HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 425 iron and steel operations which carry the work to the point of the finished product in which the metal is to be used. Most of the iron produced in the valley has been shipped elsewhere at some stage in the process of manufacture which may still be considered unfinished. One exception of importance is the foundry and engine works long known as William Tod and Company. This plant, first operated by Homer Hamilton and Company, was purchased in 1878 by a firm headed by William Tod, worthy son of Governor David Tod, and still continues in operation, being now one of the properties of the United Engineering and Foundry Company. The principal business of this company has been the manufacture of steam engines with other finished foundry products. Chauncey Andrews was responsible for the beginning of Youngstown's first tube mill, located near his Haselton plant. This mill was absorbed in the National Tube Company in 1899. The plant was dismantled and moved to McKeesport. Another local factory once important was the Youngstown Bridge Company, which manufactured bridge iron in the extreme eastern limit of the township. This plant also was absorbed in a greater organization. The American Bridge Company bought it in 1900, dismantled it and moved it to Ambridge, Pennsylvania. We have little space here to write about the individual men who helped to make the great valley industry. To mention any at length would require that we neglect others fully as important. Perhaps we may be pardoned if we close this chapter with a few sketches, to a great extent from personal recollection, of certain interesting characters who have passed on. Mention has been made of Chauncey H. Andrews. He was a native of Vienna, in Trumbull County, born in 1823. He lived in Youngstown nearly all his life. His father came to Youngstown as proprietor of the old Mansion House, and young Andrews began life in the hotel business. In 1857 he 426 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO went into the coal business, opening a mine north of town. From this time on he increased his varied interests, being one of the organizers of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad, of several Youngstown banks, of limestone quarries and coal mines. But his principal interest was always the manufacture of iron and steel, and it was in this field that he reached his position of supremacy in the business affairs of the valley. Mr. Andrews was a man of open-handed generosity, yet shrewd in business; bluff, outspoken, apparently harsh at times; nevertheless, ready to take the forefront in any enterprise for the public good. He was the intimate friend of nearly every great man in the iron business of his time. At his death in 1893 he was mourned as a national figure. The stories of the Tod and Wick families, so important in Youngstown and the valley generally, are discussed in various places in this and other volumes of this work. The Anna Furnace, founded at Struthers in 1869, was operated by the Struthers Iron Company, a firm the principal owners of which were Thomas Struthers, Thomas Walker Kennedy and John Stewart. (Note.—This John Stewart, the writer's grandfather, was not actively engaged in the business of the firm. His son, Hugh Truesdale Stewart, the writer's uncle, was the office manager of the business during its continuance.) The first two of these partners have a place in this story. Thomas Struthers was the son of the John Struthers who purchased the farm at the mouth of Yellow Creek in 1798. Thomas was born on the farm in 1803. As a young man he moved to Warren, Pennsylvania, where he made his residence for the remainder of his life, rising to eminence and fortune. He represented his district in Congress for years, was a pioneer in the lumber business of northern Pennsylvania, and became the leading citizen of Warren. In 1863 HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 427 he repurchased the old Struthers farm, which had passed into other hands about 1825. He conceived the idea of establishing a settlement on the place, and therefore promoted the building of the furnace, which he named Anna, the name of his beloved and only daughter. The building of the furnace was accompanied by the survey of a town plat, the beginning of the present city of Struthers. To advance the interests of the town he donated lots for several manufacturing enterprises, three churches and the original village school, and in his last will left provision for the donating to the town of the beautiful Yellow Creek Park, which now occupies nearly eighty acres of the heart of the city. The writer has a vivid childhood recollection of the personality of Thomas Struthers. He seemed to have the ideal qualities of a gentleman, kindly yet dignified in manner, immaculate in person, wise, generous, liberal-minded. He knew how to unbend, so that an impressionable little boy looked on him with respect and boundless admiration untouched with fear. His life lasted almost a century of service. Thomas Walker Kennedy, born in Liberty Township, was one of the founders of a family which has greatly influenced the destinies of the Mahoning Valley and the nation at large. He married Margaret Truesdale, youngest daughter of Hugh and Rachel Walker Truesdale. Mrs. Kennedy became the heir to the family homestead on the death of her parents and there she and her husband reared their large family, every one of whom achieved distinction. Mr. Kennedy himself was a power in Poland Township and in the valley generally, engaging in many enterprises, yet remaining always on the farm on the hill south of Lowellville. _Of his sons, the eldest, Julian Kennedy, reached a