickey is supervisor of welfare work, with three visiting nurses under her charge. EAST YOUNGSTOWN SCHOOLS Educational work referred to above is, of course, designed for adults and for those who have not yet reached maturity but are working. Ample provision is made for those of school age. Whatever may be said of East Youngstown it has not been either niggardly or backward in providing elementary education. Its schools will rank with any in the country. It has expended liberally on education and it has not only provided the best possible in the way of a teaching corps but has been more generous than the average growing American city in furnishing school accommodations. As a result its schools have been one of the most valuable assets to the municipality. Long before East Youngstown came into existence Coitsville Township provided school accommodations in the Fairview neighborhood, these accommodations being of the country school type, of course. With the growth of the village these facilities were increased, and even after the incorporation of the municipality the schools remained for a time part of the Coitsville Township school district. In 1912, however, the East Youngstown school district was separately organized and still remains a distinct unit, being outside the jurisdiction of the county rural school district. The buildings completed and now in use include the Fairview Building, erected in 1911, the Gordon Building, erected in 1913, the Reed Building, erected in 1916, and the McCartney school. The enrollment is approximately 2,000 pupils. 536 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY Following the development of the grade schools a high sch000l wa established and this is now a third grade institution with an enrollment of twenty scholars. The high school department is conducted at present in the Fairview Building but the city is now erecting a magnificent high school building that would be creditable to a larger place and will meet demands for years to come. With its development the school will be advanced in grade. For ten years, in fact, the East Youngstown tendency has been to erect substantial brick school buildings and it is but a matter of a short time until the last of the frame buildings is dispense with altogether. The East Youngstown school district is in charge of W. M. Cou as superintendent, with Raym0nd Clark as principal of the Fairview McCartney Building, L. L. Longstreet, superintendent of the Go Building, and J. B. Cover, superintendent of the Reed Building. The work of the schools is not merely educational in the strict sen of that term but embraces courses in domestic science and arts for the girls, manual training for the boys, including training in both wood and metal w0rk, and all the accompanying branches taught in the most modern schools. The teaching staff of the schools is recruited largely from Youngstown, with instructors also from other nearby places. The instructors include, Cecelia Adams, Clara Bates, Esta Barger, E. Barnhill, Lena Broomhall, Brooks S. Clark, Kenneth Clark, Clara Chester, Edith Cover, Valera Chenault, Helen M. Evans, Jean Fisher, Juliette Faubion, Lucy Guiler, Ethel Guiler, Francis Hays, Mildred Teachout, Gertrude Hays, Erma Haney, Alma Henry, Annetta Holliday, Gussie Holden, Mamie Jackson, Ruth Jones, Elsie Jaxtheimer, Marjorie Kline, Ruth Kissick, Margaret Kenney, W. G. Kurtz, Alma Lattau, Mollie Latau, Lois Lackey, Sadie Lindsay, Leita Loney, Nellie Milligan, Genevieve Mariner, Ethel Orr, Katherine O'Connor, Helen Pfaff, Osie Patterson, Margaret Reisel, Treva Stubbs, Ethel Simon, Mary Savage, Josephine Snyder, H. T. Sexton, Lucille Kiddie, Irene Keeton, Florence Basom, Arthur Johns, Marie, Strachan, Mildred Teachout, Ernestine Van Fleet, Justine White, Caroline Williamson, Fay Wilcox, Ethel Walters and Allein Yant, in addition to the superintendent and principals before mentioned. The board of education of East Youngstown numbers John E. McGarry, Cowden Hetrick, Irving Jean, Charles C. Reed and Charles F. Schaffer. PUBLIC AFFAIRS East Youngstown still retains the village form of government that replaced the township government in 1909, but a new era will start on January I, 1922, when the first city administration takes office, East Youngstown having been automatically advanced from the village to the city class when the census of 1920 gave it a population of 11,620, far in excess of the 5,000 inhabitants necessary to entitle an Ohio municipality to the grade of city. David C. Hamilton, the first mayor, held office until 1914, W. H. YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 537 Cunningham officiated as mayor from 1914 to 1918 and Thomas J. McVey from 1918 to 1920. W. H. Cunningham was again elected mayor in November, 