Found in boxes never opened, brand-new 1948 Youngstown Kitchens cabinets go home to Youngstown, Ohio

“…Ironically, it would be loaded on to a rail car and shipped back by rail to Ohio. Probably the same way it was shipped from Ohio to California 70 years ago.” — Ben Casado

When we broke the story last fall that a complete NOS 1948 Youngstown Kitchens cabinets — plus Cusheen countertops — plus GE Airliner range had been found in a home in California, many of us agreed it should end up in a museum. And guess what: It did! A reader of the blog started a campaign to buy it… the local TV news picked up the story… and overnight, donors came forward. Now: These cabinets are now back at home in their native land, Youngstown, Ohio, on display at the Tyler Mahoning Valley History Center. 

A shout up high up to all the folks who made this chain-of-love happy ending story possible:

• Ben Casado, who found the cabinets and contacted Pam about them….
• Pam is taking a bow. She got excited, jumped on the story and went back and forth with Ben — 93 threads in 43 emails! — and then published the story…
• Christian Rinehart, a reader who saw the story and started a Go Fund Me campaign to bring them back home to their native land, the Warren, Ohio, area….
• TV station WFMJ which responded when Christian pitched the story and ran a feature on the evening news…
• Michael and Jeanette Garvey, who quickly responded to the request for funding to bring these cabinets back to Ohio. More on their donation below….
• H. William Lawson, Executive Director of The Mahoning Valley Historical Society, then got involved. They would provide a new home for the cabinets…
  
• Once the deal was sealed, Ben built special crates to hold the cabinets [so he gets double props in this list!]…
• And helping further — coordinating and helping toward the cost of shipping to help the museum out:  The management and staff of B. J. Alan Company, a nationwide wholesaler and retailer of fireworks owned and operated in the Mahoning Valley, and Historical Society Board member Scott Zoldan. B. J. Alan happens to have a distribution center close to Ben’s.

So that’s how history gets saved! What a happy ending story, don’t you think!

1948 Youngstown Kitchens cabinets — still in their boxes — make their way to their hometown museum

After our story broke, Ben (the seller) received many offers to purchase the set. He was… deluged, actually. Ultimately, he decided to sell this amazing piece of history to The Mahoning Valley Historical Society. 

Mega thanks to Ben for both rescuing this set and finding a new home where it will be cherished, taken care of and on display for everyone to see!

Once the set arrived in Youngstown and was unpacked and set up, we heard from H. William Lawson, Executive Director of The Mahoning Valley Historical Society, who wrote:

Hello again Pam,

It’s been a while since we last chatted, but I wanted to inform you that the Mahoning Valley Historical Society (MVHS) is now in possession of the nearly new 1948 Youngstown Kitchen set that Ben was offering last year, and was featured on your website!

Here is a press release with more details:

Vintage Youngstown Kitchen Steel Cabinet Set Returns to the Valley

A collection of pristine Youngstown Kitchen cabinets was recently acquired by the Mahoning Valley Historical Society, and are now on exhibit at the Tyler Mahoning Valley History Center.

Last fall, through the power of social media, the Mahoning Valley Historical Society in Youngstown, Ohio, received a donation to purchase a set of mostly unused, new old stock Youngstown Kitchen porcelain steel cabinets and countertops. The cabinets were ordered in 1948 for a kitchen installation that was never completed, and were sitting, still in their shipping boxes, in a home in California.  After a blog post on the site www.retrorenovation.com, the seller was bombarded with offers, and was thrilled when the Historical Society showed an interest.

The Historical Society received the generous gift from Michael and Jeanette Garvey, owners of M-7 Technologies in Youngstown.  They made the donation in memory of the late George E. Whitlock, who was President of Mullins Manufacturing Corporation of Warren and Salem, Ohio, from 1937-1956, which made the Youngstown Kitchen brand of porcelain steel cabinets.  Mullins merged with the American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Corporation in 1956, and the Youngstown Kitchen line became a division of American-Standard.  The Garvey family were Mr. Whitlock’s next-door neighbors in Warren when Michael Garvey was growing up.

