Your Morning Matters: Remember the Hippodrome!

Good morning and welcome to your Morning Matters.

It's Monday, Feb. 22, 2021, and on this day in 1915, the Hippodrome Theater — then the largest theater in Youngstown — opened at 234 W. Federal St. According to CinemaTreasures.org, "It was such an event that 18 pages of the Youngstown Vindicator were devoted to it."

According to "History of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, Ohio, Volume 2," the theater was "one of the best in Ohio" with a 2,000-seat capacity. The theater became home to vaudeville and burlesque shows of the era, eventually showing films, too.

Here's a "tip tray" from 1925 to honor the theater's 10th anniversary. I am now VERY curious what the "Vindicator Follies" were!

A post on Cinema Treasures gives us this bit of history: "The entrance to the Hippodrome was inside the Hippodrome Arcade, half way between Federal and Commerce Streets. There were numerous stores inside the Arcade so it was like a mini-mall ... once the [Keith Albee Palace Theater] was built, the Hipp couldn't compete and finally closed and its location was turned into the Greyhound Bus Station with the loading area where the stage was once located."

The area is now roughly where the George V. Voinovich Government Center is today.

Downtown was truly a mecca for theater in its heyday. Sadly, as the economy evolved and society changed, most of the theaters were shuttered and demolished. Luckily, the Warner Theater was saved from the wrecking ball in 1968 by the Edward W. Powers family and eventually became the Powers Auditorium at the DeYor Performing Arts Center.

The rest are left to our memories and imaginations.

Let's be careful out there.

Here's what you need to know about the Mahoning Valley today:

About one year after the first known COVID-19 death in the United States, the country's death toll nears half a million. More Americans have died from COVID-19 than on the battlefields of World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War combined, The New York Times reported.

Of those 500,000, about 17,000 were Ohioans. As we near this grim milestone, the light at the end of the tunnel is in sight. Nearly 1.5 million Ohioans have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and this week, the state reported its fewest number of new cases since early October. But we shouldn't let down our guards just yet, Jess Hardin reports.

Other matters

In this week's installment of The Earnheardts, Mary Beth Earnheardt discusses parenting in the age of the pandemic, which she says "has brought parenting into the professional world in the most unprofessional ways. It has allowed those of you who don't have small children at home to see behind the curtain of those of us who do." Mahoning Matters

The Valley titans of industry in today's Business Updates include Boardman Local Schools, State Farm and the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber. Mahoning Matters

Work to reform foster care in Ohio is getting a boost from a new federal law. The Family First Prevention Services Act will be implemented this fall. It changes how federal dollars for foster care are spent. Mahoning Matters

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers' first season as part of the MLB Draft League is set to begin on the road May 24 at the West Virginia Black Bears. The Business Journal [May require registration.]

Two Austintown restaurants — Sam's Wedge Inn and The Landmark Restaurant — have closed temporarily due to COVID-19. WKBN

YSU student organizations, including sororities and fraternities, came up with new ways to raise money during this year's Guinathon to help kids at Akron Children's Hospital Mahoning Valley. WFMJ

Two of the three Ohio school districts taken over by the state have reopened their doors to students. Youngstown City Schools is one of nine school districts in the state still fully remote. Officials plan to make an official announcement this week. The Vindicator [May encounter paywall.]

Movers and Makers

Born and raised on Youngstown's South Side, 38-year-old Hannah Ferguson first got her start in the craft beer industry three years ago. Now she is the assistant brewer at Modern Methods Brewing Co. and the first Black woman to be named a professional brewer in Ohio. Mahoning Matters

This story was made possible by Farmers National Bank.

Your comments matter

"The better question is, if you have $50,000 worth of jewelry in a flight bag, why the heck are you flying on Frontier? I'd be going first class on a more upscale airline."

— Cheryl Davis, on a Niles couple who filed a civil lawsuit against Frontier Airlines, claiming the airline is liable for the loss of jewelry worth $50,000 in their carry-on luggage.

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This story was originally published February 22, 2021 at 6:55 AM with the headline "Your Morning Matters: Remember the Hippodrome!."