1919, and is now serving the two-year term f rom 1920 to 1922. Other public officials for the current term include, Oscar E. Diser, solicitor ; Anthony Julius, clerk; Gabriel Masi, treasurer; Louis F. Hamrock, John Lisko, John F. Jakebek, Nick Comsia, Leonard Richitelli and John Vansuch, councilmen ; George Tana, assessor. Hugo Wantz is health officer, the old health board having been abolished by the new Ohio county health board law of 1920. The East Youngstown fire department was organized in 1910 and is a volunteer body. George Mathews is chief of the department and Dan Benchea assistant chief. The department equipment includes a Nott 1,000-gallon steamer and a Jeffery hose and chemical truck. In reserve is a hook and ladder truck. The police force was formed with the incorporation of the village and will undergo a change in its formation with the entrance of East Youngstown to the city rank. It is now in charge of James Murray as marshal, with Joseph Ruby as captain in command of the night force. East Youngstown has a modern system of fire plugs and Gamewell alarm system. The water supply of East Youngstown is furnished by the Mahoning Valley Water Company from its Poland Township lakes. The waterworks system comprises a pumping station, finished in 1917 and located at Wilson Avenue and Third Street, equipped with two electrically driven motor pumps and pumping 500,000 gallons of filtered water every twenty-four hours, and a standpipe 30 feet in diameter and s0 feet in height and capable of impounding 500,000 gallons. The total cost of this plant exceeded $200,000. The water supply depends on gravity pressure only to reach East Youngstown, but with the greater part of the city built on a hillside and hilltop this additional pressure supplied by the pumping station was necessary. Henry Hussey is superintendent of the waterworks. For lighting East Youngstown depends upon the Pennsylvania-Ohio Electric Company. The "White Way" system of the city is one of its most notable features and a truly attractive one. It antedates even the Youngstown "better lighting" system. The system includes 417 Po0-kilowatt lights in the residential section and more than 100 two-bracket ornamental light standards in the business part of the city. The board of public affairs in charge of these utilities includes,. Michael C. Carney, chairman ; Thomas Krajnak and George Terhanko, with John J. McCarthy as clerk. Despite its size East Youngstown has but a small voting population, the 'number of ballots cast averaging less than 5 per cent of the population. This is due, of course, to the fact that the alien population is largely in excess of the native-born and naturalized population. With East Youngstown entering a class that will necessitate a change in the form of government there is some discussion of annexation to Youngstown. The preponderance of sentiment is against this plan, however, and the city will probably continue its existence as a separate. 538 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY municipality. Combination with Struthers has also been proposed but this suggestion has not been favorably received in either place, although the actual line of demarcation between Youngstown, East Youngstown and Struthers has almost been lost in the rapid growth of the three cities. CHAPTER XXIX SEBRING ONE OF THE YOUNGER MUNICIPALITIES OF MAHONING COUNTY AND ONE OF THE MOST PROSPEROUS-THE POTTERY CENTER OF THE MAHONING VALLEY-CHURCH, SCHOOL AND POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE TOWN With one exception, Sebring, is the youngest of the ten incorporated municipalities of Mahoning Valley, yet it is the largest of these outside he extreme northeastern part of the county where the steel industry is located. And unlike these, Sebring is a pottery town. The municipality takes its name from its founders, members of the Sebring family, formerly residents of the great pottery center of East Liverpool, Columbiana County. Of six brothers of this family, George E., Oliver H., Frank A., Ellsworth M., Fred and William, all except Frank A. Sebring, were potters by trade at East Liverpool and worked at the bench there until 1895, when they purchased a one-kiln p0ttery in that city. Their means were limited—only what they had acquired by frugal saving—but they entered on the pottery venture after making the first payment, giving employment to a force of ten men. For some time they were forced to struggle hard to gain a foothold, but finally prospered, acquired a standing in their business and built up a substantial trade. In 1898 the brothers purchased the Klondike pottery, a five-kiln plant at East Liverpool. About this time the East Palestine pottery, a similar enterprise, failed and the management of that plant