pre-eminent position among the engineers not only of the United States, but of the world. The other sons have also all reached eminence, all but one in the iron and steel business. James Kennedy, the second son, be- 428 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO came a practising lawyer in Youngstown, and after years of successful practise represented the Eighteenth District of Ohio in the Federal Congress for eight years. On the old farm still resides the only daughter of the family, Mrs. Rachel Kennedy Becker. Her husband, John L. Becker, after a life of most useful service, died several years ago, a man whose loss was felt for many miles around. Mrs. Becker maintains the gracious tradition of hospitality which has lasted on the old farm for a century and a quarter. She has always been to the writer the truest type of American gentility, upholding the traditions of a race which, alas, seems disappearing from the western world. "Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven." CHAPTER IV THE SECOND PHASE OF THE IRON EMPIRE The closing years of the nineteenth century, and the opening years of the twentieth, when future historians write the history of America, will tell, perhaps, a different story from that which we write now, in 1935. Whether the great combinations of capital which came to control nearly every kind of manufacturing industry will have evolved into some other form of control, so that they will seem only a temporary phase; whether they will remain as they are, or whether they will break up of their own weight—these are questions concerning which the historian feels that he would like to survive in order to see the solution. Certainly there are present political and economic tendencies which indicate the possibility of some great alteration in our national business life. The one great industry which has completely absorbed the economic fortunes of the Mahoning Valley has been so entirely converted into the hands of a few great organizations of capital that the breaking up of these would seem to be the inevitable harbinger of chaos. The first phase of this story of iron and steel was a record of the building up of little independent units; the second is the growing of these little units to great units, and the uniting these again into combinations whose increase in size seems to impel them toward still greater combinations. It was in the early nineties that the valley began to think of making steel. Up to that time, as we have seen, wrought iron was the material from which our more finished products - 429 - 430 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO were made. The first steel made in the valley was in a plant whose daring organizers braved the hard times of 1892 to 1895 to build. The names of these men, who organized the Ohio Steel Company, deserve to be recorded. They were Youngstown men who had all their lives been among the leading promoters of the best interests of the valley : Henry Wick, President; H. 0. Bonnell, Vice-President; J. G. Butler, Junior, Secretary; Myron C. Wick, E. L. Ford, L. E. Cochran and E. L. Brown. The death of Mr. Bonnell in 1893 moved Mr. Butler to the position of vice-president, and added James I. Botsford to the directorate. The plant was erected on the south side of the river, across from the Brier Hill neighborhood, in what is now known as "Steelton." Julian Kennedy was the constructing engineer. Thomas McDonald came to be superintendent in 1893, and remained in control of the vastly growing interests of the Carnegie Steel Company in the Youngstown District until his death. This plant, the nucleus of the United States Steel Corporation's holdings in the valley, at first consisted of two Bessemer convertors, one blooming mill and one bar mill. They bought their pig iron in the valley until 1900, when their first blast furnaces were completed. In 1899 the Ohio Steel Company became the property of the National Steel Company, the first of the so-called "trusts" to enter the valley. The two plants of the Union Iron and Steel Company on the north side of the river also came into the possession of this combination at about the same time, together with the Thomas furnace at Niles, and plants at Sharon and New Castle, Pennsylvania, and other places. The National Steel Company, in 1901, became a subsidiary corporation of the great United States Steel Corporation. At the same time the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company, which had purchased the Struthers Iron and HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 431 Steel Company, also became part of the great corporation. In 1903 the Carnegie Steel Company, another of the Steel Corporation subsidiaries, absorbed the National Steel Company. The Carnegie Steel Company has since greatly enlarged its Youngstown properties, and in addition has built its great mill at McDonald, a town established by them on the south side of the river, just across from Girard. The Brier Hill Steel Company was the outgrowth of the old Tod furnaces and mines on the north side of the river. As the Brier Hill Iron and Coal Company it was first incorporated in 1868, and again in 1882, this time with John Stambaugh, William Pollock, Henry Tod, George Tod, J. G. Butler, Junior, Nelson Crandall and John Tod as incorporators. This corporation was reorganized in 1912 as the Brier Hill Steel Company, at that time or previously taking into the combination the Youngstown Steel Company, the Bibawik Mining Company, the Brier Hill Coke Company, and two Niles plants, the Thomas Steel Company and the Empire Steel Company. This combination gave the Brier Hill Steel Company a rounded group of diversified plants which placed them on a permanently