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An annual summer tradition for American youth since the 1930s, the All-American Soap Box Derby was the concept of journalist Myron E. (“Scottie”) Scott, who covered an impromptu homebuilt gravity-car race in Dayton in 1933. Scott conceived and promoted a prize-awarding event later that year, and to his surprise 362 boys entered the race. Restrictions on material cost and participants’ ages widened the sport’s appeal; the Soap Box Derby held its first national championship in Akron in 1935, sponsored by the auto and rubber industries. Derby Downs, built as a public works project by the New Deal-era Works Progress Administration (WPA), has been the event’s home since 1936. The Soap Box Derby continues to promote the values of craftsmanship, sportsmanship, and perseverance for generations of American youth.
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In 1883, James E. Brown built this seven-panel Howe truss bridge over the North Branch of Caesar Creek, near the site of Lyman Ballard’s grist mill and on the property of William C. Dean. At the time it was built, iron, concrete, and steel structures began to surpass the construction of wooden covered bridges. The construction of U.S. Route 35 severed the bridge from its original connection to the Dean property. In 1975, the bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places. As of 2016, the Ballard Road bridge is one of six covered bridges in Greene County.
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Crile General Hospital, named for renowned Cleveland surgeon, Dr. George W. Crile, was dedicated at this site on April 21, 1944. Dr. Crile, founder of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, was a brigadier general in the U.S. Army. The $4.5 million hospital covered 153 acres and contained seven miles of corridors linking 87 buildings with 1725 beds. During World War II, hospital staff provided care to 15,000 wounded U.S. soldiers and several hundred German prisoners of war. The hospital became a Veterans Administration Medical Center in 1945. A Nike missile battery was installed on the grounds in 1956 as part of the nation’s general defense program. In 1966 the Crile barracks became the Western Campus of Cuyahoga Community College, registering 3,000 students for its fall inaugural semester. The College used the old Crile buildings until the current campus was constructed in 1975.
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Crandall Park is the heart of the historic district and includes Fifth Avenue, Redondo Road, Catalina Avenue, and Tod Lane. Most of the district’s historic structures were built between 1904 and 1930, Youngstown’s heyday as an urban and industrial center. The district encompasses 92 houses, 32 outbuildings, a pavilion and rustic stone shelter in Crandall Park, and the concrete arch bridge carrying Fifth Avenue over the park. The North Heights Land Company and the Realty Guarantee Trust Company developed much of the neighborhood. Homes in the district were built for the city’s prominent industrialists and businessmen. The houses feature the work of architects Morris Scheibel, Charles F. Owsley, Fred Medicus, Barton Brooke, and Cook and Canfield and are distinguished by their grand scale, high-style design, spacious lots, landscaping, and orientation to the park or boulevard roads. (Continued on other side)
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Construction of the Miami Extension of the Miami and Erie Canal, which included Troy, began around 1834. Lock 12 was built in 1836. General William Henry Harrison and other dignitaries officially opened the Troy section on July 4, 1837. The canal brought prosperity to the area, as its products were shipped to new markets and more people moved here. The last canal boat came through Lock 12 in 1912 and the disastrous flood of March 1913 finally ended Troy and Ohio’s canal era. Evidence suggests that in the late 1920s, the Hobart Brothers Company’s building on West Main Street covered part of the lock. The building and lock were razed in 2015. The footprint monument was dedicated June 7, 2017 and includes stones from Lock 12.
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A salt spring, located about a mile west of this site, was the primary attraction for immigrants to the Western Reserve territory in the mid-1700s. Prior to European-American settlement, Indians used the springs, boiling the water to extract the salt and using it for preserving meat among other uses. In 1755, surveyor Lewis Evans underscored the importance of the springs by noting it on his “General Map of the Middle British Colonies in America.” This enticed immigrants from western Pennsylvania to the region. In addition to the salt itself, the abundance of wildlife near the spring ensured good hunting in the area. (Continued on other side)
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The Lima and Toledo Traction Company Bridge was construted in 1907 by the National Bridge Company of Indianapolis, and it was considered to be a revolutionary type of bridge construction. The Old Electric Bridge, as it was called, was built of steel reinforced concrete and filled with earth. In fact, for this period some considered the bridge to be the longest such railroad bridge in the world. Twelve spans of Roman aqueduct architectural design anchor the 1220-foot bridge in solid river bedrock. The bridge linked Lucas and Wood counties and connected a busy Toledo with points south by means of an electric trolley. This Interurban Bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
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John Young included a public square in his town plan of 1798. A one-room log schoolhouse opened in 1803. In the decades that followed, the Market and Federal Street intersection became the social center of Youngstown with wood-frame houses, churches, and an opera house surrounding the square. Horse-drawn streetcars, running from Brier Hill through the square, became the first form of public transportation in 1875. From 1869 to 1969 the nationally known Tod Hotel dominated the southeast corner of the square. Guests included seven U.S. presidents. Federal Street was paved in 1882, and electric street lights were installed in 1886. The “Diamond,” as the square was sometimes called, became the transportation hub of the city, especially after the Market Street Bridge opened in 1899. Marker for “Central Square (1900-2004)” across the street.
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