The Valley Experience

The Mahoning River flows through the rolling land that lies between the southern shores of Lake Erie and the banks of the Ohio River.  The land is fertile, well-watered, and rich in resources.  People have been attracted to the valley for thousands of years. 

As you move through the centuries of "The Valley Experience" you will see how people along this river have lived, produced and consumed, worked and whiled away their time, fought and gotten along, and passed into memory. 

Experience with them now their daily lives, their work, their successes and failures, as you move among what they have left to us.

The Main exhibit themes of everyday life; business, industry, & farming; religion & reform; and schooling & public services are explored in each era of the Valley’s development:

• At the Salt Lick (Native American presence/life in the Mahoning Valley)

• The New Connecticut Experience (surveyors, first settlers and families)

• The Township Experience 1800-1840

• The Village Experience 1840-1868

• The City Experience 1868-1896

• The Metropolitan Experience 1896-1946

• The Suburban Experience 1946-1970s

• The Modern Experience 1970s-present

Hands on activities include a touch board illustrating the production of iron and steel, an immigrant's suitcase, and a nine foot timeline puzzle.

Teachers!

Download The Valley Experience curriculum guide to use in your classroom!

U.S. Steel - New sintering plant opening 1958. 

Heaton Furnace remains

Governor David Tod

Central Tower in Downtown Youngstown

The Mahoning Valley Historical Society educates and promotes an interest in the history of the Mahoning Valley by collecting, preserving, and developing material representative of the people who have inhabited the region.

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