profitable basis until they merged with the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company in 1923. The Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, destined to become the largest and most imoprtant industry of the Mahoning Valley, was organized in 1900. This corporation has always been distinctively a Youngstown concern ; originally formed by Youngstown capital, and since officered and owned principally by Youngstown men. Its promoter was James A. Campbell, a citizen of Youngstown from young manhood, whose life may be said to have been incorporated in the history of this great organization from its beginning until his death in 1934. The original officers and directors of the company were as follows: George D. Wick, President and Treasurer; J. A. Campbell, Vice-President; Robert Bently, Sec- 432 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO retary ; W. C. Reilly, Auditor; Myron C. Wick, George D. Wick, William Wilkoff, George L. Fordyce, J. A. Campbell, Henry M. Garlick, Henry H. Stambaugh, Robert Bentley and Cecil D. Hine, Directors. At the time of organization the corporation purchased the bottom land lying north of the river and between Youngstown and Struthers. A part of this land was turned over to the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad for a yard. On the remainder, next the river, the original plant was built, the plant consisting of blast furnaces, Bessemer steel convertors, blooming mills, skelp mills, bar mills, sheet mills, tube mills and puddling furnaces. Open hearth steel furnaces were added in 1912, and in the meanwhile the other operating units were greatly enlarged. On the Coitsville hill north of the plant grew up the settlement of East Youngstown, the population of which then as now was made up almost entirely of employes of the plant. This settlement, now the city of Campbell, has in its population elements from nearly every country in Europe. Its population approaches 15,000. The first great extension of the operations of the company occurred when the plant of the Morgan Spring Company in Struthers was purchased. In 1901, the bottom land of the old Struthers farm, east of Yellow Creek, was purchased by a group of Youngstown men who formed the Youngstown Nut and Bolt Company. A year or two later they sold out their property to the Morgan Spring Company, a corporation with headquarters in Worcester, Massachuetts. The Sheet and Tube Company bought this entire bottom from the Morgan Spring Company in 1909, thus increasing their property holdings by nearly eighty acres. They partly dismantled and greatly improved the plant, installing a continuous rod mill, the first in the valley, and adding a plant for the manufacture of steel wire and nails. ( Note.—It is a fact of interest to veterans of the World War that many miles HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 433 of barbed wire from this plant went into the making of the barbed wire entanglements which confused our enemies, and, at times, ourselves. The writer remembers a most difficult half hour spent in negotiating one of these entanglements, in broad daylight, with no opposition but the wire itself.) In 1915 the Sheet and Tube Company began the installation of a by-product coke plant, using the famous Koppers ovens. In the earlier days of the iron business, after coke became the usual fuel, the burning of this necessary article was the most uneconomic process in the entire business. Fuel gas was allowed to disseminate into the air, while the equally valuable coal tar flowed off to contaminate the streams for miles around the old "bee-hive" ovens. The idea of saving these by-products came from the Germans, originally, but has now been adopted nearly everywhere in the United States where coke is needed. The Sheet and Tube coke plant is located just across the river from the main plant, within the corporate limits of Struthers. During the same year of 1915 the company erected a magnificent office building and laboratories on the hillside south of the river at the end of their bridge, and a hospital at the end of the viaduct leading into the city of Campbell. In 1915 and 1916 the company also inaugurated an elaborate plan for housing their employes, both in Campbell and on the south side of the river, partly in Struthers and partly in their Buckeye Plat, which has since been annexed to Youngstown. In 1916 the company purchased the two blast furnaces of the Andrews and Hitchcock Iron Company at Hubbard. The operations of the company were rounded out in 1917 by the purchase of extensive coal mine properties in Green County, Pennsylvania. Here they founded the company town of Nemacolin. In the spring of 1923 the consolidation of the Brier Hill Steel Company with the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company united under one control the two great steel corpora- 434 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO tions which were most closely identified with Youngstown men and capital. Both plants had been greatly enlarged during the war period, and the result of the merger is an organization second in size and influence only to the United States Steel Corporation. A further merger of the Youngstown Sheet Tube Company with the Bethlehem Steel Company and other interests, just before the beginning of the depression period of 1929 was blocked by a suit brought by stockholders of the Sheet and Tube Company who were not in sympathy with the merger plans. The decision in this case rendered by Judge David G. Jenkins, of the Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas, was against the merger. The following years of depression halted the appeal from this decision, and the present state of affairs is