About this site

Youngstown Renaissance celebrates the history and explores the future of Youngstown, Ohio. You’ll read about activities and ideas that promote the area and interviews with prominent citizens, dedicated activists and compelling artists. Together, we’ll promote the culture and vitality of Youngstown, as the city makes its way—beaten and bruised perhaps, but proud and passionate nonetheless—in the 21st Century.

This effort is sincerely dedicated, with eternal gratitude and love, to Robert Fitzer. Perhaps more than any other individual, Youngstown’s current renaissance is possible due to his efforts. He fought tirelessly against the corruption that effectively killed the city’s chances for renewal after the steel bust. Furthermore, he made the city beautiful through his efforts to preserve its historical sites and his contributions to the arts, through his incomparable clarinet artistry and pedagogy.

To be sure, he had many friends and helpers. Youngstown continues to be home to dozens of committed activists who care about its history, present, and future and who have called Youngstown home for many years. In addition, I’m proud to be a part of a growing group of young professionals adding our voices to the cause. I invite you to share your comments as we journey together.

Ultimately, this blog is about living in Youngstown. Usually it will be about what’s going on in Youngstown, but it will also be about life. To what end should we remake and preserve Youngstown, if not to enjoy our lives here? Thanks for reading.

If you’re not quite sure where to start, here are the most-read posts from the site:
Fifth Avenue Historic District Homes

This is not an exhaustive chronicle of the Crandall Park-Fifth Avenue historical homes roster, but it is at least a fairly complete showing of north Fifth Avenue homes.

If these walls could talk

I spent some time this week doing research into previous owners of our house at 1860 5th Avenue on the north side, part of the Crandall Park-Fifth Avenue Historic District. The research involved simply reading through the city directories from the ’20s through the ’80s. The Maag Library at YSU has them in print going back at least through the ’20s, perhaps further. The public library on Wick next to St. John’s has them in print after 1950 and earlier ones on microfilm.

The city directories list residents both by address and by last name, so I looked up the listing for our address, then cross referenced the names to find their occupation and children, if any.

Anthony McGill to perform for Obama inauguration

In the summer of 1989 I went to the National Music Camp for the first time. I stayed for eight weeks in a cabin with eleven other boys. One of these, Chip, is still my best friend in the world. The next summer I was cabin-mates with Demarre McGill, a flautist and now principal flute with the San Diego Symphony. I met Demarre’s younger brother, Anthony, at the Interlochen Arts Academy. Anthony is a clarinetist, and he was always at the top of his game.

Program Notes: Firebird Suite (1919) by Stravinsky

The music of Igor Stravinsky exists in every conceivable style. His friend, collaborator, and biographer, Robert Craft, described it as “Mozartian variety.” Stravinsky’s inspiration came from all around him. In one anecdote, he was inspired to write a piece by a notice he encountered at Harvard, “DO NOT THROW PAPER TOWELS IN TOILET.”

Some Environmental Impacts of Black Monday

The Mahoning River, however, is another matter. Used for more than a century as a private sewer by various mining and manufacturing operations, a contact ban is in effect from at least Warren down to the state line, due to the level of harmful contaminants in the water. Just as the soot-dusted houses were perceived as a sign of prosperity, the river’s pollution was dismissed “because it carries away the waste from industry, thereby providing jobs for the community and serving the best interest of the public.”

Downtown: The Vision

In a recent gathering of local activists, bloggers and concerned citizens, we discussed ideas that could be applied to preserve and enhance the Downtown. One of the action items that came out of it was for the group to create a compelling vision for what Downtown could and should be. We won’t make headway with “don’t tear this down” and “don’t build that parking lot”. We have to be able to say, convincingly, here is a Downtown that will be attractive, functional, vital and historic.

Under Neat that

This is too funny, I had to share. Just a little smile for your Friday. Here is a going-away cake. I had to stare at the cake for some thirty seconds and still couldn’t quite figure out what was going on

Mark Peyko remembers Bob Fitzer

From 1987 to 1994 Fitzer was a feature writer and senior consultant for Speed of Sound magazine. He was a founding member of Easy Street Productions’ Little Big Band and served as co-host and producer of the WYSU-FM political radio show “Commentary Café” from 1995 to 2001.

Essay: My Journey to Reason

The process of reconciling the world I know with the one I was taught has been painfully challenging. Like extracting an entrenched weed, several attempts passed while the root remained obstinate and unmoved. Ultimately, I have found a certainty quite unlike what I expected, yet the long journey was necessitated by the depth of indoctrination from my youth.

The Day Hanni’s Party Ended

Hanni had presented himself as unvarnished, the other side as hypocrites with political aims. He refused to apologize for dealing bluntly with Democrats on the state and federal levels, saying he was trying only to gain favor for the
county.

Butler’s History of Youngstown on Google Books

We can’t properly assess where we are now without an understanding of and appreciation for where we have been. We can point with pride to our history and create in ourselves the conscience of our future by placing our present in the context of those events and individuals that have gone before us. With this in mind, I’d like to take the liberty of including the Volume I table of contents here, which will take you–thanks to Google’s unique online reading software–directly to the chapter in question. I invite you to explore a topic of interest this week in this invaluable resource.

Sledding in Crandall Park

The snow has fallen so thickly this week that we knew it was time to go sledding. The kids sensed it and requested it, and we couldn’t but add our desire to theirs. We saw a line of cars, trucks, and mini-vans parked by the hills along the park’s edge. We found a straightaway and–time and again–set down our sled. The powder flew up into our faces as we slid down, and we climbed back up to the top to see if the next run would go farther.

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