The following are historical photographs of Campbell Ohio Double click on each picture below to view a larger version.

Campbell
by Sarah A. Cart

Community origins
Before it became the City of Campbell in 1926, the town on the Mahoning River between the City of Youngstown and the then-Village of Struthers was known as "East Youngstown." It came into being in the wake of the 1900-founding of the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company, a steel-making venture, along the banks of the Mahoning. Until then, the area had consisted of river bottom, wooded hillsides and farmland.
To serve the new labor-intensive industry, foreigners seeking economic opportunity (and later, fellow Americans, white and black) moved here by the thousands. Laborers for the new company needed places to live. Without means to afford transportation, they settled on the neighboring hillside within walking distance of the mills and devoted their lives to the 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week all-consuming venture of steel-making.
The town that rose up to man the mills grew at a geometric rate; its structures, political and physical, fell together in tumultuous fashion. A myriad of different languages was spoken; grocery stores were neighborhood "Ma & Pa" concerns, and taking the interurban line west into Youngstown counted as a major excursion. Within 20 years this community that had begun as a boom town had the second largest population in Mahoning County.
From its beginnings, the existence of what became Campbell was dependent upon the steel industry, and the steel industry was dependent upon the flood of immigration. The driving purpose of the people and the sole function of the river were to keep the mills running.

How they got where they are
Campbell's fortunes rose and fell with those of the steel industry. As the 20th century progressed and the city's permanence became assured, organized neighborhoods with respectable residential housing materialized in the open relatively flat land well above the river, apart from the mills' noise and smoke.
Over time, the city center and commercial development migrated up the hill as well. By the end of World War II decay had begun in the city's historic downtown along Wilson Avenue. In the 1960s a small portion became a terraced urban renewal project. Then in the late 1970s Campbell's economy was devastated by the close of the steel mills. Before 1977 the city could count on over $100 million in personal property tax valuation; by 2000, that valuation had fallen below $10 million.
When the mills closed, those who needed to follow the jobs left; many of those who had already retired and those who couldn't afford to leave, stayed. The result was an aging population base.

Projects, concepts, & ideas in progress
The Mahoning Valley's topography as it gradually levels off from the Alleghenies of western Pennsylvania encourages a natural alliance between Campbell and its downstream neighbors, Struthers and Lowellville.
Originally, Campbell's downtown sat on Wilson Avenue just above the mills, paralleling the river; today, Wilson Avenue appears abandoned. This could be remedied if the city were to reclaim as an historic quarter a few of the structures of the original downtown and restore and beautify a Depression-era WPA stone wall at the northwestern end of the avenue. As the little remaining hillside housing disappears, the hillside could be cleaned up and allowed to return to a pristine natural state; it would then serve as a natural buffer between Wilson Avenue and the quality residential housing above.

Also, three intersections along Wilson could be enhanced to direct visitors more easily to Campbell's present commercial district, high school complex and recreational centers. At the first, with Coitsville Road, a scenic entrance to the city could be developed with a bit of landscaping and the addition of "Welcome to Campbell" signage. Similarly, a face lift and signage where First Street heads up into Sanderson Avenue could enhance the approach to the high school complex and make it easier to find. Finally, an upgraded Warhurst Road, with its old sycamore trees neatly trimmed, would make an impressive thoroughfare from Wilson to the heart of the city.
There, ideally visitors would come upon a renovated Tenney Avenue/12th Street intersection and find City Hall and the center of the commercial district that runs north-south along 12th Street between Robinson Road and Penhale Avenue. While the district already boasts retail operations, banks, a new post office, a housing complex for the elderly, and many churches, the addition of a variety of shops and eateries reflecting the City's remarkable ethnic diversity would be charming. Signage here could direct visitors north to Sanderson Avenue, the address of the high school complex and the public library.
Because of the location and nature of its brownfields Campbell's potential for public riverfront access is limited. It possesses a myriad of existing and potential recreational settings, however, from the high school complex at Sanderson and Sixth streets, to Roosevelt Park in the northeast corner of the city, to the underutilized Jackson Park in the city's southeast corner. A community center located just north of Jackson Park already has some recreational programs in place. The buildings that housed the Reed and Penhale schools could become community centers or senior citizens housing if they're not razed.

A beautiful natural setting that would need only minimal reclamation is Godward Run, a small natural ravine, near Jackson Park and just beyond the city limits in Coitsville Township. Along the river the concern will be to preserve the riparian zone, but public recreational space can be incorporated into the acreage near the S.R. 616 bridge (similar to Struthers' baseball fields). Historic use would only restrict recreational development on a few small parcels.

Campbell's brownfields and their tremendous potential as sites for industrial development will be key to the city's future, but the city is also already blessed by the viable industry conducted at Calex Corporation and Cold Metal Products Co. If it could be arranged, two other areas with potential for light industry include the CSXT corridor and a parcel on the north side of Wilson Avenue between Robinson Road and Jackson Street.
With the future in mind, Campbell is an active player on the Mahoning River Corridor of Opportunity (MRCO) team. Founded in 1995 to facilitate the reclamation, redevelopment and promotion of 1,470 acres of industrial brownfield along the river, the MRCO has worked to address environmental concerns, funding, more immediate accessibility via roadway, restoration of on-site infrastructure, economic development, marketability and gaining the support and cooperation of private landowners and the general public through education and communication. The MRCO is assisting in the planning for a new$3 million Walton Avenue bridge to improve access to the site's interior and serve Campbell's Casey Industrial Park and other under-utilized former mill and rail property in the city.

Moving forward
Under a U.S. EPA Sustainable Development Challenge Grant entitled "A Revitalization Strategy for the Mahoning River," energies throughout the Mahoning Valley are able to focus on the responsible reuse of brownfield property, establishing sustainable business ventures, and the creation of an integrated system of riparian zones, recreational areas and green space.
Currently the Mahoning River Education Project (MREP) is being introduced in several schools in the valley; within a few years, it is hoped the program will be a part of the curricula in every school district in the river's watershed. A partnership between various public and private entities, MREP extends the classroom to the banks of the river, feeding into science, history, language arts, social studies, arts and math curricula, educating area youth about this resource in their midst and linking them with community leaders. Through enabling young people to understand what a healthy river can mean for their future, MREP hopes to ensure that within a generation the Mahoning will be restored and its watershed communities, revitalized.

Similarly, just as the City of Campbell's origins were nurtured by the river at the dawn of the 20th century, an approach to the future that nurtures the river will result in sustainable renewal of life for this former company town.

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