Inaugural Youngstown Sheet & Tube Day preserves history

At the James Marter yard in front of Youngstown Sheet and Tube, history comes to life as told by members of the Mahoning Valley Railroad Heritage Association and folks who worked at Youngstown Sheet and Tube.

"These railroad items are all part of some part of the steel mill industry whether locomotives, or cars, or cabooses," George Seil with MVRHA.

The group has restored various pieces of equipment used in the steel making process including a YS&T slag car, which was used to carry the slag from the furnaces and dump it which caused an orange glow at night.

It's the very last slag car they know of in the Mahoning Valley.

They are also raising funds to restore the switch engine Number 320. It is Youngstown Sheet and Tube's very first diesel engine.

The restoration and preservation by this group helps keep an important part of history from ending up in a scrap metal pile.

"Of all those blast furnaces in the valley this is the very last slag car and it was built by the William Pollack Company right in downtown Youngstown, right behind where Penguin Brewery is today," President of Mahoning Valley Railroad Heritage Association, Carl Jacobson said.

At one time the company employed 10,000 people and was synonymous with quality.

"All you had to do is tell people you were with Youngstown Sheet & Tube and they would open the door and have you come in because they knew the quality was there, the price was there, the service was there," said Lou DeSimone a Sales Representative for YS&T when he lost his job there on Black Monday.
 
The group also set up memorabilia from the former steel company and members were on hand to answer questions about items and pictures on display.

A professional picture of the plant is the last taken while the plant was operational before Black Monday on September 19, 1977, when the jobs of 5,500 were slashed in one day.

Curt Sanders was working when he lost his job on Black Monday. 

He tells 21 News there was only about a week and a half of notice given. 
 
"It was devastating, you didn't know what to do. You would never think it would happen. You just had to think what am I going to do now," said Curt Sanders with MVRHA.

It was estimated for every steelworker who lost his or her job, four more people in the region lost their jobs multiplying the impact to 20,000 people.

After Youngstown Sheet and Tube laid off 5,500 workers, several others in the valley closed doors. 

Members of the Mahoning Valley Railroad Heritage Association are working to raise funds to restore the Switch Engine Number 320, so they can help preserve history for generations to come.

You can help by donating to the non-profit. You can find out more information on their website mvrha.org.

The company also helped establish limits on presidential powers.

During a strike that turned violent, then President Harry Truman considered seizing US Steel Mills, since supplies of ammunition during the Korean War were low and a ten day strike would endanger the war effort.

But the company fought back. Youngstown Sheet and Tube set a precedent in a landmark case, where the Supreme Court limited the power of Presidents of the United States to seize private property.