But in 1959, the town earned a new moniker. “Steel’s Sick City” fell victim to a slowing economy and a national steel strike, which spelled doom for the industry, culminating in collapse in the late 1970s.
Youngstown Mayor John McNally, who’s lived nearly all his life in the city, remembers well September 19, 1977. Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, then one of America’s largest regional steel manufacturing firms, announced it would close most of its operations in and around Youngstown.
