the almanac J U N E 21, 2026
SOUTH HILLS COMMUNITY NEWS
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IRON, CULTURE AND THE FIREWORKS START EARLY LITTLE STEEL STRIKE IN SOUTH HILLS By Dan Pompili
The (Youngstown) Vindicator
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – It was June 19, 1937, when violence erupted outside Republic Steel’s Stop 5 plant on Poland Avenue. Workers had picketed for weeks as part of the nationwide Little Steel Strike, a bitter battle over union recognition. Republic Steel and Youngstown Sheet & Tube refused to follow industry giant U.S. Steel in recognizing the Steel Workers Organizing Committee. As tensions escalated, production stalled and movement in and out of the mill slowed to a crawl. When the riot broke out at Republic, then-Ohio Gov. Martin Davey declared martial law and dispatched the National Guard to restore order. The confrontation became one of the defining moments in Youngstown labor history. The story of the strike began long before 1937, though, in iron mills, immigrant neighborhoods, church parishes and company offices, as Youngstown transformed itself from a small Connecticut Western Reserve community into one of the world’s leading steel-producing centers. Steel created immense wealth and opportunity throughout the city and Mahoning County. It fueled population growth and helped build many of the institutions that still define the Mahoning Valley today. But it also created labor tensions, power struggles and social divisions. Youngstown’s identity was shaped by the people who came to work in its mills, and by the communities they built around language, religion and shared origin. “Cities like Youngstown or Warren and then the
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Gloom and anxiety shadow the industrial landscapes of Youngstown, Ohio, in September 1980. Recession has arrived in the former steel center where some of the blast furnaces that made it great are growing cold. Plants that can no longer compete with newer mills in Germany and Japan are closing down and thousands of steelworkers have been laid off. Here, the Jones and Laughlin Steel Co. plant, left, looms over the Mahoning River in Struthers, near Youngstown.
smaller cities in between are what you would call tribal,” said Mahoning Valley Historical Society Executive Director Bill Lawson. “You had groups immigrating from the eastern Mediterranean, from eastern Europe, from southern Europe, northern Europe, and by and large, for the most part, they were coming because they already had people from their village or their district that were here and wrote back and said, ‘There’s plenty of jobs. I can find you a place to live.’” Those networks shaped where people lived, worshipped and worked — and eventually who held power inside the mills.
It wasn’t always steel
The natural resources in and around what would become Youngstown made it ideal for industrial production, but steel was not its first identity. Abundant stores of iron ore, coal, timber, and limestone made iron production a logical choice for settlers in the Mahoning Valley. In the post-Civil-War era, iron furnaces and related manufacturing operations came to define the local economy. Industrial development accelerated after
the Panic of 1873 and subsequent economic downturn, helping establish the Mahoning Valley as one of the nation’s important iron-producing regions. Lawson describes the 1880s as “the prime of the Iron Age in the Mahoning Valley.” But even as local iron production expanded, industry leaders were beginning to recognize a fundamental shift underway in American manufacturing. Across Pennsylvania, steel was rapidly replacing iron as the backbone of American industry, though Youngstown was slower than some competing cities to make the transition. “We didn’t have Bessemer converters online here until 1895, but by then, in 1892, the local iron stakeholders realized their future wasn’t in iron, it was steel,” Lawson said. That realization would reshape the city.
