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WARREN -- The Rotary Club of Warren is preparing to celebrate the city's 225th birthday with a special event tonight at Courthouse Square.
The birthday event will include skits, guided tours, singers and dancers, magic, comedy and activities for children in celebration of the beginning of a new year.
It also will celebrate the rich history of the city.
"When we think of the city being founded 225 years ago, that's looking back to 1798 when this area was still being developed as part of the Connecticut Land Company," Meghan Reed, the executive director of the Trumbull County Historical Society, said.
Reed said the area that is now Warren was owned by the state of Connecticut at that time. She said it was sold to a group of wealthy investors out of Hartford, Connecticut, who founded the land company.
She said the land was then parceled off and sold at a profit.
FIRST TO ARRIVE
"Some of the first settlers we see here in Warren, like Simon Perkins and Frederick Kinsman and Ephraim Quinby, who donated the land of Courthouse Square, all of those men were a part of the Connecticut Land Company and part of that effort."
In 1801, Warren was established as the seat of Trumbull County, which at the time withheld the entire Connecticut Western Reserve according to the city website. It had been selected over other cities such as Cleveland and Youngstown.
Due to its designation as the seat of Trumbull County, Warren served as a social and commercial hub in the early decades of the Western Reserve.
Reed said when discussing the history of Warren, Perkins played a crucial role as he and his family were the largest landowners in the city.
"Him and his family played a very key role in how the city developed over time," Reed said. "They owned so much land and they were very against industrial development. It's really not until the Perkins family starts selling off their parcels of land that we start seeing industry and manufacturing start to grow and develop here."
THE PACKARDS
The city began to see industrial growth in the early 20th century with a big portion of credit being given to the Packard family.
"I heard somebody say once, 'We wouldn't have steel in Warren without the Packard Brothers,'" Reed said. "You really can't talk about the development of manufacturing in Warren without talking about Packard."
The Packard brothers, William and James, founded Packard Motor Company and Packard Electric. Reed said Packard Electric was one of many lightbulb manufacturing companies at the turn of the 19th century.
Reed said between 1904 and 1924, the population of Warren grew by 300%. She said the population growth, through Italian immigration, Greek immigration and the Great Migration, spurred industry and manufacturing growth in Warren.
Reed said the population growth also created several of the neighborhoods throughout the city.
The steel industry collapsed during the 1970s and caused economic distress in Warren, as well as nationwide. The impact was felt for decades.
MEMORIES
Elizabeth Cole Clark, 97, has lived in or nearby Warren her entire life.
Clark is a retired lecturer and former history teacher for the Howland Local School District, where she taught for 28 years. She also is a lecturer emeritus with the Upton Association.
Clark said she has seen many changes in the city throughout her life.
"It has changed tremendously," Clark said.
She often remembers her mother getting excited to take the family to downtown Warren every weekend. With no Howland Corners or Eastwood Mall yet in existence, Clark said Warren was the center of everything.
"We were downtown every Saturday of our lives. Everybody went to town," Clark said. "You'd go to the drug store, then you'd go to the meat market, then you'd go to the clothing store, they had everything under the sun and everybody went to town on Saturday."
Clark said Gene's Jewelers was a personal favorite. She added, during the Great Depression, her father owned a business in the city.
"When I was a kid, it was right in the middle of the Depression and it was terrible," Clark said. "We were lucky because my dad had a company in town, A.B. Cole Company. He was busy all the time."
The company, founded "from scratch" by her father Alexander, was a heating and air conditioning installation business.
During that time, Clark said her father would drive kids back to their house in the back of his truck and her family would provide them with meals and hospitality.
"He'd bring them home, mother would see that they had showers and stuff, and they fed them and gave them tons of food to take home every night," Clark said.
THANKFUL
Clark said one of the many things she has been thankful to take advantage of while living in and near Warren have been the opportunities for entertainment and recreation.
"One of the good things is they have Packard Music Hall, that was a great, great thing," Clark said. "Then of course, we always had Packard Park. The parks were always very important. We have wonderful parks."
Quinby Park has always been one of Clark's favorites as well, she said.
"That's where we always had Christmas parties," she said. "Quinby Park was gorgeous. They had a big fireplace and the lake would freeze and you could ice skate all over it."
Clark has spent the last few decades doing volunteer work across the Mahoning Valley.
"I do a lot of lecturing," she said.
Last year, Clark did a lecture series on Martha Washington. She said she likes to look for pieces of history the average listener will not know about.
She said she is doing fewer volunteer lectures now on account of being 97 years old.
As the city of Warren reaches its 225th birthday, Clark encourages everyone in the city to learn more about its history.
"Warren, Ohio, has a wonderful history," she said. "I think you have to know everything about your town, all the way back. I think there's no excuse, not one excuse not to know your history. Your history is the most important thing that you could possibly have."