was offered to George E. Sebring if he would pay the interest on the money invested. The surplus, if there was any, was to be his own. Sebring managed the plant so well that he placed it on a paying basis ; likewise an extremely profitable basis for himself. By this time the Sebring brothers were anxious to go into the business on a more extensive scale, and in the spring of 1899 the six brothers and two of their sisters, Mrs. J. H. Norris and Mrs. Charles Albright, purchased a 200-acre tract, lying in Southern Smith Township, just east of the center, the main tract being parts of the Stephen Gray and E. E. Allison farms. It was their intention to build a town as well as to erect industries, but before this was done another 160-acre tract was purchased from William Johnson. The Town of Sebring was then platted. It had then, in the spring of 1899, three farm houses located on the site; in 1920 it was a busy place of 3,541 inhabitants. - 539 - 540 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY Unlike the villages that often grow up in a haphazard way about industries, Sebring was laid out well from the beginning. Industrial and business sections were located and city thoroughfares laid out. The streets in Sebring run north and south and are numbered, the avenues run east and west and are named after the various states of the Union, Later another 120-acre tract was added to the original 360 acres that made up the town site. Work was also begun at once on promoting the pottery, industry, this work, as well as the platting of the town, being done by the family members, incorporated under the name of the Sebring Land Company. The Oliver China plant was the first one built and was placed in operati RESIDENCE OF O. H. SEBRING with Oliver H. Sebring as manager. It is now operated by E. H. Sebring, and employed 250 hands at the start. Next the Sebring pottery was opened with Frank A. Sebring as manager, the French China pottery followed and the Limoges China plant was the fourth of the industries launched. All these plants were completed and placed in operation in 1900 and 1901. The Saxon pottery, the largest of Sebring plants and now owned by Oliver H. Sebring, was built at a later date. Sebring was not a "boom" town at any time, since it always had a substantial basis, but in its early days it had many of the elements of a place of this character. The first hotel was the old cow barn on the Stephen Gray farm, a large structure that was divided into twenty rooms by the simple process of stretching blankets as the separating walls between these rooms. When Sebring was made a full fledged postoffice station immediately after its founding, and four mail trains a day were YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 541 given instructions to stop there, Sebring people were anxious to make a showing so Mayor A. E. Albright assembled four letters, placed one in each mail sack and called it a good day's work. Sebring rapidly passed this stage and became a municipality of paved streets, public utilities and substantial buildings, both business blocks and homes. Having good railroad facilities in the Stark Electric road, the main line of the Pennsylvania Lines West and the Alliance, Niles & Ashtabula branch of the Pennsylvania, other industries also came. In addition to the pottery plants above named Sebring works now include the plants of the Sebring Tire and Rubber Company, Strong Enamel Company, makers of steel enamel ware ; General Clay Forming Company, Sebring Cooperage Company, operating two shops ; Rach Foundry Company, Columbiana Cooperage Company, and Hall Machine works. There is also a good bed of coal underlying the town but this has never been worked profitably because of the water encountered when mining operations were attempted. Sebring has two financial institutions, the Citizens Banking Company, a state bank, and the Buckeye Building and Loan Company, both organized soon after the founding of the town. O. H. Sebring is president of the Citizens Banking Company and W. L. Murphy, secretary-treasurer. There is one Sebring newspaper, the Sebring Times, founded in 1907 and edited by E. H. Mehrten. This paper is a weekly, and succeeded the Sebring News, first issued on June 8, 1899. The town has a good stop- ping place in the Sebring Hotel. McKinley Post, No. 76, American Legion, is a Sebring organization. Fraternal societies include Desmond Lodge, Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Odd Fellows lodge and Holly Rebekah Lodge, No. 747. SCHOOLS Founding of a public school system began with the platting 0f the town, and in the fall of 1900 the first school was opened in a one-room frame building located in the heart of the business section and n0w used as a furniture store. Work