Warren Photo-tour (Warning if you have dial-up) (Youngstown, Fairfield: for sale, rent)

[CortlandGirl79]

Plants 19 and 46 - BEC or Bussed Electrical Centers (The fuse box in your car) for GM vehicles used to be made here, now in Mexico.......



Early 2007:

The Dock Plant 19





Plant 11 They make metal terminals here, for how long no one knows (they also have some of the fastest metal stamping machines in the world)



Plant 10 where they make wire

[CortlandGirl79]

As you can see in the above pictures, it's quite sad what happened to the Packard Brother's company.

I'm sure if they saw those pictures they would be rolling over in their graves. James Ward and William Doud Packared loved Warren and even after the Packard Motor Car became successful and production moved to Detroit they continued to live in Warren. J.W. spent his winter here and lived in Lakewood, New York during the summer. Both brothers were very community oriented and below are some of the good things they did w/their money:

This is from a paper i wrote for school (i got this info from a book called: Packard the Warren Years):

J.W. had a summer home in Lakewood, New York where he donated land and construction funds for the city’s town hall. He also donated a Model T Ford Fire truck, chimes and a church bell for the Methodist Church, and a $150,000 dollars toward a new wing for the Jamestown, New York hospital. In 1926 J.W. was treated at the Cleveland Clinic for cancer and he made a gift of $200,000 dollars to the Clinic for medical research. The gift also included 5,000 shares of Packard Motor Car stock valued at $30 per share. In Warren, J.W. donated land for the Salvation Army. He also donated $55,000 dollars for the enlargement of the Warren Public library, doubling the gift Andrew Carnegie had made to construct the original library. Lastly, he gave his alma mater, Lehigh University one million dollars for the construction of an engineering building. With his death various trusts were established in his will for the benefit of the following organizations: Warren Episcopal Church, the Warren Library Association, Warren City Hospital, Lehigh University, and the Seamen’s Church Institute of NYC. His personal libraries were also donated to the Warren Public Library.
James Ward’s older brother W.D. was also quite a philanthropist. When a Kent, Ohio site was chosen as the location for the state normal school (later Kent State), over the Kinsman property on Mahoning Avenue in Warren, W.D. purchased the land and donated it to the city for the establishment of a public park. Also, in his will he established a trust to construct a music hall and fund a permanent band organization that would provide free public concerts in Warren.

[CortlandGirl79]

James Ward Packard's house on N.Park in Warren (now the Buckeye club)





The National Packard Museum The National Packard Museum - Warren, Ohio



Outdoor concert area for the Packard Band at Packard Music Hall


The sign at Packard Park



W.D. Packard Music Hall



Packard St. sign



The first modern apartment building in Warren built by J.W. Packard on N. Park in Warren. This building was recently bought by an Amish guy for i think $68k and he is going to restore it.




W.D. Packard's grave in Oakwood Cemetery (on Niles Rd. behind Diane Sauer Chevrolet) along w/the rest of the Packard family plot



J.W. Packard grave in Oakwood Cemetery

[Ohiogirl81]

Love the Packard logo on the gravestone ...

Every time I see empty factories and parking lots -- and soon-to-be-empty buildings and parking lots -- etc., I think ... What a waste! In what universe does it make sense to abandon an already-built, spacious group of buildings and start from scratch elsewhere? I'll never understand it.

[CortlandGirl79]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

Love the Packard logo on the gravestone ...

Every time I see empty factories and parking lots -- and soon-to-be-empty buildings and parking lots -- etc., I think ... What a waste! In what universe does it make sense to abandon an already-built, spacious group of buildings and start from scratch elsewhere? I'll never understand it.

Me too! I love the Packard logo.

It is a waste, but they used all the profits we made over the years to build newer plants in China and Mexico where they can pay people between .30cents and a little over a dollar an hour.

Even if american workers didn't get paid we would never be able to compete w/those wages. The cost of doing business in the U.S. is so much higher (ie, taxes, regulation, utilities, EPA).

[moostraks]

I love the Packard building. Is there really someone going to refurbish it?? YAY!!!! We just bought a home on market street. Nice pictures. If I could figure out how to put a picture up I would contribute some we have of our recent visits.

[Stephan_K]

Originally Posted by moostraks

I love the Packard building. Is there really someone going to refurbish it?? YAY!!!! We just bought a home on market street. Nice pictures. If I could figure out how to put a picture up I would contribute some we have of our recent visits.