that the Youngstown corporation stands alone. On the retirement of Mr. Campbell from active participation in business affairs he was succeeded by Mr. Frank Purnell, the present general manager. This corporation, while suffering the same loss of business which has affected the whole nation for the last five years, seems now on the road to prosperity again; new improvements, especially in the tube and sheet departments, are certain to add greatly to its efficiency, and the whole valley hopes that the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company will reassume the leading position is has occupied in the steel industry of the country. Another great steel corporation which has been identified with Youngstown to a great extent from its beginning is the Republic Steel Corporation. This corporation, under its original name, the Republic Iron and Steel Company, was incorporated in 1899, thus antedating the United States Steel Corporation by two years. As originally organized the Republic combined a number of mills and steel plants in various portions of the nation, but the principal part of its prop- HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 435 erties soon centered in our valley. The Youngstown plants incorporated in it at the beginning were the old Brown, Bonnel Iron Company, the Andrews Brothers Company, and the Mahoning Valley Iron Company. This combination of properties gave the Republic territorial holdings extending from the east side of Market Street along the river for miles, and for some distance in the Crab Creek Valley. With this beginning the company entered on a program of expansion which has extended its Youngstown properties to such an extent that its mills, steel plants and blast furnaces make an almost continuous line along the Mahoning River for nearly three miles. Starting at the east side of Market Street bridge with the general offices of the company, next, going east, are the bar mills and Bessemer converters of the old Brown, Bonnell plant, then, after an interval of about half a mile, the tube mills and plate mills, then, in the Hazelton district, the four blast furnaces, the open-hearth plant and the blooming mills, and finally the company's by product coke plant. The De Forest Sheet and Tin Plate Company, a sheet mill plant located just west of Niles, was purchased by the Republic in 1919. This plant was founded by Mr. Charles S. Thomas, in company with Mr. W. A. Thomas and others. After the Struthers Iron and Steel Company was sold to the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company, Mr. Charles Thomas organized the Empire plant in Niles, and when this plant was sold to the Brier Hill Steel Company he built the De Forest Mill. The selling out of the plant ended his active management of any mill business, his subsequent time having been occupied in the direction of a multitude of varied interests. The recent acquisition of the Trumbull Steel Company has further greatly enlarged the Republic Steel Corporation, and at the time of this writing a further merger with Cleveland interests is in process of development. This merger 436 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO will not be complete in time to be included in the present history. The Trumbull Steel Company is entitled to its own place in our narrative. Before 1912 the city of Warren, while continuing its quiet prosperity, and developing in culture while retaining its charm, had taken no great part in the industrial development of the valley. In that year, however, it was invaded by a group of steel men. Jonathan Warner and William H. B. Ward, both representatives of old iron families, had been associated, with Charles S. Thomas and James Patterson, in the management of the Struthers Iron and Steel Company. After that plant was sold Mr. Warner removed his interests to Niles, while Mr. Ward remained in Struthers for some years, in the employ of the Steel Corporation, until the land and buildings were sold to the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, who established on the site the Western Conduit Company, a subsidiary corporation for the manufacture of conduit pipe. In 1912 Mr. Warner and Mr. Ward, with W. T. Hardesty, D. W. Kerr and John T. Harrington, purchased a tract of land along the Mahoning River on the east side of Warren, and there built the plant of the Trumbull Steel Company. The plant originally consisted of sheet and tin mills, the total equipment by the end of the second year being nineteen tin mills, thirteen sheet mills and two jobbing mills, with tinning, galvanizing, and roofing departments—the largest and most complete plant of the kind in the valley. In 1916 the Trumbull plant was increased by the addition of strip mills, and in 1917 they built open-hearth furnaces and blooming mills. In 1919 the plant of the Liberty Steel Company, just west of Warren, was added to the Trumbull holdings. It was at this time one of the largest plants in the United States which manufactured sheet steel products. HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 437 A few years ago further plans for expansion involved the Trumbull Steel Company in financial difficulties, which were finally solved by its sale to the Republic Steel Corporation. Under the control of the Republic it bids fair to emerge from the depression period with success, and to bring back prosperity to Warren, which city was doubled in population as a result of the building of this mill. The Republic Steel Corporation, like the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, has weathered successfully the depression period, and now, under the direction of the present general manager, Mr. Tom Girdler, looks forward to greater