May 24—SHARON — They once called Farrell “The Magic City” for how it sprung out of nowhere in the first decade of the 1900s as a boomtown fueled by the iron and steel industry.
Local historian Taylor Galaska has captured the town’s history in his new book, published by the Sharon Historical Society, “The Magic City: The Mills, Men and Homes of a Company Town Forged in Steel.”
“I was totally blown away at the level of research that he conducted,” said April Torrence, a lifelong Farrell resident and owner of Zion Education Center in Farrell. “There was information presented that gave me a greater understanding of why some of the streets I’ve walked all my life are named what they are.”
The next-most-recent book written about Farrell — which was founded in 1901 as South Sharon — was published about 10 or 15 years ago, and it was a photo book that did not have any historical text, Galaska said.
“I had people come to me that wanted to see a book about Farrell done correctly,” he said. “So that’s what I hope this book did. It made more of a historical narrative about the town.”
Galaska used past histories about the town as the book’s main framework. The 1950s-era history of the town was covered by essays written by local women that were compiled into a commemorative publication.
“Using those and essays by a few other folks about different parts of history as a framework, then I really delved deeper into the people behind the mills and the mills themselves,” Galaska said. “I always like to put an architectural spin on it so this has some information about the homes in Farrell.”
Such as company housing, including the bigger homes along and off Sharon-New Castle Road and Roemer Boulevard.
“So I wanted to kind of compare and contrast the millworker homes versus the people that owned mills that had the huge mansions and how they lived differently back then,” Galaska said.
Galaska, president of the Sharon Historical Society, wrote and conducted most of the research for the 260-page, photo-filled book.
Galaska’s community involvement began in 2013, when he was 14. He was a Kennedy Catholic middle schooler who had designed and sold T-shirts because he wanted to help families impacted by the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings.
Galaska went on to illustrate a book, “The Little Lambs and the Very Special Mission” by Rhonda Paglia of Hermitage when he was 14. The book was dedicated to the 20 children and six teachers who died in the Sandy Hook shootings on Dec. 14, 2012.
“Magic City” is the third local history volume Galaska has written. He previously wrote “Grand Homes of the Gilded Age,” a coffee-table book on Sharon mansions, and “Black Gold: Boomtowns, Prominent Men, and Grand Farmhouses of Hickory Township” about what is now Hermitage and its early coal mining industry.
Torrence, a donor for the project through the LLC Steel City Enterprise Zone, was proud to say she was Galaska’s teacher for some time.
“I had him in preschool and the after-school program and then 15 years later in Westminster College,” Torrence said. “Out of thousands of children that have come through my doors, he’s one who’s come full circle. It’s very memorable.”
Galaska grew up in Sharon, now sits on Sharon City Council and has been with the Sharon Historical Society since he was 15.
“I just knew that I was interested and back then it was just a group of history nerds getting together and doing history walks,” Galaska said. “I was just a board member at the time. From there it grew into what it is today.”
Torrence said there is so much information in the “Magic City.”
“The book gives a history of the city of Farrell, not just the mill, but the community and the culture,” Torrence said. “The houses that some of us have lived in on top of the hill at one time, restricted to people of color.”
Torrence attended the recent lecture Galaska and the society held in Sharon to accompany the release of the new book. She has asked him to hold another book lecture at the Farrell Municipal Building.
For the last 10 years, Torrence had been in conversations with Farrell economic development officials to use steel shipping containers. She has been trying to find a way to repurpose steel and bring revenue back into the city without raising taxes.
“This book has really energized me to pick the grant back up and move forward to getting the economic development revitalized in the city of Farrell and sticking to our culture of repurposing steel,” Torrence said. “This book gives me the ‘why’ of being connected and I stand behind him and present his research while he sells as many books as he can. It’s worth the price.”
The book can be purchased for $30 from sharonhistoricalsociety.com
Follow Melissa Klaric on twitter @HeraldKlaric or email her at mklaric@sharonherald.com
Follow Melissa Klaric on twitter @HeraldKlaric or email her at mklaric@sharonherald.com