was also begun immediately on a four-room brick structure in Ohio Avenue, and this building, still in use and known as the Ohio Avenue sch0ol, was opened to classes in the 1901-02 term. A high school was also started during that term with Marshall Cox as the first high school teacher. The town soon outgrew even this modern building, and in 1902 a two-roof frame building was erected and used as a grade building. In 1909 this building was torn down and the Lincoln school, an eight-room structure, was erected on the site. In 1914 two more school buildings were added, a small two-room structure on the south side 0f the town, and the McKinley school, an eight-room grade building in Indiana Avenue. During the summer of 1916 a two-room section was added to the McKinley structure. The schools are under the direction of R. J. Alber as superintendent 542 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY and have a high standing. Sebring's only library is the one in connection with the schools. CHURCHES Sebring has eight churches, representing the same number of nominations, this, of course, in addition to the rural churches of S Township that represent other creeds as well. The First Methodist Episcopal is the oldest of Sebring religious organizations, and with its 250 members is the largest of these church bodies today. This congregation was founded in 1899, organized in 1900 and the church building also erected in 1900. This was put up at a cost of $16,000 and a parsonage added at a cost of $6,000. Rev. J. M. Schafer is the present pastor. The Church of Christ vas founded and organized in 1900 and the church structure put up the same year at a cost of $4,500. The parsonage put up in connection cost $4,000. The congregation has 225 members, with Rev. Harry H. Elwinger as pastor. The United Presbyterian Church at Sebring was founded in 1900, organized in 1901 and the church building erected in 1902. It is a substantial building that represents an expenditure of $20,000, the parsonage costing an additional $5,000. Rev. D. T. McCalmont is pastor of this congregation of 150. St. Ann's Roman Catholic parish was founded in 1900 and in 1910 the congregation was formally organized and a church built at a cost of $10,000. The church has 100 members, Rev. J. A. Powers being the present pastor. The Presbyterian Church congregation dates back to 1900. It was organized in 1901 and the present church was erected in 1902 at an expense of $13,000. The parsonage was built at a cost. of $5,000. This congregation has 175 members, Rev. J. I. Gregory being pastor. The Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized in 1913 and the church building erected in 1915 at an expenditure of $6,500, the parsonage costing an additional $4,500. The church has sixty members, in charge of Rev. Guy S. Boyer. St. Matthew's Episcopal Mission is located in East Ohio Avenue and is one of the newer congregations of Sebring. Rev. Rob Roy Remington is rector of this parish. The First Baptist Church is another thriving Sebring congregation. Rev. S. M. Smalley is pastor of this church and J. P. Watson superintendent of the Sunday school. PUBLIC AFFAIRS Sebring was incorporated as a village immediately on its founding, or in June, 1899, and at the first village election A. E. Albright was named mayor ; G. S. Haggart, clerk ; W. L. Murphy, treasurer ; W. H. Beatty, marshal and Edward Flentke, Samuel Dobbs, Joseph Moon, Millard Cochran, Charles Strasser and William Carnahan, councilmen. YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 543 A year later, or in 1900, the town hall was built and this structure houses the city offices, fire department and police department. The volunteer fire department was organized in July, 1903, and is now under Harry Davidson as chief. The equipment includes two hand hose trucks and the organization has been an efficient one. The police department includes three men, with the town marshal as head of the organization. The Sebring water works is now a municipally-owned utility, having been purchased early in 1919 from the Mellon interests, of Pittsburgh, who installed the plant. Apparently the investment was a wise one; since the report for the first year, or for the period from April 11 to December 31, 1919, showed receipts of $12,560,45 and expenditures of $10,517.75, including interest charges as well as all expenditures for operation, maintenance, repairs, replacements and extensions. A. J. Eden is superintendent of the water works. For lighting Sebring depends upon electric current from the Alliance Gas and Power Company, arrangements to this effect having been made within the last year. Previous to that Sebring was poorly lighted, but it is now well equipped in this respect throughout and has a