prosperity. Present indications point to greatly increased business for both these great organizations. The Sharon Steel Hoop Compony, a corporation whose original plant is located in Sharon, Pennsylvania, in the Shenango Valley, and just across the Pennsylvania line, has since the war assumed a position among Mahoning Valley industries which entitles it to be classified among the leaders in the steel business here. The Sharon plant was built to manufacture strip steel and hoops. In 1917 the company purchased the sheet mills of the Youngstown Iron and Steel Company, in the Hazelton district. This company included in its holdings an open-hearth steel plant and blooming and sheet-bar mills at Lowellville. The Sharon Steel Hoop Company doubled the capacity of the Lowellville plant, and completed its development by purchasing from the Ohio Iron and Steel Company the old Mary Furnace, in a previous chapter mentioned as the oldest blast furnace in the valley now in operation. The Sharon Steel Hoop Company has continued to enlarge its operations in the valley, and, while not as large as the other leading corporations engaged in the operation of blast furnaces and steel plants, has the confidence of both 438 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO its employes and the public. Recently the management of this corporation has been assumed by Mr. Harry A. Roemer, who, after a boyhood and youth spent in the valley, rose to a prominent place in the iron and steel world in Canton and elsewhere, and returns now to his old home with the goodwill of his old friends and associates. It will be noticed that those corporations described in this chapter so far are principally concerned still with the manufacture of such steel products as are to be used for further processes of manufacture elsewhere. For instance, the steel produced in the valley enters largely into the construction of automobiles, agricultural implements, tin products, and many other articles in various parts of the United States and foreign countries. Two local plants remain to be described among our larger industries which carry to a farther point the manufacture of steel products. The General Fireproofing Company, whose plant is located in the Crab Creek Valley, has a world-wide reputation for the manufacture of steel furniture, metal lath and other steel parts for re-inforced concrete work. This plant has been in operation since 1902. The increased demand for steel construction in public buildings, office and commercial buildings, and in furniture, has its explanation in the universal desire to reduce fire hazards. This desire has gone to the extent of creating a demand for fire-proof furniture, and the General Fireproofing Company has met this demand by producing steel furniture which rivals wood in beauty, and excels it in lasting qualities. The result has been that the products of this company are sold in every part of the United States, and in all progressive foreign countries. The present general manager, Mr. George C. Brainard, combines high executive ability with a large and intelligent interest in civic affairs. HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 439 The Truscon Steel Company is also located in the Crab Creek Valley, near the General Fireproofing Company. This corporation was originally organized in Detroit, by Mr. Julius Kahn and associates. In 1906 its principal plant was transferred to Youngstown, and it has since grown to national fame. The business of the company is the manufacture and fabrication of bars, shapes and forms for reinforced concrete work. No kind of steel construction for concrete work is beyond the capacity of the company, from road, culvert and bridge work to concrete buildings of any kind. The firm is entering, with the rest of the business of the valley, in the hope of a return of prosperity in the steel business. The Mahoning Valley from Warren to Lowellville is a continuous line of rolling mills, steel plants and blast furnaces. The old inhabitant does not tire of the sight of our magnificent procession of dynamic industries, while the stranger in the valley is likely to be astounded at the scene. It is not within our province to make a guide book, but we cannot refrain from a suggestion. To see the valley in operation one should cross to the southern end of the Market Street Viaduct in Youngstown. Turn east on Woodland Avenue, and follow this thoroughfare, under its various names, past the mills and furnaces of the Republic Steel Corporation. Immediately on leaving the last of these the various units of the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company in Campbell and Struthers follow. At the eastern end of Struthers City, after an interval of less than a mile comes the Lowellville plant of the Sharon Steel Hoop Company, ending with the Mary Furnace, interesting for its historical importance. The whole trip, for a distance of about eight miles, passes mills which when working full time and capacity employ almost one hundred thousand men. The sight is magnificent by day, but at night rises to heights of grandeur 440 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO which, in the writer's opinion, cannot be equaled by any of the works of man on this planet. Over four years of depression, resulting in widespread lack of employment, have strained the resources of the valley to a point where a lesser people would have given up the struggle. But the strong have helped the weak, and all have striven together for the coming of a better day. The battle is not yet won, but hope is dawning. In this spring of 1935 there is a feeling that our worst time has past, that the mills are getting to work again. The men of the valley want to work, and