YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Today in Flashback, Brooke Testa, curatorial assistant for the Mahoning Valley Historical Society, spotlights two 19th-century portraits now on display at the Community Foundation’s gallery in the Tyler History Center. The paintings depict Robert McCurdy Sr. and his wife, Eliza – Irish immigrants who settled in Youngstown in the 1830s.
While the portraits honor his parents, it was their son, Robert McCurdy Jr., who would become a prominent figure in the city’s early history.