white way lighting system in the main business streets that gives the municipality a distinctly citified appearance. The present municipal officers of Sebring include, Guy Mushrush, mayor; Edward Thompson, clerk ; Paul Gilbert, treasurer ; Charles Baumgardner, marshal ; Robert Walker, Charles Goodballet, Edward Gibbins, F, P. Schroder, Arthur Waterman and William Jones, councilmen ; Thomas Woods, L. M. Ells and Robert Larkins, members of the board of public works. CHAPTER XXX TOWNSHIPS OF MAHONING COUNTY HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF THE FOURTEEN POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS THE COUNTY-SETTLEMENT AND PIONEER ACTIVITIES-EDUCATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES-INTERESTING PERSONALITIES- VILLAGES OF COUNTY. Mahoning County as organized on February 16, 1846, comprised fifteen townships, the ten townships in the two upper tiers being taken from Trumbull County and the five townships in the lower tier being annexed from Columbiana County. It has an area of 427 square miles, being one of the medium sized counties of Ohio. The county now has but fourteen townships—speaking in a political, or civil, sense—the Township of Youngstown having been merged into the City of Youngstown with the annexation of 1913. The county lies almost entirely within the Mahoning River basin, only a few of the creeks in the southeastern part draining southward and away from the Mahoning. It has an unusually good system of improved roads and these are being rapidly extended. The northeastern part of the county—Coitsville and Poland townships and Youngstown—is traversed by several parallel trunk line. railroads, the Niles & Lisbon branch of the Erie Railroad runs from north to south through the middle of the county, the western part is traversed by the Niles & Alliance branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, while two other branches of the Pennsylvania and the L. E. A. & W. R. R. also cover shorter stretches in the southwestern part of the county. The electric lines include the Pennsylvania-Ohio in the northeastern corner, the Youngstown & Suburban in the eastern part of the county and the Stark Electric in the southwestern. The country districts have complete telephone service, including exchange service given by the Beaver Telephone Company, the North Jackson Telephone Company and the Berlin Center Telephone Company. Agriculturally, Mahoning County has organized granges in ten of the fourteen townships, also a Mahoning County Pomona Grange. The officers of this county organization for 1920-21 are, Rollin Crouse, North Lima, master; Arless Stahl, Greenford, overseer; Mrs. J. V. Chambers, North Lima, lecturer; Thomas Stratleford, Canfield, steward ; Warren Stratleford, Canfield, assistant steward ; Mrs. C. A. Cover, Berlin, chaplain ; Allen Chubb, Canfield, treasurer ; Miss Margaret Taylor, North Benton, ceres ; Mrs. Charles Mead, North Benton, pomona ; Mrs. M. L. - 544 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 545 Beard, North Lima, flora ; Margaret Jones, North Jackson, lady assistant steward. C. A. Mead is county deputy. The Mahoning County Farm Bureau was organized at a joint meeting of the county granges at Canfield in July, 1913, the object being to secure a government farm agent for Mahoning County. James M. McKay, Boardman, was elected president ; H. C. Heintzleman, Canfield, secretary; H. L. Rickert, North Lima, treasurer. Shortly after this organization the agricultural commission decided to place agents only in counties that provided experiment farms. In 1914 a vote was taken on the establishment of such a farm in Mahoning County and the project carried, the resulting experiment farm in Canfield township being the largest in Ohio to date. D. W. Galehouse was appointed agricultural agent for Mahoning County and, in conjunction with County School Superintendent Jerome Hull, devised a plan for boys' and girls' club work that was so successful that Mr. Galehouse was called to North Dakota to organized similar work for the entire state. Early in 1917, H. A. Lehman succeeded Mr. Galehouse. Recognizing dairying as the foremost agricultural interest of the county, he established a cow test association at Canfield that has been followed by one at North Lima. Boys' calf clubs were founded, dairymen's associations formed, a horticultural society organized and a swine breeders' club formed, all these being fostered by the farm bureau. In 1918 a campaign for increased membership was put on, and as a result more than 1,400 of the 1,650 active farmers of the county were enrolled, this being the highest percentage in any county of the state. During 1919 a campaign of education in favor of tile drainage was taken up, many miles of tile