Youngstown Historical Center
of Industry & Labor
P.O. Box 533
Youngstown, OH 44501
330-743-5934 1-800-262-6137

"Everybody breathing dirt, eating dirt -- they call it "pay dirt," for Youngstown clean would be Youngstown out of work . . ."

--Frank Bohn, 1915

The Youngstown Historical Center of Industry & Labor provides a dramatic overview of the impact of the iron and steel industry on Youngstown and other Mahoning Valley communities. The museum's permanent exhibit, By the Sweat of Their Brow: Forging the Steel Valley, explores labor, immigration and urban history, using videos, artifacts, photographs, and reconstructed scenes.

Objects on display range from workers' tools and clothing to "last heats," the last batches of steel produced at each of the mills before they closed. Hundreds of photographs, some more than 30 feet long, are used throughout the museum. Videos examine topics such as housing, recreation, and urban history. Life-size scenes---including a mill's locker room, part of a company-built house, and a blooming mill, where steel ingots were shaped for further processing---help visitors understand steelmaking and the lives of steelworkers.

In addition to the permanent exhibit, the Center offers educational programs and a library and archives. Part of the Ohio Network of American History Research Centers, the Archives/Library serves as a repository for local government records, as well as manuscripts collected from workers, companies and labor organizations.

LOCATION

The Center of Industry and Labor is located at 151 West Wood Street in Youngstown, in Mahoning County. Wood Street is off of Market Street two blocks north of downtown.