YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Were this 50 years ago, the view facing northwest from the Center Street Bridge in Youngstown would have shown land strewn with massive steel mills hugging the Mahoning River, fed by a network of rail tracks that supplied the raw materials for industry and then shipped the final products to markets everywhere.
Turning southeast toward the cities of Campbell and Struthers, one would see more of the same, as these mills belched smoke and fire in what would be their waning days as the powerhouse of Mahoning County’s economy.
However, the collapse of the steel industry during the late 1970s and early 1980s – and the subsequent loss of approximately 50,000 jobs – did not entirely destroy industry along this section of the river. Nor did it tamp down efforts to restore the Mahoning to its natural state and build along its banks a responsible balance between manufacturing and recreational use.
Industry on the River
Today, the view from Center Street is forever changed. The teeming factories that once lined the river are mostly gone, and the space is now home to large mountains of aggregate and other materials used for Shelly & Sands asphalt operations. On a Wednesday morning in April, the site was active as trucks entered and exited with their daily loads.
Indeed, the portion of the river that stretches from Youngstown through Struthers and Campbell is still a busy industrial corridor, albeit not as robust as decades earlier. Still, several of those buildings leftover from the legacy of the mills are now occupied and being reused.
“We have about 750,000 square feet of space,” says Don Casey, president and CEO of Casey Equipment Corp., a Pittsburgh-based industrial services company that owns three buildings that once belonged to the former Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co.’s Campbell Works – now renamed Casey Industrial Park.
Casey says the company uses approximately 500,000 square feet of space in one of the buildings, while the other two – one a 100,000-square-foot structure and another 168,000-square-foot building – are for lease.
“The majority of our customers are the steel mills,” Casey says, noting the company repairs electrical motors, electrical brakes, and controls. “We buy these items used, then rebuild them and sell them. We also sell a lot to the electrical shops that supply the steel industry.”
He relates that the company has all but abandoned other industrial markets, such as reconditioning and selling steel manufacturing equipment. “We still sell some, but not anywhere near like we used to sell,” he says.
Much of the reason is global overcapacity in the steel industry, Casey says. “We consume 300,000 tons of steel per year in the U.S., but we make about 100,000 tons,” he explains. “Compare that to China, which makes 600,000 tons and uses 300,000 tons. They export the rest all around the world and into the United States.”
Casey says tariffs are a step in the right direction to help domestic steel producers, and in turn would create more business for his company. “If the tariffs work and the steel industry picks up, we’ll sell more,” he says.
As for the two vacant buildings, Casey says the company anticipates marketing them more aggressively this year and expects strong response. “Hopefully, a tenant will pop up for one or both,” he says.
At its peak, industries along this stretch of the Mahoning River employed more than 20,000 people. When Sheet & Tube’s Campbell Works closed in September 1977, for example, 5,000 employees immediately lost their jobs. This was followed by the closures of Republic Steel’s works, U.S. Steel’s Ohio Works, and Sheet & Tube’s Brier Hill plant – all of which lined the river.
Yet over the last 30 years, the corridor has witnessed a rejuvenation that no one thought possible. In 2010, Vallourec – which today is partially housed in one of Sheet & Tube’s Brier Hill operations – committed more than $1 billion to construct a new, technologically advanced seamless pipe manufacturing plant. Today, Vallourec employs nearly 1,000.
Former steel mill land was also repurposed to form Youngstown’s three major industrial parks: the Salt Springs Road park, the Ohio Works park, and Performance Place along Poland Avenue. Companies located here – not all of them manufacturers – employ hundreds of people.
And, there are additional plans for expansion along the river. In 2024, the Ohio Rail Development Commission approved a grant to fund approximately half of a $2.9 million expansion of Youngstown & Southeastern Railroad’s Lansingville Yard, just off Poland Avenue.
Meanwhile, thoroughfares such as Wilson Avenue, which runs parallel to the river from Youngstown into Campbell, represents a mixture of industrial companies, ranging from pipe and steel distributors to metal fabricators.
There is also opportunity for development on vacant, former steel mill land along the river, but these lots are in private hands and the parties as of now have not expressed interest in selling, says Sarah Lown, public financing manager at the Western Reserve Port Authority.
“In Mahoning County, we don’t have a mega-site such as Kimberly-Clark,” she says, referring to the $800 million project in Trumbull County underway to construct the company’s new factory on former Republic Steel land along the Mahoning. Developing these sites would likely include engaging entities such as Lake to River Economic Development, the WRPA, and local stakeholders, she says.
“If someone could get partners together, you could assemble a decent, 250-acre site,” she says.
A Toxic History
It’s clear that any redevelopment of the Mahoning River corridor must also take into account environmental and wildlife preservation, as well as community and recreational interests.
