Grand Homes of the Gilded Age by Taylor Galaska (184 pages, paperback or hardcover, 11 x 8.5")

“Grand Homes of the Gilded Age” is a deluxe, full-color, coffee-table-style book chronicling the history of the city of Sharon’s most wealthy families and large homes, this publication will offer readers an in-depth look into America’s Gilded Age period (1850-1915) with detailed research paired with historic and current photography.

At the center of a once-busy industrial region of the country, the city of Sharon, Pennsylvania experienced rapid growth in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was because of this rise in America's industrial capacity that Sharon – and the Shenango Valley – became the heart of the coal, iron, and steel industries, leading those who benefitted from these to accumulate substantial wealth. With this newly gained wealth and power, the area's prominent residents from the 1850s through 1915 built grand homes in a variety of popular or peculiar architectural styles of the Gilded Age. Leaders such as Frank Henry and Julia Forker Buhl, John Stevenson, and members of the Perkins family commissioned elaborate residences from the noted architects of their day. However, leading into the 1920s and '30s, like many cities across the country, Sharon saw a decline in these mansions and estates. Rising costs of labor, maintenance, and utilities, coupled with the Great Depression and changes in what defined "modern living," led to the loss of many of these homes. Explore a transformational era in Sharon’s past with this in-depth look at the grand homes that once graced the streets of the East and West Hills.