were laid and much educational work done. Under Superintendent Hull school gardens and courses in dressmaking and domestic science were established and made a part of the regular school course. This work, too, was instituted by the farm bureau, Mahoning County being the first in the state to make these school-home projects a part of the educational system. The officers of the farm bureau for 1920 are, James M. McKay, president ; W. G. Cope of Beloit and George S. Bishop of Poland, vice presidents ; W. A. Chubb of Canfield,, secretary ; Roy E. Frederick, Boardman. treasurer. To say that Mahoning County farmers are among the most progressive in the state would be superfluous. Their record is proof in itself. The rural and village school system dates from the settlement of the county. The first schools were the subscription schools common to that day, By the school law of 1825 townships were compelled to provide school accommodations. The school law of 1853 required township school, boards and made the union school system possible in the townships. About 1899 centralization was given its first trial, marking the beginning of the end of the old one-room schools. Of these it must be said they served their purpose well in their day. The first of these buildings were uniform in size, being 20 by 30 feet in the old Western Reserve townships and somewhat larger, perhaps 27 by 34 feet, in the townships that had been part of Columbiana County. The early log Vol, I-35 546 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY schools, however, gave way to frame buildings, many of the frame buildings gave way to brick structures and even the brick structures have largely disappeared before the modern, well-equipped rural centralized schools. The school code of 1914 marked the beginning of a most modem system of rural schools. With the creation of the office of county superintendent of schools Jerome Hull was appointed to fill this position and has remained since. This is evidence in itself of his success. That he has given such satisfactory service can be attributed to the fact that he is not only an experienced educator but possesses as well the qualification needed even more in this position—executive ability. The county school district includes all Mahoning County except Youngstown, East Youngstown and Struthers. It is divided into nine supervisory districts, each with its district superintendent, and the supervisory districts in turn include one or more local districts. There are twenty-one of these local districts in the county. Over the county schools, as an administrative body, is the county board of education, whose membership includes T. J. Mayers, Poland; Dr. S. G. Patton, North Jackson ; Dr. D. Campbell, Canfield; John Yoder, North Lima ; J G. Pim, Beloit. The Mahoning County health district, comprising the entire county outside Youngstown, was organized under the law of 1920. Dr. J. D. Boylan is health commissioner for this district. Under him are health officers, or supervisors, for' the various municipal and township sub-districts. POLAND Next to Youngstown, and what was formerly Youngstown Township, Poland Township is -perhaps the most historically important subdivision of Mahoning County. Poland, indeed, was at one time a rival—even something more than a rival—of Youngstown. It was scarcely behind Youngstown in date of settlement, it had many advantages that were important in that day, and for some time in fact Poland Township outranked Youngstown. Poland Township enjoys the distinction of being the extreme southeasterly township of the great Connecticut Western Reserve. East of it is Pennsylvania and south 0f it Springfield Township, a subdivision that was once part of Columbiana County. It is traversed in a southeasterly direction by the Mahoning River, while Yellow Creek, running for much of its length through a deep and wonderfully picturesque gorge, comes from the southwest and, after traversing a large section of the township, empties into the Mahoning at Struthers. Its proximity to Pennsylvania was the most distinct advantage in favor of Poland 120 years ago. Until 1796 the territory that is now Northeastern Ohio was closed to settlers, not alone because the State of Connecticut reserved the right to it but because Indian titles to the land had not been quieted. Pennsylvania, on the other hand, was one of the original thirteen colonies, its boundaries had long been definitely fixed, YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 547 the Indian titles purchased and the colony and state subjected to entry and settlement. There were Indian troubles and massacres of frontier settlers in spite of treaties, but these considerations never halted the daring Americans of the eighteenth century. They