It all started with a dance | News, Sports, Work

Staff photo / Andy Gray H. William Lawson, executive director of the Mahoning Valley Historical Society, stands in front of the Tyler History Center, one of Lawson’s proudest accomplishments during his 37 years with the historical society. MVHS is kicking off its 150th anniversary celebration with an open house Sunday.

YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning Valley Historical Society will kick off a year-long celebration of its 150th anniversary on Sunday.

“We are hosting an open house for the public at the Tyler History Center so they can learn more about our organization” H. William Lawson, the association’s executive director, said: “We will also be running walking tours of the city centre. We want to give people a sense of what the city centre was like in 1875.

“There may only be two buildings in the city centre that existed at that time, but we can point them out and, with the help of a script and a few photos, show them what the city looked like at that time.”

There will be a history fair with local organizations and hands-on activities. And since the Tyler History Center is housed in the building where candy maker Harry Burt made his Good Humor bars, there will be ice cream, too.

The Sunday event is open to the public from noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday will also feature a Founders Day event for members, and activities are planned throughout the next year.

“Our upcoming schedule of Bites and Bits of History programs, which we host on the third Thursday of each month here in Tyler, is dedicated to looking back at the history of our organization, as well as looking at Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley in different decades from the 1870s to 2020.” Lawson said. “We’re going to be doing a lot on our social media and websites, with blog posts and regular updates on what’s happened in the history of our institution and the history of the community. It’s going to culminate in September 2025 with another anniversary open house and another member event on the actual anniversary.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for us to not only tell people more about our local history, but also the very important role we play in this community, preserving community memory and paying tribute to all the people who have lived here.”

It all started with a dance.

A committee was formed to organize the Pioneer Reunion Ball on September 10, 1874. At the time, iron and steel mills and other industries were flourishing in the Mahoning Valley, but some of the original pioneers who settled the area and their descendants were still alive to remember the town’s rural beginnings. They shared their stories at the event, and other early settlers, including Jesse and Roswell Grant (father and uncle of President Ulysses S. Grant, respectively), shared their memories in letters.

“It was a huge success” Lawson said. “It was held at the Youngstown Opera House, which was on the southwest corner of Central Square, and it was so popular that they decided to do it again the following year. And it was at that event that the group decided they wanted to do something more permanent, and it was at that second pioneer reunion that the historical society was formed.”

The U.S. Centennial in 1876 inspired local residents to begin chronicling the history of the Valley. Members began collecting histories of towns and villages in Mahoning and Trumbull counties and published them in a book that same centennial year.

“This was a very ambitious publication for a completely new organization” Lawson said.

Interest waned in the late 19th century and the group remained dormant until 1908, when Joseph G. Butler Jr. joined the organization.

“We know him as an art collector and the founder of the museum (Butler Institute of American Art), but he was also one of the best, if not the best, local historians we’ve ever raised.” Lawson said.

The society was incorporated as a nonprofit organization in Ohio in 1909, and the following year the Reuben McMillan Free Library Association opened a new building at the corner of Wick and Rayen Streets (now the Youngstown and Mahoning County Public Library). The association had a room on the second floor of the building where it stored its artifacts and documents.

The association almost did not live to see its centenary. Membership declined significantly after World War II.

“(Newly appointed president James L. Wick Jr.) looked around and thought, ‘I don’t know if we have any organization left,’ and seriously considered disbanding the historical society and moving the collection to the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland (in the mid-1950s).” Lawson said.

Grace Heath Butler, daughter-in-law of Joseph G. Butler Jr., encouraged Wick to talk to Olive Arms. She was interested in donating her Wick Avenue home and many of her belongings to the society. Arrangements were made, and when she died in 1960, Arms also established two trusts through her estate to run what became the Arms Family Museum.

Lawson has been with the society for nearly a quarter of its history, starting 37 years ago and serving as executive director for the past 33. The establishment of the Tyler History Center and the creation of the Stewart Media Archives are among the accomplishments Lawson is most proud of during his tenure, and one of the goals of the 150th anniversary celebration is to launch a fundraising campaign to renovate the former IBM building acquired last year and transform it into exhibition and storage space.

This is not the only goal.

“We definitely want to increase the number of members” Lawson said. “We want the next generations of people who live here to be part of our future, not only by telling their family stories, but also by getting involved as members and future board members.”

If you go…

WHAT: Mahoning Valley Historical Society Founders’ Day Open House.

WHEN: Sundays from noon to 4:00 p.m.

WHERE: Tyler History Center, 325 W. Federal St., Youngstown.

HOW MUCH: Admission is free. The Arms Family Museum at MVHS will be closed Sunday for an open house. For more information, go to mahoninghistory.org or call 330-743-2589.

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