Yesterday, Stambaugh Auditorium hosted the graduation ceremonies for the city's two Catholic high schools, Cardinal Mooney and Ursuline, as it does each year. Graduation ceremonies are, by their nature, exciting events. Two graduations in the same day, of course, makes for an eventful day. However, even after the final graduate walked across the stage yesterday afternoon, the excitement at Stambaugh was just beginning. Apparently, an evening storm caused a section of the auditorium's roof to blow off into the street. Although there is not much information available at the moment, I'm pretty confident that the Youngstown Pride website will have more information sometime tomorrow.
Stambaugh Auditorium has been an important part of the city and a Northside landmark since its opening in 1926. Will Rogers, believe it or not, was the first act to perform there and the auditorium still hosts a number of events and concerts every year. I was lucky enough myself to see Bruce Springsteen perform there during his "Ghost of Tom Joad" tour.
Maintaining a building like Stambaugh is both costly and time-consuming, and as a result, a lot of similar structures have been abandoned or demolished. Detroit, for example, is home to a number of once-great buildings from the same time period which have been left to crumble and decay (This site has an excellent photo tour of what can sometimes seem like Youngstown's sister city up north). Organizations like the Stambaugh Pillars have been an integral part of the building's longevity, and now, unfortunately, they have a new challenge on their hands. Damage to any structure's roof can be a major setback. Hopefully, the roof issue can be resolved soon.
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