America’s Fastest Growing City that Became the Industrial Heart of the Shenango Valley

Skeptics watched and waited during the first years of the 20th century for the decline and sudden death of the little “boomtown” of South Sharon, now the city of Farrell, Pennsylvania. So quickly had it appeared amid the Shenango Valley’s established communities of Sharon and Sharpsville that many called the new steel-making settlement “The Magic City” and fully expected it to disappear with equal rapidity. Overcrowded boarding houses, the influx of immigrant laborers for the steel mills, and the ensuing building boom all led to speculation that although a bonanza had been struck, it would be of only temporary importance to the Valley. They underestimated the strength of steel and of the men who made it. But not all that glitters is gold. With the influx of immigrant workers, a rise in crime through the Italian Black Hand Society gave South Sharon the notoriety of being the Society’s headquarters. In 1919, the Great Steel Strike due to unfair wages erupted in the region, chaos and rioting left four dead. Uncover the rich history of one of the region’s largest employers, the Sharon Steel Corporation, the men responsible for its success, and the homes of steel kings and average workers who all played a critical role in the development of South Sharon into an important steel town in Western Pennsylvania.

Taylor Galaska, President of the Board of Directors of the Sharon Historical Society, is a Sharon, Pennsylvania native. He has served on the Board of Directors since 2014 when he joined at the age of 15. He has dedicated the last several years to researching the histories of hundreds of residences throughout the city of Sharon and the surrounding region of Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. He became well-known for his social media postings featuring the histories of local homes during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Graduating from Kennedy Catholic High School in 2017, he went on to study at Westminster College in New Wilmington where he earned a Bachelor’s in Marketing and Professional Sales, though his true passion has always been architectural history and historic preservation. By day, Galaska is the Guesthouse Supervisor of Buhl Mansion Guesthouse & Spa, and Marketing Manager for Buhl Mansion, Tara - A Country Inn, and Donna’s Diner. He proudly serves as a City Councilman for the City of Sharon. Galaska’s first book, Grand Homes of the Gilded Age, which was released in 2022 as the Historical Society’s first coffee-table style book has received much praise. He has also wrote Black Gold: Boomtowns, Prominent Men, & Grand Farmhouses of Hickory Township and co-authored Built by Steel: Frank and Julia Buhl’s Mansion and Legacy with Laura Ackley. In the spring of 2023, under the guidance of and extensive fundraising campaign of Galaska and treasurer, Wallace Michael Kotyk, the Sharon Historical Society purchased a historic home, set to open in 2024-25 as the Wallis Mansion History Center.

Pages: 260

Publisher: Sharon Historical Society

Imprint: Shenango Heritage Press

Series: Shenango Valley Towns

Publication Date: 11th April 2024

State: Pennsylvania

Trim Size: 6 x 9 in

ISBN: 9798988979418

Format: Paperback

BISACs:
HISTORY / United States / State & Local / Middle Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA)
HISTORY / United States / 20th Century
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Industries / Manufacturing
POLITICAL SCIENCE / Labor & Industrial Relations