New industry, new people
In 1892, local industrialists, including Henry Wick, H.O. Bonnell and J.G. Butler Jr., organized the Ohio Steel Co., a venture designed to position Youngstown for the new industrial age. Within a few years, larger corporations like National
Steel and eventually U.S. Steel would acquire local interests, transforming the Mahoning Valley into one of the nation’s premier steel-producing districts. “This was the second leading steel-producing district in the country and for all intents and purposes, for the world, too,” Lawson said. “You had Pittsburgh and you had Youngstown.” Long before Youngstown became a steel powerhouse, immigrants had arrived to work in the valley’s iron furnaces, coal mines and related industries. In the 1880s, foreign-born residents constituted a majority of Youngstown’s population, and Lawson noted that it was a young one – the city’s median age was only 21 or 22. As steel mills expanded across the region at the turn of the century, Youngstown’s population grew and its cultural and ethnic identity began to shift. Earlier waves of immigration mostly brought people from northern and western Europe, including the British Isles and Germany. By the turn of the twentieth century, however, Italians, Slovaks, Croatians, Hungarians, Poles, Greeks and SEE STRIKE PAGE B2
USC final budget includes tax increase The Upper St. Clair School Board adopted a final budget of $111,566,288 for the 2026-27 school year during its June 15 meeting. The budget includes a 3% tax increase, or 0.9455 mills, resulting in a final millage rate of 32.4605. For a home assessed at the district’s median home value of $237,300, the increase
equates to approximately $224 per year, or $18.67 per month. The approved increase remains below Pennsylvania’s Act 1 inflationary index. For 2026-27, Upper St. Clair’s maximum allowable increase was 3.5%, or 1.1030 mills. The budget addresses several significant financial
LOCATION Gesk leads Kids of STEEL fundraising effort PAGE A6 What’s happening, B3
challenges facing the district, including declining real estate revenue associated with Allegheny County’s common-level ratio, rising healthcare costs and increased utility expenses. The common-level ratio is used to determine the assessed value of a property based on 2013 market values. The common-level
ratio has steadily declined from 100% in 2013 to 50.14% in 2026. As a result, the district anticipates between $850,000 and $1 million in tax refunds to commercial property owners due to assessment appeals. District officials do not expect relief from this issue until a countywide SEE TAX PAGE A4
SPORTS Standouts inducted into the WPIAL Hall of Fame PAGE B1 Classifieds, B4
Bethel Park, Caste Village hold pre-holiday displays Fourth of July celebrations get an early start in the South Hills this weekend with several popular annual fireworks displays. Caste Village kicks off the festivities at 5 p.m. on June 26 with music from Pittsburgh DJ Truck. A performance by Dance Workshop follows at 6:30 p.m. Fireworks will be launched at dusk. Ice cream from Page’s Dairy Mart, food trucks, shaved ice, kettle corn and fresh lemonade will be available for purchase. Games and other activities will be held. While limited work has started on the Baptist Road construction project, the state Department of Transportation moved the start date to the week of July 6 so as to not impact the Caste Village fireworks night. During Phase I of the project, Baptist Road will be reduced to a single lane, 24 hours a day. Eastbound traffic from Weyman Road to Brownsville Road will remain open through construction. Westbound traffic will be detoured using Provost Road. Phase 1 of the construction project is expected to run through November. Phase 2 is projected to start in April and finish in December of 2027. Bethel Park’s annual “Summer Spectacular” fireworks display will be held at 9:40 p.m. June 27. “This is one of our most anticipated events each year,” said Bethel Park Manager Kristen Denne. “We welcome visitors from across Bethel Park and the entire western Pennsylvania region.” While the fireworks will be launched from Millennium Park, no one will be allowed entrance to the site. Instead, spectators can view the 25-minute Zambelli display from the following venues:
n Abraham Lincoln Elementary School (1524 Hamilton Road), n St. Germaine Church (7003 Baptist Road), n Hamilton Presbyterian Church (4500 Hamilton Road), n Cool Springs Golf (1530 Hamilton Road). Parking lots will open at 7 p.m. Treat trucks will be in place at viewing locations and include Beedle’s Ice Cream at Cool Springs; Kona Ice at Abraham Lincoln; Wu’s Shaved Ice at Hamilton Presbyterian, and Wild River Kettle Korn at St. Germaine’s. For those unable to attend, Bethel Park’s BPTV will broadcast the event live on the “Municipality of Bethel Park” Facebook page and on cable TV channels 21 (Comcast) and 32 (Verizon). Rain date is June 29. Any change due to inclement weather will be made by 5 p.m. on June 28 and announced on all Bethel Park social media outlets as well as at www.bethelparkpa.gov. Peters Township’s 46th annual community day concludes with a fireworks display at 9:30 p.m. June 27 at Rolling Hills Park. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. activities for all ages will be held at the park. There will be vendor booths featuring food, games, raffles, entertainment, and community organizations. For the children there will be free rides, bounce houses, face painting, airbrush tattoos, and live strolling entertainment. Adults can relax in the beer garden. A shuttle service will run continually from the high school parking lot to the park, but guests are welcome to walk to and from the event. For more details regarding Peters Township community day or the fireworks, call 724-942-5000.
SIGHTS & SOUNDS Students help bring clean water to Ghana PAGE B3 Real estate transactions, A4
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