“We need to be mindful of what currently exists, and then take a look at locations where maybe the land uses are more compatible with community-based efforts,” says Justin Mondok, regional planner at Eastgate Regional Council of Governments.
Mondok was among those who in 2021 participated in developing a comprehensive study focused on the revitalization of the Mahoning River corridor. The river stretches 113 miles, beginning as a small stream near Winona in Columbiana County before flowing north through Newton Falls and Warren, and then southeast through Niles, Girard, Youngstown, Campbell, Struthers, Lowellville, and New Castle, Pa. It then joins the Shenango River to form the Beaver River – eventually emptying into the Ohio River.
The 40-mile section between Warren and Lowellville is especially important, since it was this portion of the river that was for a century inundated with heavy industry. What resulted was a legacy of contamination that has taken nearly 50 years to rectify.
A U.S. Environmental Protection study in 1977, for example, showed that the nine major steel plants along the Mahoning unleashed into the river a lethal toxic soup that on an average daily basis included 400,000 pounds of suspended solids, 70,000 pounds of oil and grease, 9,000 pounds of ammonia, 500 pounds of cyanide, 600 pounds of carbon acids, and 800 pounds of zinc.
Twenty years later, in a follow-up study, the Army Corps of Engineers discovered the river was still chock full of contaminants, urging people to refrain from fishing or making contact with the river’s sediment. The report especially raised concerns over “pollutant-tolerant fish, dominated by carp and catfish species, with external physical anomalies,” deeming the river “a threat to public health.”
In the nearly 30 years since that report, however, the river has naturally scrubbed itself free of most dangerous pollutants. A water quality study conducted by the Ohio EPA in 2013, for example, showed that out of the 25 river sections examined, 23 met or partially met quality standards. Twenty years earlier, only two sections had met any level of quality standard benchmarks.
Dam Removal
Among the first priorities was to remove the nine lowhead dams in Mahoning and Trumbull counties that line the river. To date, the dams at Lowellville and Struthers have been removed and three in Youngstown – the Crescent Street, Center Street, and Mahoning Avenue dams – are funded, Mondok says.
“We’re probably looking at two, two-and-a half years before those three are out,” he says.
The question is how to proceed once these structures are gone, and precisely what type of development would be suitable for these areas, Mondok queries. “We wanted to start thinking about what comes after those projects are completed,” he says.
The idea was to engage elected officials and residents of the various river communities and assess their needs. The ensuing study identifies areas along the river that might be suitable for light industry, while also marking areas best reserved for community greenspaces, parks, and recreational purposes.
Much of this has already been realized. In 2005, the city of Youngstown opened the new $30 million Covelli Centre (then the Chevrolet Centre), an arena on former Republic Steel land downtown. In 2019, the feat was repeated with the opening of the Youngtown Foundation Amphitheater, an open-air concert and events stage on former industrial land along the river. A riverfront greenspace – Wean Park – connects the two establishments.
This momentum has continued, as the city is moving forward on an overhaul to its riverfront Spring Commons Park, located near the B&O Station Banquet Center.
“Right now, they are putting in water and wastewater lines,” says Stephanie Gilchrist, the city’s economic development director. The project was one of 10 funded in Mahoning, Trumbull and Ashtabula counties through the Appalachian Community Grant Program last year.
The Youngstown project calls for parking improvements, new restrooms, new picnic areas, a stamped concrete walkway, stone retaining walls, and new floating docks that will be used for kayak and canoe launch points at Spring Commons and West Avenue. “The timeline is to have this completed by October of this year,” Gilchrist says. The project also included funding some renovations to the B&O Station building.
Eastgate’s Mondok says there are other examples of community redevelopment along the river that have already paid dividends. “Look what Lowellville has done with their Riverfront Park,” he says.
The Lowellville dam was the first one removed, and the village has seen an increase in fishing, sportsman, and kayak activity since it installed a new launch four years ago. More recently, a pavilion at Riverfront Park was completed and new ball courts are currently under construction at the site.
Community development also encourages new private investment, Mondok says. Pointing to Lowellville, he cites three new condominiums that were completed last year along Water Street that overlook a scenic point in the river. The same developer, Matt Estephan, is looking to redevelop other waterfront buildings along the street.
Communities such as Struthers have also taken cues from Lowellville’s success, as that community explores ways to redevelop its riverfront, Mondok adds.
“You then see private investment follow public investment,” Mondok says. “One little project after another starts to build momentum for these communities.”
Pictured at top: Development along the Mahoning River in Youngstown is taking shape with the city’s plan to revive the Spring Common Park, which fronts the B&O Banquet Center.
