The History of Youngstown has been a topic of conversation between my friends, coworkers and I lately, it's been a hobby of mine since I learned what history was. After some considerable thought on my part, I agree, Bruce Springsteen was right, Youngstown built cannon balls for the civil war, tanks for WWII, and everything in between. Youngstown and its suburbs were a deep, dark, dank nasty place to live. Bruce said "A little bit of everything you could have, if you played by the rules."
The #1 rule was steel.
WE BUILT STEEL. All of us.
The Mafia was in town for sure, they made the rules. The Yo was corrupt in the eyes of some, but if you played by the rules....Soot filled the skies, "Mill Dust" covered the dishes. A constant "orange glow" over the city, even in the daylight. Traffic, pedestrians, city bustle; it was horrible. According to my father: "You could not drive through downtown Stuthers at 3:00 PM because of all the workers crossing the street." We were building houses, businesses and services to accommodate the influx of people. The people that WANTED to be IN Youngstown.
"Them smokestacks reaching like the arms of God into the beautiful skies of soot and clay.."
Everyone had a job. Everyone had money. Crime was at an all time low, except for "Organized Crime" that was running rampant. But if you went to work, and kept your nose clean they would never mess with you. The EPA was not happy with us, but we sure were! From the guy tapping the furnace to make sure we built quality steel, to the guy at the car wash cleaning your brand new car.
"Well my daddy worked them furnaces, he kept them hotter than hell..."
The locomotive engineer hauling iron ore into town, to the jeweler building his pocket watch to make sure that ore was on time. The men and women of the train yards to make it all happen, to the seamstresses that made the uniforms. And yes, the bars that cashed the paychecks, because we all had a paycheck. And a check actually meant a man's word that the funds were there. We worked hard and we were proud. Car dealers up and down Wick Ave instead of out in Boardman. Christmas shopping on West Federal St instead of the mall. Movie theaters downtown. All roads led IN to Youngstown.
"Taconite, coke and limestone fed my children...."
We didn't leave Youngstown because we didn't have to. We made Steel, bread, milk, cheese, ice cream, cars, electronics, trains, clothes, hospitals, and an amusement park. Right here in Youngstown.
We took care of each other. Not because we had to, but because we wanted to, it was the right thing to do. We knew our neighbor's kids and watched for them to walk home from school, we called their parents when they were goofing off a bit too much because we KNEW their parents. I got my ass beat on a regular basis because of a phone call from a neighbor. We saw them at church, and the corner store. We knew where they worked, lived and spent leisure time. We were a community.
"We gave our sons a 'career in Viet Nam' now we're wondering what they were dying for.."
What the hell happened? We now seem to need a psychiatric hospital (Which we had, but closed) The entire city and surrounding areas are "medicated" either from a doctor, or a dirty needle on the street corner. Depression, Anxiety, ADD, ADHD, PTSD and whatever newest "syndrome" the pharmaceutical companies can talk you into believing you have, Fibro-Mialgia so they can sell you this new drug they made but have no use for. Invent a disease to match our new drug! Everyone seems to feel "entitled" to something from someone else. You owe me!
I don't owe you a God Damn thing. If you want to know what PTSD REALLY is, just walk to your closest Fire or Police Station. ALL of these men and women can be diagnosed with PTSD, yet each and everyone of them goes to work. To help you. To help a stranger. We fight our personal demons, put them at bay, to fight your demons. We're from Youngstown, that's what we do!
Right, wrong or indifferent, None of us are Youngstown Natives, that generation has passed away a century ago. We are ALL "Imports" from other lands. But we are all here as a direct result of our grandparent's dreams and hopes. Are we living up to them? Are we striving to make Youngstown, yes I said YOUNGSTOWN, not "YO" all that it can be? For whatever reason, we are all here from different places of birth, and different cultures, but for the same purpose that I believe we lost track of.
Different cultures came together in the early 1900's to build Youngstown, Ohio. One hundred years later, we seem to be focusing on "different" instead of "culture" and destroying Youngstown.
I'm not willing to sit by and watch this city die, are you?
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