Local author’s new book highlights history of mill town’s glory days

FARRELL, Pa. (WKBN) — A new book is coming out in April on the history of a mill town that was once a bustling community of steelworkers.

Today, it’s called MLK Boulevard but in Farrell’s heyday it was Broadway. On one side was the mill — Carnegie Steel and Sharon Sharon Steel — and now NLMK. On the other side was the city. Still standing are the Blue Ribbon Bar and the building that housed First National Bank.

“That whole area across from the mill was a wide street full of businesses, theaters, bars,” says Taylor Galaska.

Galaska is president of the Sharon Historical Society and has written a new book called “The Magic City: The Mills, Men and Homes of a Company Town Forged in Steel.” It’s the story of Farrell, Pennsylvania.

“Early publications and a lot of the ads, they were dubbing it “the magic city,” because it kind of came out of nowhere. It was, you know, just kind of a desolate south section of of the Valley,” Galaska said.

Early on, the town was known as South Sharon, but the name was later changed to Farrell after James Farrell, the long-time president of U.S. Steel. The mill stretched all along the Shenango River, and U.S. Steel built company homes to house the workers. Farrell was divided by ethnic groups.

“The Italians had their own kind of neighborhood — Little Italy — and they had their own businesses and their own homes,” Galaska said.

Because of the mill, the population of Farrell went from a few to 10,000 in just a few years – peaking at 16,000 in the 1920s. Today, there are 42,000. Though the mill remains, it employs nowhere to close the numbers it saw at its peak.

“Today, the population of Farrell is 4,200,” Galaska said. “I hope that they really get an appreciation for the Valley, you know, the prominence of our towns.”

Galaska will hold the book release for The Magic City at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 11. It will be held at Sharon City Hall.

The publication is available online for preorders: https://sharonhistoricalsociety.com/shop/the-magic-city-farrell-pa-history-book