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Beyond steel and rust, Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley share a rich but often overlooked past. During the late 1910s, the ever-present smoke blanketing the area could not hide the fires from the burning business district of East Youngstown or the city streets deserted from Spanish influenza. Over twenty years later, the Mahoning Valley lived under another dark cloud, the Great Depression, but in changing times for the valley and the country, the men and women of the WPA busied themselves with building up the region and dreaming of better days. Journalist and historian Sean Posey excavates the history behind familiar landmarks, forgotten institutions and historic sites that connect Mahoning Valley history to the story of the evolution of industrial America.