Correspondent photo / Sean Barron Local fine graphic artist Bob Barko Jr. points to a depiction of former San Francisco 49ers owner and Youngstown native Eddie DeBartolo Jr. that appears on a mural he created. Barko spoke Sunday at St. Patrick Church in Youngstown about his artwork that captures much of the city’s early history to the present.

YOUNGSTOWN — If you’re interested in a detailed study of the city’s history, you can read any of a variety of books, visit a few area museums or conduct research online.

Or you can have a lengthy conversation with Bob Barko Jr.

“The employees wore the same thing; the stores looked the same, with the stainless-steel counters and the tiled floors,” Barko said about Isaly’s, a chain of family-owned businesses that began in the 19th century in Mansfield then spread throughout much of the Midwest, including Youngstown.

A depiction of the franchise, perhaps best known for its chipped-chopped ham and homemade ice cream, also is one of numerous pieces of Youngstown history, nostalgia, folklore and memorabilia captured on a 32-foot-long mural by Barko, which he discussed during two presentations Sunday at St. Patrick Church, 1420 Oak Hill Ave., on the South Side.

Barko, a fine graphic artist and owner of Steel Town Studios, had on display two of his eight 4-foot-by-6-foot mural panels that are part of a traveling holiday show he’s conducting through December. In the first of his two “Here in Youngstown: A Visual History of Youngstown” talks Sunday, Barko detailed the paintings that show many famous city landmarks, places and people — and their historical significance.

“A lot of people don’t know that the Klondike bar was born and bred here in Youngstown, Ohio,” Barko noted, referring to the Good Humor bar, which was invented in the early 1920s in the city.

Barko reminded his audience of several dozen about the importance of the Warner Theater, which brothers Albert, Harry and Jack Warner, giants of the motion picture industry, built on West Federal Street before it opened May 14, 1931. The theater now is the DeYor Performing Arts Center.

Seeing “The Millionaire,” “Casablanca” and other famous films of the day usually was a formal affair, with many men wearing suits and fedoras while women dressed in stylish, elegant dresses, Barko explained.

The building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Before the birth of suburban malls, downtown Youngstown was the main shopping hub, with Strouss’ department store being a fixture and leading retail company before it closed in the mid-1980s. Many people still remember the iconic mezzanine and chocolate malts, said Barko, who also recalled having spent part of his childhood at the often-bustling downtown business.

“It’s Youngstown’s oldest continuing restaurant,” he said about the Royal Oaks Bar & Grill, which opened in 1934 and is owned by brothers Louie and John Kennedy.

After some financial and other difficulties, the establishment underwent major renovations but kept the name to preserve its history after having been featured on the reality series “Bar Rescue.”

Some of Youngstown’s famous figures on Barko’s mural panels include character actor Joe Flynn, perhaps best known for his role in the 1960s sitcom “McHale’s Navy”; Sue Thomas, a deaf woman who became an FBI agent and expert lip reader; Jim Cummings, the voice of popular cartoon characters such as Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and the Tasmanian Devil; Ronald Parise, an astronomer and astronaut who flew on two NASA Space Shuttle missions; and actor Ed O’Neill, who starred in the hit comedies “Married … With Children” and “Modern Family.”

“He recently surpassed Lucille Ball in the number of sitcom episode appearances,” surpassing Ball’s 493 episodes, Barko said of O’Neill.

Also represented in the 192-square-foot artwork is singer Maureen McGovern, perhaps best known for her 1973 hit “The Morning After,” from the film “The Poseidon Adventure,” as well as George “Shotgun” Shuba, a utility outfielder and pinch hitter who played seven seasons with the Brooklyn Dodgers and in three World Series in the 1950s.

Shuba, who died in 2014 in Youngstown at age 89, also is remembered for having given teammate Jackie Robinson a congratulatory handshake at home plate during a minor league game in April 1946 after Robinson had hit a three-run homerun for the Montreal Royals.

“It was the first interracial handshake” in a professional baseball game, Barko said.

Other sports figures he’s highlighted in his artwork are Youngstown State University president and former Ohio State University Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel; former boxers Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini and Kelly Pavlik; and Dwight “Dike” Beede, who was YSU’s head football coach from 1938 to 1972.

Barko served in the U.S. Army National Guard from 1986 to 1992, then re-enlisted in October 2001. He also is superintendent of public affairs for the 910th Airlift Wing at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna.

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