115 Years Ago, 1910

Transcribed as originally published in the Youngstown Vindicator:

“Youngstown is some city. Secretary MeGown of the Chamber of Commerce shows annual payroll here is greater than Toledo, Detroit or Buffalo — per capita wealth ten times that of the average per capita wealth of the nation — some boosting figures for boosters to ponder over.”

“That Youngstown has an annual payroll larger than that of Detroit, Toledo or Buffalo, and that its average per capita wealth is ten times that of the average per capita wealth of the nation, are some of the facts indicated by the statistics which are being gathered by Secretary M.J. MeGown for the chamber of commerce in MeGown’s campaign of boosting Youngstown.

During the two weeks since Mr. MeGown has been secretary of the chamber he has gathered a number of statistics and proposes to keep on with this line of work which he expects to show that the metropolis of the Mahoning is not only the biggest little city of the country, but by far the best.

“The bank deposits in Youngstown’s financial institutions, including savings and loan companies, on July 1 amounted to $24,296,180.43. It is interesting to note that Akron’s deposits are only a paltry eight million. Estimating the population of the city at 80,000 — and Secretary MeGown says he has been informed that it will only fall a few hundred short of this mark — the deposits per capita are more than $300, while the per capita wealth of the nation is only $33.

“The statistics show further that the payrolls for June this year amounted to $2,030,000. This only includes the big industries, railroads and larger contractors. June was a good average month and therefore the estimated annual payroll is $24,360,000. This is not only larger than the annual payroll of Detroit, Toledo and Buffalo, but is within $3,000,000 of the annual payroll of Cleveland, which is six times as large as Youngstown.

“During 1909 with figures from one railroad missing, the total inbound tonnage received at Youngstown was 9,516,616, and the total outbound tonnage was 10,700,400. The building permits for the first six months of 1910 amounted to 615, and the total cost of new structures, not including the new Mahoning bank building, was $1,084,316.

“The postal receipts for the month of June, 1910, at the local post office, was $14,562.80. This is not as large as the receipts at the Akron post office because the industries in that city send out large quantities of circulars and other advertising matter through the mail for which they buy hundreds of dollars’ worth of stamps. However, this class of postal business is rapidly increasing in Youngstown.

“The banks of this city are capitalized at more than $8,000,000, which is a larger bank capitalization than that of many towns twice or three times as large. Regarding the water supply it is shown that the largest amount of water pumped in any day during June, 1910, was 8,984,000 gallons, and the average daily consumption during June was 8,180,000.”

• Compiled by Dante Bernard, museum educator at the Mahoning Valley Historical Society