Mexicans
Mexicans first began coming to the Youngstown area in the 1910s, to work in the steel mills. Immigrants from Mexico have continued to move to the Mahoning Valley, working in the auto industry, as farm laborers, and in other fields. They have bought homes, opened restaurants, and created a community organization, La Sociedad Mutalista Mexicana — the Youngstown Mexican Club — that has been sponsoring dances, festivals, and other programs for more than 80 years.
This page includes profiles of several members of the local Mexican community, people who arrived at different times, but who share a commitment to their Mexican heritage.
- James Berroteran
- Armando Labra
- The Nolasco Family
- Ramiro Quirarte
- Carlos Ramirez
- Linda Roth
- Tom Ramos
- Gloria De Los Santos
Several video interviews in Spanish, transcriptions in Spanish, translations in English, cultural artifacts, and teaching resources in Spanish and English can be found in the collection: Latino Voices of the Valley.
This is an amazing resource, thank you! My family from Youngstown is also Mexican and Hungarian! Though, I mostly know my Mexican family. My bisabuelo (great-grandfather) y bisabuela (who was actually indigenous, Zapotec Indian, and my middle namesake) came to Youngstown, in the 1920/30s to work in the steel mills. My abuela had many incredible stories. I’m an artist/writer working on a project about my mixed-race heritage, so doing some research on the history of Mexican communities in Ohio, which is rarely seen in media, and very happy to find this resource and comment. I hope you can continue to archive these histories.
My Father was born in 1938. He was left at the hospital in Youngstown, an orphan. He never spoke of his childhood much and now I am researching his family. I only had his mother’s name on his birth certificate to go off of. Which has ultimately left me here piecing together the puzzle. His Father was a Mexican immigrant who came here to work in the mills in 1926. This quest has been so exciting, and it keeps leading me to new questions. His Mother was a Hungarian immigrant and His father from Mexico. Youngstown has always been this beautiful melting pot. Just look at the census of 1930 and 1940 for a start.