Research for a project like our upcoming America 250 publication is always interesting work. It is interesting to look back at old newspapers and see what the important issues of the time were.

The challenge, of course, is that it is hard to stay on task, and the temptation to read through all of the old stories and study the old pictures is usually too great. It can turn what starts out as a straightforward search for a specific topic into many minutes spent reading about the past.

That was the case when a copy of our Progress Edition from 1975 turned up. Dated Feb. 28 of that year, it was a massive publication, covering 48 pages and filled with stories and advertisements featuring local businesses — many of which are no longer with us — and perspectives that looked to the region’s future.

It landed in our office several years ago as part of a collection of old newspapers that former Community Editor Janice Kiaski brought in. Those papers had been saved by her late mother, Ruth Hout. The longtime teacher built up quite a collection of newspapers, which has helped preserve a part of the area’s history.

There are numerous stories and advertisements that stand out, and some have been written about in the past.

One that has not appeared on Page 6D was a column by then-Mayor William Crabbe, which ran under the headline, “Crabbe Expects Year of Excitement.”

The mayor said there were many reasons for optimism in the city at the time. Among those, he wrote, was that the tower building that would be the home of Ohio Valley Savings and Loan was going up on the corner of Fifth and Market streets at the site of the former Reiner’s Department Store. The project, he wrote, would be “the single biggest improvement in downtown Steubenville in the past 50 years.”

While the savings and loan is gone, the building has found new life today as the Jefferson County Tower, which is at nearly full capacity, serving as the home of several agencies and other organizations.

He also looked forward to the opening of the Washington Street Extension, which would provide the city “with a very convenient and most attractive and modern highway approach.”

There was excitement about planned demolition work in the 100 block of South Third Street, which would open space for a modern city justice building and a site that was then supposed to be known as the Fort Steuben Historical Area.

While the justice center never materialized, that block became the location for the Historic Fort Steuben reconstruction, the First Federal Land Office in the Northwest Territory, the Visitor Center and Berkman Amphitheater.

He also wrote about the new post office complex on Third Street that would employ more than 200 people.

All of that development painted a bright future for downtown.

Crabbe also outlined what he hoped to see in the future. One of the items on his wish list was for the acquisition, restoration and refurbishing of the city’s old train station, with the hope of turning it into a museum for the Tri-State Area. Sadly, that building was destroyed in a fire in September 1976.

He also wanted the city to purchase the old post office at the corner of Fourth and Washington streets and convert it into a senior citizens complex with an auditorium and other amenities. That project never happened, but the building today is being refurbished for use by the College of St. Joseph the Worker.

Downtown Steubenville, Crabbe added, needed a medical center that could house doctors’ offices and provide facilities and services for people who did not need to be hospitalized and could be used in times of emergency to take pressure off Ohio Valley Hospital and St. John Medical Center.

Although there was optimism centered on downtown, a growing amount of attention was being paid to the West End, especially the Fort Steuben Mall. Open for less than a year at the time (March 5, 1974, was the date), officials were proud it offered a third major department store at the complex — Carlisle’s — which joined Kaufmann’s and Sears as anchors.

More than 65 stores were planned for when the development was completed.

The story about the mall reported that in November 1974, the Goodman Co., then the mall’s owner, and the Steubenville YMCA had made a joint announcement about plans to build a new YMCA on land provided by the mall. Construction was scheduled to begin in the fall of 1975, the report said.

It was never built.

Much has happened during the last 51 years, and while there are bright spots at the mall today — including the 7 Ranges entertainment complex, J.C. Penney and the section that holds several businesses including the Ville, Merle Norman and Cato Fashions among others — the future of much of the rest of the main building remains very much in doubt.

As part of its one-year anniversary celebration, shoppers were invited to register at any mall store for a chance to win a $500 shopping spree or more than 60 merchandise prizes that had been donated by the Fort Steuben Mall Merchants Association.

And the grand prize?

That was a 1975 Ford Pinto.

(Gallabrese, a resident of Steubenville, is senior writer for the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times.)