Native Americans

For hundreds of years before the first settlers came to the Mahoning Valley, the area was a demilitarized (an area that separates two warring groups) zone between the Iroquois and the Shawnee. They used the area only for its rich resources of salt, hunting, fishing, and flint.

The first settlers found Native Americans who had moved West due to Eastern settlement. These were the Delaware and Mingo peoples who gave us words for many of the places and animals found in the Valley. Many of the trails used by these groups became well-known roads like Salt Springs Road.

Some of the Native American words we know well today are place names, like Ohio and Mahoning, which means “salt lick.” Names for animals included woodchuck, chipmunk, raccoon, turkey, skunk and possum. The words tomato, squash, potato, maize (corn), and pumpkin are also words for native foods.

Visit the Arms Family Museum or www.mahoninghistory.org to see more artifacts and documents related to the history of Native Americans in our area. How many Native American foods do you eat every week? Why was salt an important resource for Native Americans? What did they need flint for?

Tools found by a local archaeologist that were used by Native Americans in the Mahoning Valley.

Map of Native American trails that have become well-known roads in the Valley.

Some of the foods that were named by Native Americans.

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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