125 Years Ago, 1895

A new city ordinance resulted in great displeasure among downtown saloon owners and barkeepers. The so-called “screen ordinance” stated that any obstructions to a view from the street to the inside of a saloon must be removed, so that patrons in the bar may be seen from the street at any time by a police officer or private citizen. Saloon owners feared that this law would seriously reduce their profits, especially with the rise in late night drinking. Most of the saloons within a 5-mile radius of Central Square had a bustling night business that faced almost certain depletion with this law.

Several saloon owners banded together and encouraged others to join the Liquor Dealers League in the hope that a larger group might convince the city to cancel the ordinance, but not every barkeeper agreed. Youngstown’s mayor encouraged the owners to simply abide by the law and the Youngstown police chief stated that he and his men would swiftly arrest anyone who disobeyed. The Liquor Dealers League noted that it would stand behind any owner who violated the law. Adding to the debate were the Anti-Saloon League and Civil Federation, which vowed to report any saloons with the screens still in place. The Anti-Saloon League took much of the credit for the passage of the law.

110 Years Ago, 1910

A young girl, taken from her home 15 years before, had been mourned dead by her family but was recently reunited with her mother. Miss Laura Mullen, of Sharon, was abducted from her home in Oil City, Pa., when she was 9. The girl’s father, Silas Mullen, was a successful businessman when the great flood and fire of 1895 hit Oil City and destroyed everything he had built. He left his widowed wife and six children, three of whom were turned over to a benevolent society for safekeeping. Laura was placed with a family out in the country where she was badly treated and beaten. Friends advised her to run away, but she was too young to make the attempt. When the family heard the rumors about her running away, they placed her on a train and sent her off, alone.

She found distant relatives to stay with, but they also treated her poorly. She stayed with others and eventually found her way to a convent in Reading, Pa., where she stayed for seven years. She returned to Oil City and discovered that her mother had married a man named Armstrong and that they were living in Sharon. She traveled there and had a happy reunion with her mother. Mrs. Armstrong stated that she had been told that Laura died from yellow fever a few years before after moving out west, none of which was true. The family successfully worked to reunite the children placed with the benevolent society, except for Fred — whom the mother feared was missing forever.

70 Years Ago, 1950

The dedication of the new Hearing and Speech Center capped off a year of planning and marked the silver anniversary of the Youngstown Hearing Society. The center was located in the former home of Dr. Harry A. Zimmerman that the society had purchased a year before. The center is a Red Feather agency of the Community Chest, which offered educational and rehabilitation activities along with training for hearing- and speech-impaired people. The ceremony took place in the recently completed audiology room built with funds from the Quota Club and furnished with equipment from Mrs. I. Harry Meyer.

Activities included various techniques to help students of all ages such as children feeling the rhythm of music piped through a speaker and amplified to their needs. Blowing out a candle served as a good tool to strengthen muscles for those working with speech development. The center featured a private audiology room where folks could test their hearing aids while others worked with toys and bells to discover different sounds. Participants could practice lip reading, play games and socialize as part of the center’s outreach mission.

60 Years Ago, 1960

The Youngstown Visiting Nurses Association had its annual meeting and looked back at its successful 1959 efforts. The nurses made 31,902 home visits in 1959 and expanded its clinic program under the supervision of the Youngstown Board of Health. The nurses completed 980 hours in the weekly immunization clinics sponsored by the board of health where they administered 7,478 polio shots, 2,343 triple-vaccine injections, and 1,753 smallpox vaccines. Of their home visits, 19,882 were for bedside care, and the others were made to give health guidance and to control the spread of communicable diseases.

Throughout the year, the nurses had a strong program of supervision and in-service training with an emphasis on bedside training. One of the more heavily discussed topics was their effort in working with tuberculosis patients. The nurses made 1,854 calls related to TB, including 871 visits to administer TB medications. These nurses also sponsored 12 lectures on the topic to student nurses at the Mahoning Tuberculosis Sanatorium.

Compiled from the archives of The Youngstown Vindicator by Traci Manning, MVHS Curator of Education.