At one time Isaly’s dominated the Mahoning Valley.

About 150 Isaly’s retail stores served the Youngstown district, and many of the products those retailers sold were manufactured at its Youngstown plant at 1033 Mahoning Ave.

The Mahoning Valley Historical Society will honor its legacy with an exhibition opening Friday at the Arms Family Museum.

“Welcome to Isaly’s: A Youngstown Story” was created by curatorial assistant Brooke Testa to take the place of an exhibition of Todd family heirlooms that had been on display since 2019.

“I explored the artifacts in our collection, and I came across both big and small artifacts that are going to be displayed in the Isaly’s exhibit,” Testa said. “It pretty much snowballed from there.”

Artifacts include signage from one of those Isaly’s stores, a 20-gallon storage container for ice cream, both milk bottles and paper cartons in which Isaly’s dairy products were packaged, the ice cream scoop used for its popular skyscraper cones and dishware in which banana splits and other treats were served.

Isaly’s got its start in Mansfield in 1899, and opened its Youngstown plant in 1918. It quickly expanded throughout the region due to the popularity of its luncheon meats, dairy products and ice cream, and the Mahoning Avenue plant got an Art Deco-style remodel and expansion in 1939.

“I didn’t realize how many stores were in the area,” Testa said. “I originally thought it was just that one Isaly plant on Mahoning Avenue and a couple stores here and there.”

As consumer habits changed and supermarkets became more prevalent, the number of Isaly’s stores in the region began to decline by the 1960s. Ice cream production moved to Pittsburgh in 1969, and it quit processing and pasteurizing milk there the following year. The building was sold to U-Haul in 1977.

Rare photographs from the MVHS collection will be shown, and a portion of the exhibit space will recreate the dining area with a table and two booth seats from an Isaly’s store.

“I want it to have a retro diner feeling to it,” she said. “I want to bring them back to those days when Isaly’s was still around in the area. I know a lot of the residents are still here today that grew up going to Isaly’s, so I thought it’d be really neat to bring that back.”

“Welcome to Isaly’s: A Youngstown Story” will be on display for an open-ended run and is included with admission to the museum, 648 Wick Ave., Youngstown. For more information, go to mahoninghistory.org or call 330-743-2589