Free lecture to mark release of book on Shenango Valley coal boom

SHARON – A free lecture Wednesday will mark the release of a new book on Shenango Valley history.

The book, “Black Gold: Boomtowns, Prominent Men, and Grand Farmhouses of Hickory Township,” was written by Taylor Galaska, president of the Sharon Historical Society, in collaboration with the Hermitage Historical Society.

With nearly 200 full-color pages, the book chronicles the history of the Shenango Valley’s wealthy families and large farmhouses. Black Gold offers an in-depth look at the “Sharon block coal” mining industry, the men responsible for its success, and the grand farmhouses and log cabins that once dotted the landscape, paired with historic and current photography.

Hickory Township evolved into today’s city of Hermitage.

The free program by Galaska, which is open to the public and does not require reservations or tickets, will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the second-floor festhalle of the Apollo Maennerchor Club, 391 S. Dock St., Sharon.

Galaska will explore a transformational era in the Shenango and Mahoning Valley’s past of rich deposits of coal and the Erie Extension Canal.

“The coal boom in the Shenango and Mahoning Valley was critical to the success of the local iron and steel mills. Like oil, coal had the power to make kings out of paupers; farmers were transformed into wealthy coal mine operators,” he said.

Galaska was the main researcher for this publication, with the help of Barb Matejka and Maxine Patterson of the Hermitage Historical Society.

Copies of the book will be sold at the event and online at sharonhistoricalsociety.com.