to receive the proper return for their labor. We are a group of laboring men, who work in steel, think in steel, and live in steel. People from other regions complain of our smoke and dirt. We glory in it. It is honest smoke and clean dirt, made by the most dynamic and useful of the industries of the world. CHAPTER V THE COMMERCIAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE MAHONING VALLEY The previous two chapters have dealt with the building of the iron and steel industry. We have said little about the building of the cities and villages which necessarily grew as a result of this development. It is necessary now to devote a chapter to this story. As Youngstown has grown to be the undisputed metropolis of the Mahoning Valley, its story should come first. At the close of the Civil War, Youngstown was still little more than a straggling village, hugging closely the bank of the river, and disputing with Canfield the possession of the county seat. To one who now visits the village of Canfield, and admires its quiet beauty and charm, it would seem absurd that it should ever have aspired to contest for local supremacy with the great neighboring city whose towers cast shadows almost to Canfield's boundaries. But such was the case. A glance at the files of the two Youngstown newspapers of the early seventies will show that they even ceased from time to time from throwing political mud at each other, and at the opposing parties they represented, to unite in a campaign whose purpose was to get away from Canfield the courthouse and the county offices. This controversy became active about 1872. In 1874 an act was passed by the state legislature providing for the removal of the county seat to Youngstown, providing that a majority of the voters of the county approved the action. The - 441 - 442 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO vote on the question favored Youngstown by a large majority. Yet the citizens of Canfield did not give up the struggle. The affair was taken to the courts. The Supreme Court of Ohio decided in favor of Youngstown. The Canfield contestants succeeded in bringing the case to the Supreme Court of the United States, with no less a person than James A. Garfield as their representative. But in spite of the eloquence and legal talent of their advocate, Canfield lost again, and this decision of course settled the matter. The jubilant Youngstown citizenry began the erection of a new court house on the southeast corner of Wick Avenue and Wood Street, which in pretentious ugliness rivaled any construction of that monstrous era in American architecture. The possession of the courthouse, however, probably had little to do with Youngstown's advancing prosperity. It was the character of the citizenry which caused its growth. The progress of the city may be seen in the following figures: 1870 - 8,075 1880 - 15,435 1890 - 33,220 1900 - 44,885 1910 - 79,066 1920 - 132,358 1930 - 170,002 This will convey to the reader the steady growth, almost constant from year to year, which has stabilized the development of Youngstown. At no time has there been a decline, at no time an undue expansion. The influx of population has included native born from other less progressive parts of the state and nation, foreign born, coming first from the British Isles, afterwards from Italy and the Austrian Empire, later still from the farther eastern Slavic nations, and after the World War a sudden migration of the colored population from the cotton states. For instance, within the HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 443 writer's recollection the neighborhood of Center Street in Youngstown's east end has been inhabited by three distinct population groups : first, English, Irish and Welsh; second, immigrants from eastern and southern Europe; and third, colored people from the far South. A census of high school children in Youngstown now will find nearly half of foreign parentage, and nearly three-fourths with foreign born grandparents, while the children themselves are nearly all not only native born, but born in Youngstown. These figures will hold in most of the manufacturing towns of the valley, with the exception of Warren, where the native born still greatly predominate. This variety of population Youngstown has assimilated, nationalized and educated. With the present immigration laws in force, it seems likely that another generation will see the complete disuse of the term "foreign" in the steel country as a designation to be applied to any permanent inhabitant. Time will solve the problem of the eastern European, as it has already solved the problem of the English, Irish, Scotch, Welsh and German elements in our population. By 1890 Youngstown, with a population of over 33,000, had begun to assume a leading position among the cities of the state. Yet it was a struggling town, with wide unoccupied spaces. The Hazelton and Brier Hill settlements had been annexed shortly before. Business was practically confined to Federal Street. A horse car line ran from Basin Street on the east to Brier Hill on the west. There was little or no settlement on the south side of the river. Wick Avenue, with its fine row of Victorian mansions, was the home of the leading citizens. In 1891 the first electric cars began to run on the streets, and in the next ten years the electric lines were extended over most of the city, and as far east as Struthers. The problem of local and interurban transportation was solved by the organization of the Pennsylvania 444 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO and Ohio Electric Company, which in the early years of the new century had extended its lines the full extent of the valley, and to New Castle