Between 1890 and 1924, Italian immigrants flocked to Ohio's Mahoning Valley. The area's burgeoning iron and steel industries beckoned with job prospects for immigrants fleeing southern and eastern Europe--particularly from southern Italy, a region that at the time lacked opportunity and highly taxed its natives. Upon the arrival of these new residents, neighborhoods such as Youngstown's Smoky Hollow and Brier Hill offered accepting communities, and Niles Fire Brick Factory Company and Trumbull Blast Furnace provided employment. Assimilation was not always easy, and discrimination did occur,...

Founded in 1796, Youngstown, Ohio, was for many years a small community hugging the banks of the Mahoning River. Although the area was an iron-producing region beginning in the early 19th century, it was steel that gave the Mahoning Valley and its largest city its signature identity. The images in this volume reflect the overwhelming presence of the steel industry and its enormous impact on the lives of the city's people. From the built environment to the neighborhoods, public buildings, and its very workplaces, steel was the lifeblood of this city. At its peak, Youngstown was the...