Yes these buildings are beautiful indeed but restoration is the problem with many of them. Most of the owners barely keep up with the general maintenance let alone attempt to restore them. To completely restore them would take hundreds of thousands of dollars which no one is willing to invest.

Many "look" good as is but are mini disasters underneath "the paint" inside and out. I have worked on 4 different ones about 10 - 15 years ago. Three on Mahoning Ave and the old furniture place on N Park Ave. The furniture place was a complete disaster once you got up close to it and inside it. I remember listening to the owner, the place was eating him alive just keeping up with it. Every day something was going bad or needed fixed. He always wanted to restore it but didn't have a "cool million" in cash to do so and a bank wouldn't even think about loaning funds for it. According to the bank, it couldn't hold value. That was ~15 years ago if I remember correctly... today it is empty and continuing to rotting away last I knew.

I always like a good fixer-upper but after seeing what I saw in a few of the historical homes I have been in, I wouldn't dare take on one of those money pits unless you have the funds available to completely restore it and were willing to do so no matter what the cost.

Then good luck recovering your investment .

[CortlandGirl79]

Originally Posted by moostraks

I love the Packard building. Is there really someone going to refurbish it?? YAY!!!! We just bought a home on market street. Nice pictures. If I could figure out how to put a picture up I would contribute some we have of our recent visits.

Moostraks,

I found this great blog on Warren the other day(Dare To Dream), you might enjoy it if you're moving to the area. Are you originally from Warren?

Here's the story on the Packard Building:

More Upscale Apartments Needed « Dare To Dream

[moostraks]

Originally Posted by CortlandGirl79

Moostraks,

I found this great blog on Warren the other day(Dare To Dream), you might enjoy it if you're moving to the area. Are you originally from Warren?

Here's the story on the Packard Building:

More Upscale Apartments Needed « Dare To Dream

Thanks!! No actually we found Warren due to a strange set of coincidences. I have liked eastern ohio for awhile, beautiful land. My husband and I both have a close friend in the Dayton area. My friend has been trying to get me to move to Ohio for years. My husband has tons of family in Pittsburgh.

Well dh has been given an ultimatum with his job and we can no longer afford to live in the Atlanta area. Enter ebay. We looked at investor property and I saw the huge park, mosquito lake and the proximity to Lake Erie. So after looking at many properties, most of which were written off because of deferred maintainence that caused structural defects, we found a huge home with new electrical and all sorts of classic home features-pocket doors, built ins, etc...

We aren't completely naive, we know there is crime. Coming from Atlanta, even though we lived in more middle class housing, we aren't unexposed to it here, and Warren is better than many places I have considered living in crime -wise going by statistics and personnal exposure during visits there.We know we are gambling on Warren not going completely in the tank. However if enough people see the positives, changes can be made. It seems as if they are trying to re-invest in the city there, even if a lot of people have been jaded by their experiences.

Also on the plus size is we will have no house note. So even though we have a lot of children, bad wages can be tolerated. From industry chatter, seems my husband's field of choice pays industry average up there so that's great. He just needs to get his foot in the door somewhere. He also has been working 3 jobs for the last 5 years here, so working several jobs to make ends meet are something we are well familiar with.

Thanks for being a positive voice for the area. Maybe if some others took the stance of not constantly bashing Warren, outsiders who could move in and change the fact the houses are boarded up, or people who might bring in businesses, might consider relocation. Sorry for such a long winded explanation....

[CortlandGirl79]

Wow! Great story! I'm assuming your home is on East Market St. since that is where all the cool old houses are. I love driving down that road! My dad grew up on Eastland (the road St. Joe's hospital is on) and the neighborhoods in that area are still very nice. Unfortunately, once you get down towards Trumbull Memorial the neighborhoods have a lot of rentals and have become somewhat shady.

I would love to see the pictures you have taken! I"ll PM you w/some more info on how to do that.

Are you going to be sending your kids to public school here? I know a lot of people bash the city schools, but if your kids go to Lincoln on Atlantic St. you shouldn't have any problems.

I grew up in a middle/upper-middle class bedroom community north of Warren and the schools are very good there. When a few of my g/f's couldn't afford to live there any longer they moved to Warren. They were very fearful of sending their kids to schools there, but have been pleasantly surprised by Lincoln. It's a brand new school w/grades K-8 and my friends are glad their kids go there. Their only complaint is the lack of parental involvement in Warren. Where we grew up mom's were always volunteering to help out at the schools, so it was kind of weird for them not to see that.

When will you all be living here in Warren full-time?? Congrats on the new house, I hope Warren doesn't disappoint you! Welcome to the area!!