YOUNGSTOWN — No one in the Mahoning Valley expected the biggest rock star in the world to be an ally. But that’s what occurred when Bruce Springsteen released “The Ghost of Tom Joad” on Nov. 21, 1995.

Among its dozen tracks was “Youngstown,” which, in less than four minutes, encapsulated the origins, boom and fall of the area’s steel industry.

Eric Simione, manager of Lanterman’s Mill, took a deep historical dive into the lyrics of the song during Mill Creek MetroParks’ “Winter Talks: Youngstown — The Story Behind Bruce Springsteen’s Tale of Our Hometown” Friday at the Ford Nature Center’s Education Building.

“If you go back about a decade before this, you really didn’t get much bigger or more popular than Bruce Springsteen when he was doing ‘Born in the USA.’ So, the idea that he wrote a song about Youngstown was a pretty big deal to a lot of us.”

The lecture combined past events with visuals, including several from the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor (aka Steel Museum) and personal anecdotes.

With a printout of the song’s lyrics available for attendees to follow along, Simione went through each verse. It begins by mentioning the Hopewell Furnace — located in Yellow Creek Park in Struthers — which was built in 1803 by James and Dan Heaton.

Later, the track recognizes the area’s contributions such as making cannonballs for the Union Army in the Civil War.

“Sometimes, people overlook the fact that not just Youngstown, but Ohio, in general, played such a huge role in the Civil War and the war effort for the North. The Civil War would have taken place at a time when some of the mills were just getting started. I believe there were 17 mills in Mahoning County alone,” he said.

Moving to the 20th Century, Simione brought up that there were mills running along the Mahoning River for decades until Black Monday began the closures on Sept. 19, 1977.

“Depending on how long you lived in the area, most of us probably had relatives that worked in these facilities at some point in time. They became a very prominent part of life for people in this region,” Simione said.

He referred to his grandfather, who worked at Youngstown Sheet & Tube Campbell Works and retired shortly before it closed. Showing a photo that reproduced a typical steelworker’s home with a small living room and kitchen downstairs and one bedroom / one bathroom upstairs, Simione mentioned his elder relative lived in a similar residence with four family members.

“It was a very simple and humble experience, but it was something that particular generation took great pride in because they did have shelter, these houses,” he said.

The city’s importance to manufacturing was considered so important that the Soviet Union placed it among its top targets for a nuclear strike.

“By the close of World War II, the United States was producing about two-thirds of the world’s steel supply, which is really quite prominent. Then, within the span of only 40 years we’re down to 11%.

“There’s a drastic shift that takes place that really started in the ’60s, but it was happening so slowly, nobody really noticed it,” Simione said.

He recalled his dad coming home in 1970 after serving in the U.S. Navy during Vietnam.

“Like anyone who grew up in Youngstown he figured he’d get a job at the mill, but when he went down there, he was told, ‘We’re not hiring.’ That was unheard of. So, it started before the real shutdowns.”

Simione concluded by quoting the last line of the song — “I pray the devil comes and takes me to stand in the fiery furnaces of hell” — and then said, “That is a unique line to describe what these workers went through and what they took pride in. It really embodies the spirit of Youngstown. We will do the hard work. We always have and continue to try to in the decades since these mills closed.”

The hourlong talk was bookended with live videos of Springsteen performing the song — a somber, eulogy-like, solo acoustic version taken from the musician’s concert on Jan. 12, 1996, at Stambaugh Auditorium and an emotional, angry version featuring the full E Street band from the “Live in New York City” DVD.

Springsteen continued to make “Youngstown” and the plight of workers a fixture of his setlists. According to setlist.fm, he’s performed the song 318 times around the world, most recently on Nov. 22, 2024, in Vancouver.

Despite the facts within the lyrics specifically geared toward this area, at its core the song deals with displaced workers, which makes it understandable for his international fans.

The Winter Talks lecture series continues this weekend with YSU Ward Beecher Planetarium Engineer Curt Spivey discussing the current winter night sky and recent astronomical events 6 to 7 p.m. Friday and Diana Alexander exploring the geology of Mill Creek Park 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday. For more information, go to www.MillCreekMetroParks.org.