Ben Casado, the seller in Galt, California, built custom crates for all of the components in the kitchen cabinet set.  The crates arrived in Warren in late-December, through coordination of shipping by the management and staff of B. J. Alan Company, a nationwide wholesaler and retailer of fireworks owned and operated in the Mahoning Valley, and Historical Society Board member Scott Zoldan. B. J. Alan happens to have a distribution center in Sacramento, CA, which is near to Mr. Casado’s residence.

The crates arrived at the Tyler History Center on Tuesday, January 17, 2016, and the Youngstown Kitchen components and GE Airliner electric range were carefully unpacked and inspected.  The cabinets were installed in a temporary exhibit in the first floor Exhibit Gallery at the Tyler History Center  that opened Saturday, January 30.  This preview exhibit runs through April 30, 2016. The Tyler History Center, located at 325 West Federal Street in downtown Youngstown, is open to the public Tuesday-Sunday from Noon to 4:00 p.m.  Admission is $4 for adults, $3 for seniors (over 60) and college students, and $2 for children.  For more information, visit www.mahoninghistory.org or call 330-743-2589.

We asked Bob Lawson what the reaction in the community has been, and he replied:

Reaction from our community has been very positive…lots of visitors have been drawn to the Tyler History Center specifically to see the Youngstown Kitchen set.  In the future, we want to work with other local historical agencies, libraries, museums, etc., in the Youngstown-Warren area on traveling installations so that more people have an opportunity to see this nearly perfectly preserved kitchen set.

So great to hear!

Shipping: A return trip on the same rail line?

Pam also reached to Ben — who was a friend by now — to ask how he felt now that the cabinets had found a new home. He replied right back:

Hi Pam!

I think the last time we spoke, I was in the process of closing the deal with Mahoning Valley Historical Society. I was pleased to announce to you and to all others concerned that this kitchen set was bound for Ohio its place of origin. Little did I know: The work was about to begin!

Working with Bill Lawson from Mahoning Valley Historical Society was a real pleasure, and things were moving real smooth. I think we both felt that this transition was going to be easy. Well, it’s so happens that shipping an entire kitchen set, a very fragile 1948 kitchen, across United States wasn’t going to be that easy for us. Our first thought was using a moving van (Mayflower etc.), but that idea fell through… Our next idea was maybe to use a common carrier, the problem with that was the expense $$$.

So, Bill Lawson went to work on the transportation situation, while I stayed busy packing and palletizing making ready for the journey.

To make a long story even shorter! Two months gone by, everything is palletized and under a tarp and ready to hit the road. I finally get the call from Bill, his first words were, “Good News!” We found somebody to help us get the kitchen set back to Ohio. This was a real relief for me — the rains had just started to fall in Northern California, and I was really concerned with the threat of an El Niño winter (lots of moisture on a fragile old kitchen set covered with tarps)…

I said goodbye to all that old /new kitchen stuff as it was riding away on the back of a semi flatbed truck. From what I understand, from my property it would be delivered to a truck terminal, from the truck terminal it would be moved to a railroad yard. And ironically, it would be loaded on to a rail car and shipped back by rail to Ohio. Probably the same way it was shipped from Ohio to California 70 years ago.

Ben.

 

It makes us SO HAPPY that these cabinets found a new home — one where they can be seen and appreciated by many for years and years to come.

Link Love – Read More:

• Read more about the history of the Mullins Manufacturing Corporation and the NOS Youngstown Cabinet exhibit at the Tyler History Center in Youngstown, Ohio on the Mahoning Valley Historical Society blog.
• See our original story about the discovery of this set of NOS Youngstown Steel Kitchen Cabinets.
• Read more about Steel Kitchen Cabinets on our History, Design and FAQ page.

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