National Affairs: YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO: A Steel Town on Strike 5 minute read TIME October 12, 1959 12:00 AM GMT-4 ...

Youngstown suffered closures of steel mills in the 1970s and '80s that laid off thousands, tanked the local economy and led to a mass exodus of residents.

Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co., once synonymous with this city, served as the region's largest employer when its huge mill closed in 1977. That triggered a downturn of the U.S. steel industry.

Result: The permanent layoff of 5,000 unionized steelworkers, a body blow to the local economy. Youngstown’s population in 1970: About 140,000; in 2023: About 59,000.

People may know parts of the Big Picture story: On Sept. 19. 1977, the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., then one of the nation’s largest steel producers, said it’d shut down its Campbell Works ...