pushed on westward across Pennsylvania to the boundary between that state and the unoccupied Northwest Territory, passing beyond Pittsburgh and creeping up the valley of the Beaver River. As provisions, especially flour and meal, were necessities for the early settlers, it was a distinct advantage to be located near a pioneer town. The Connecticut Land Company's surveyors who ran the township lines of the Western Reserve in the summer of 1796 were well aware of this. In their report to the Connecticut Land Company directors in the fall of 1796 they made specific reference to the advantages of township one of range one—now Poland Township—by saying: that "About twelve miles below the (Pennsylvania) line on Big Beaver there was an excellent set of mills, and about twenty-five miles below the line there was a town building rapidly, where provision of all kinds could be procured, and carried from thence up the river into the heart of the Connecticut Reserve." Township one, in short, was the first township within the Northwest Territory and the nearest to this rapidly growing settlement of Beavertown. Poland Township was necessarily behind Youngstown Township in date of permanent occupancy since no settlement could be made until after the Western Reserve lands had been distributed in January, 1798. When this drawing was held township one of range one fell to Titus Street, William Law, Turhand Kirtland, Benjamin Doolittle, Samuel Doolittle, Andrew Hull, Daniel Holbrook, Seth Hart and Levi Tomlinson. In the summer of the same year Turhand Kirtland and William Law visited their new possessions, but made no permanent settlement at that time. Kirtland was at that time western agent for the Connecticut Land Company and had been commissioned to survey a highway from Lake Erie to the Mahoning River. With his assistant surveyors and other helpers he reached the Mahoning Valley about August 1, 1798, and assisted John Young in laying out the village planned by the latter. Kirtland then surveyed the townships now known as Poland in Mahoning County and Burton in Geauga County, and the fall of that year returned to Connecticut. In the survey of Poland he was assisted by Alfred Wolcott. Early in May, 1799, Kirtland was again in Youngstown and in the latter part of that month Jonathan Fowler and family of Guilford, Connecticut, who were destined to be the first permanent settlers of Poland Township, reached Youngstown. Fowler's family consisted of himself, his wife, and an infant daughter. Mrs. Fowler was a sister of Turhand Kirtland. The Fowlers had made the trip to Pittsburgh overland and to Youngstown by canoe, but at Youngstown they were met by Kirtland who carried them by wagon to the present site of Poland Village. They lodged that night under an oak tree on a spot a few yards west of Yellow Creek. About them was a wilderness lighted alone by their own campfire. Soon after their arrival a cabin was erected for the Fowler 548 - YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY family from logs that had been previously prepared by William Law, Here, on February 16, 1800, was born to them a daughter, Rachel B, Fowler, the first white child born in Poland Township. Rachel Fowler later became the wife of Thomas Riley. The Kirtland and Fowler families, now including many branches, have been prominent in Mahoning County life practically since the days when the Western Reserve was founded. The growth of Poland Township in the first few years after the initial settlers came was astonishingly large. The name that it now bears was conferred on it at an early date by Turhand Kirtland and Jonathan Fowler. This odd name for an Ohio Township oftentimes excites curiosity, and in explanation of the selection made it is said that Kirtland and Fowler were actuated by a desire to give township one, range one, a name that would not likely be duplicated. This was not because of any vanity or idiosyncrasy on their part. They were merely desirous of preventing the confusion in the transmission of mail and similar matter that exists when there are many towns of the same, or nearly the same, name. In the same year that the first settlement was made John Struthers, from Washington County, Pennsylvania, completed the purchase of 400 acres of land and a mill site on Yellow Creek from Turhand Kirtland. On October 19, 1800, Struthers settled with his family on his land. This tract is now within the City of Struthers, named after the first settler there. In August, 1800, Ebenezer Struthers was born to John Struthers and wife, the first male child born in Poland Township, In 1800 came John Arrel and Thomas Love from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania; John McGill, who located where the Village of Lowellville now