and Sharon, Pennsylvania. That the trolley car was to be an episode in valley history, to be practically abandoned for motor bus transportation was a thing no one dreamed of then. West Federal Street was paved with cobble-stones, East Federal and Wick Avenue with asphalt. Most of the other streets were still paved with the native mud till the end of the century. That old cobble-stone pavement on West Federal is an enduring memory to many citizens who still consider themselves young. Advanced education became a permanent institution in the city with the founding of the Rayen School in 1866. Judge William Rayen will be remembered as one of the most useful of the founders of Youngstown. In 1854 he died, "full of years, riches and honor." Of his estate he left $31,390 to found an institution to provide high school education for the children of the community. As a result of this bequest the Rayen School was founded, its original building standing on the northwest corner of Wick Avenue and Wood Street. Rayen has had eight principals in the period of its existence : Edwin S. Gregory, 1866-1878; A. J. Michael, 1878-1879 ; M. S. Campbell, 1879-1883 ; B. M. Hill, 1883- 1891 ; George F. Jewett, 1891-1901; Wells L. Griswold, 1901- 1911 ; Edwin F. Miller, 1911-1934 ; and the present principal, F. F. Herr. In 1899 the beginning of the development of the south side really began, with the opening of the Market Street viaduct. The immediate and tremendous growth of this section of the city made it evident that a second high school would be necessary. As a result, South High School was opened in 1911, with C. B. Dyke as principal. After several changes, South High School, now much the largest institution in the city, is directed by George P. Chatterton. HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 445 In 1923 Rayen School was moved to a new location on the north side on Ohio, Benita and Cordova Avenues. Four years later it became evident that more high school facilities were needed and two more high schools were built, Chaney High School in the southwest section of the city and East High School on the northeast corner. C. W. Ricksecker is principal of Chaney, J. W. Smith of East. Since then the annexation of the Coitsville Township section of the city has added Scienceville High to the city system. Youngstown has one private high school, the Ursuline High School, under the direction of the Catholic Ursuline Sisters. Federal Street has remained the principal business section. In the years since 1900 there have grown up a magnificent group of buildings around the Public Square, and especially to the west. The Stambaugh Building, which houses the main offices of the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company; the Realty Trust Building, the new Tod House, built on the historic site of the old Tod House which made history in the earlier days; the Mahoning Bank Building; the Central Tower; the Union Bank Building, first built by the old First National Bank but taken over by the Union Bank at the time of its organization; the Dollar Bank Building, the first to be built, but now overshadowed by its taller neighbors, make the Public Square a truly metropolitan center, dwarfing the soldiers' monument, which once reached the highest elevation on the square. West of the Union Bank the magnificent store building of the Strouss Hirshberg Company, rises, and next the City Trust and Savings Bank. In the second block west is the other magnificent structure of the G. M. McKelvey Company. The Home Savings and Loan Building stands at the corner of Federal and Chestnut Streets, while the Ohio Hotel rises high at the corner of Boardman and Hazel Streets. On East Federal must be mentioned the Central Store and the Y. M. C. A. while 446 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO the beautiful front of the Stambaugh-Thompson Company on West Federal also deserves mention. Youngstown's business district is worthy of the city. Nor are there lacking buildings of great architectural charm which are not devoted to business. The present Mahoning County Courthouse, which stands facing Market Street, filling the block from Boardman to Front has magnificent classic lines. Its interior is a marble rotunda four stories in height, surrounded by galleries from which open the office and court rooms. The mural paintings in the court rooms, depicting scenes in the early history of the county, are widely admired. The English Gothic building of Youngstown College, at Wick and Lincoln Avenues, is admirable in its lines. The Public Library building at Wick and Rayen, in the classic Roman style has a charm not lessened by its simplicity. Perhaps more nearly perfect in its classic lines than any other building in the city is the Butler Art Gallery. This building, purely Greek, was the gift of Joseph G. Butler, Jr., whose benefactions to the city and the valley might be made the subject of a separate book. Facing Wick Park from the west side of Fifth Avenue is the great Stambaugh Auditorium. This building was constructed from funds derived from the bequest of Henry H. Stambaugh. Both its exterior and interior are on a scale of grandeur seldom to be seen in American architecture. Another building, small but worth inspection on account of its architectural excellence, is the home of Post 15 of the American Legion, on Spring Street, carefully designed as an American Colonial type. On the South Side may be mentioned the beautiful branch building of the public library at Market and Delason. We have no space to mention the many fine residences which have beautified the city. On Fifth Avenue and other streets in the Crandall Park neighborhood of the north side HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 447 are many of these. The many fine homes near Mill Creek Park and in Newport on the south side add to the great charm of the park. Youngstown takes just pride in its beautiful homes. It is also not possible to do more than to mention Youngs-town's many fine churches. St. Columba's Roman Catholic is a grand specimen of the Gothic type. St. John's Episcopal is early English. The two Jewish Temples, Rodef Sholem and Anshe Emeth, both facing Wick Park, are different types from eastern Europe. Between them stands the First Unitarian Church, a perfect copy of the New England village church, and therefore especially interesting, when one considers the New England origin of our first settlers. The First Christian Church has just completed a beautiful building at Wick and Spring. Other fine churches are to be found in all parts of the city. Youngstown citizens are justly proud of the park system of the city. Foremost among the city parks, and exceeded in beauty by none in the state, is Mill Creek Park. This park is a memorial to its founder, Volney Rogers. Early in the Nineties Mr. Rogers conceived the idea of dedicating the wonderful gorge of Mill Creek to public use. Under his direction it developed from wilderness to park. Its original extent was four hundred and fifty-seven acres. It contains many miles of drives, bridle and foot paths, and three beautiful lakes, Cohasset, Glazier and Newport. Recent additions, including a municipal golf links, have increased its area to several times the original acreage. The entire system now terminates at the Boardman Canfield road, and includes most of the famous Boardman Woods. Youngstown has added several other parks, Lincoln, in the Dry Run Valley, in the east end; Wick and Crandall Parks on the North Side, and Powers Run on the southeast corner of the city, being the most important. 448 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO Although primarily intended for utilitarian purposes, the fact that they have greatly added to the scenic charm of the valley makes it appropriate here to describe the many reservoirs which have been constructed in the Mahoning Valley. The need for a sure water supply has caused the impounding of many of the streams which feed the valley, including the main river itself. First in point of time, and perhaps still most beautiful, is Lake Hamilton, on Yellow Creek between Struthers and Poland. The great sixty-five foot dam which impounds this lake was built in 1907 by the Mahoning Valley Water Company, which has since been merged in the Ohio Water Service Company. The Lake Hamilton dam is placed in a spot of rare beauty, only a few feet from the ruins of the old Hopewell Furnace, described in an earlier chapter. This lake has an extent in length of a mile and a half, and a width of more than half a mile. Its winding shores and deep cut bays make it an exquisitely beautiful body of water. This company has further impounded Yellow Creek by the creation of Pine Lake, near North Lima, and Burgess Lake, on the Burgess Run branch near Poland. A further reservoir, to be constructed just south of Poland on the Main branch, will practically complete the impounding of the stream without any detraction from its original beauty. The Ohio Water Service Company has also control of McKinley Lake, north of Niles, and McKelvey Lake, on Dry Run in Coitsville Township, and the city reservoir at Massillon, among its holdings in our territory. The largest of the Mahoning Valley Reservoirs in area and volume of water is Lake Milton. This lake, several miles in length, and more than a mile in width, is wholly in Milton Township, on the western border of the county. It was constructed under the direction of the City of Youngstown. Its purpose is to increase the natural flow of the stream during HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 449 dry weather. The river flows for a distance of nearly fifty miles after leaving Lake Milton, passing through Newton Falls, Leavittsburg, Warren, Niles and Girard, before reaching Youngstown, so that the lake is a benefit to the entire valley. As none of its water is used directly for household purposes, the lake is open for bathing and boating, and as a result it has become a popular summer resort. The entire shore is lined with summer cottages, hundreds of Youngstown and other neighboring people taking advantage of it every summer. The latest of the local reservoirs to be constructed is the Meander Lake, on Meander Creek in Austintown Township. This is a city reservoir, for the purpose of furnishing household water to the cities of Youngstown and Niles. Its construction has solved a problem which was most vexing to Youngstown : the obtaining of pure water for household use. While much has been done to conserve the water supply of the valley, as we have shown, the problem is not yet solved. The great Pymatuning reservoir, just across the Pennsylvania line, may be partly used for canal purposes, but it will be necessary to continue the impounding of the streams of the Mahoning Valley until every available site has been covered, if we are to have an adequate water supply. This is one of the problems to be solved in the next few years. A recital of Youngstown's various mercantile establishments here is not possible, owing to lack of space, and it would not be fair to attempt a partial list. However, we might mention the two great department stores which have been part of the life of the city for many years. The G. M. McKelvey Company was founded by George M. McKelvey in 1882. He purchased at that time the pioneer business of E. M. McMillen. Mr. McKelvey conducted the business for more than twenty years, until his death in 1904.