stands ; John Miller, Stephen Frazier, William Buck and family, James Adair, John Dickson, Rev. James Duncan, Thomas Jordan and John Jordan and families and Samuel Lowden. In 1801 and 1802 the Rev. Nicholas Pettinger, Francis Henry, Robert Smith, Benjamin Leach, Patrick McKeever, the Cowden family, Francis Barclay, William McCombs, Peter Shoaf, Robert Lowry, Stephen Sexton, David Loveland and James McNab located in Poland Township. Turhand Kirtland returned and located permanently in 1803, his brother, Jared Kirtland, coming with him. John Truesdale and wife, Hannah Robinson Truesdale, came in 1804. Other early settlers were, James Russel and family, Thomas McCullough, William Guthrie, Ludwig Ripple, James Stewart, Gilbert Buchanan, John Hineman, William Brown, Nathaniel Walker, Isaac Walker, Josiah Walker, James Blackburn, William Campbell, James Moore, William Reed and family, Andrew Dunlap, John McConnell, William McConnell, Brian Slavin, John McCully, John McClelland, John Hunter, Joseph Porter and David Loveland, all of whom located in Poland Township prior to 1807. Contrary to the usual Western Reserve custom the first permanent settlement in Poland Township was not made at the center, but along the banks of Yellow Creek on the extreme western edge of the township, Today, in fact, Poland Village overlaps into Boardman Township. The selection of this spot instead of the Mahoning River Valley, in the northwestern part of the township, was a mistake from the viewpoint of the YOUNGSTOWN AND THE MAHONING VALLEY - 549 ultimate growth of the settlement, since it made Poland an interior village and prevented it ever becoming a large municipality, although this may not be a loss at all since Poland is today one of the most attractive of Northeastern Ohio villages. And at that period the location selected had distinct advantages as the settlement was located on high ground and the trails and roads of early days usually followed the hills. Poland was thus one of the important stage stations on the route between Pittsburgh and Northeastern Ohio points, a commercial and trading center and a settlement guided by men of education and business ability. It is not surprising, therefore, that it overshadowed Youngstown and vied with Warren in importance. It was a location that attracted rapid settlement. In Poland Township too the Connecticut element, while dominant, was almost matched by Pennsylvania immigration. On August 25, 1800, when Trumbull County of the Northwest Territory was formally organized, Poland Township was included in the civil Township of Youngstown for governmental purposes. At this first term of the County Court may be found an entry reading that : "On motion of Judge Kirtland, the court ordered that Jonathan Fowler be recommended to the Governor as a suitable person to keep a publick house of entertainment in the town of Youngstown on his complying with the requisites of the law." Actually the proposed tavern, or "publick house" was to be located at the newly founded settlement on Yellow Creek. When Fowler first exercised this privilege thus granted him by the court does not appear, but in 1804 he erected a stone tavern building in the settlement. For some time, in fact, the settlement was known as "Fowler's," the name of Poland that had been given the township being applied to the village at a later date. This venerable stone structure is still standing. For many years it was the historic "Sparrow Tavern," and now, with a frame front of recent vintage, is the home of Charles Austin. It was on the porch of this tavern that William McKinley enlisted in the Union Army in 1861. In 1800 John Struthers built the first grist mill in the township, this being located on Yellow Creek below the village. In 1801 Jonathan Fowler built the first sawmill and grist mill within the village. In 1804, the year in which Fowler opened his stone tavern, Jared Kirtland erected a tavern building at Poland Village, a structure that stood for many years. The first storekeeper is said to have been John Hezlep, who opened a small mercantile establishment in a room in the Fowler Tavern. John McConnell operated the first tannery and John Hinman the first cooperage plant. The earliest physicians were Dr. Isaac Cowden, Dr. Jared P, Kirtland and Dr. Ira Brainard. Coal and iron ore were plentiful in Poland Township in the early days. Use of the latter has long been discontinued and even the mining of coal had long since become unimportant in Poland Township, but the presence of these minerals was responsible for the beginning of an industry that was destined to become the commercial backbone of the great Mahoning Valley. This start was made in Poland Township in 1802 or 1803 when Daniel Heaton and James Heaton built the Hopewell