Harrison School on Route 422.

M.E. Riley bought the Harrison School in 1965 and turned it into a Technical School, teaching Drafting, Air Conditioning, Refrigeration, and Electronics. It has been expanded to eight classrooms and laboratories, and two other buildings have been added to the educational complex.

McKinley Heights Memories Part 1.
1984 Times Special Edition–By Mary Jane Steffey
McKinley Heights began growing at the turn of the century. Although consisting mostly of farms, the center of the area became known as Tibbets Corners, named for the family who owned a farm there. This is now the corner where Route 422 and Robbins Avenue intersect.

A one-room school, about one half mile north on Route 422, accomodated the children of the residents. This school taught grades one through eight. Some of the older boys were called on the attend to the janitor work, such as shoveling snow, etc. Children were expected to get to school by their own transportation. School buses were non-existent.

The children attended this school until 1918, when a new two room brick school was built on property about one fourth mile south on the same side of the road. It was called McKinley School. Two years later it was enlarged to four rooms and was acquired by the Niles City School System. The Niles Board renamed the school Harrison School. Students used this school until 1955. Now they are bused to schools within the city limits of Niles.

On the Southeast Corner was a gas station, built in 1924 by Phil Bianco. It was operated as a Cities Service Station until it became a Fleet Wing station in 1947. (The Cities Service sign is visible in the upper left-hand corner of the photo).

Phil’s sons now operate the gas station, and expanded it to another building for the sale and service of boating, lawn and garden equipment, and snow vehicles.

Where the Snack Shack now stands was a small candy and ice cream parlor that served the young people after skating on the frozen creeks in winter, or swimming in summer, or after a hot street car ride from Youngstown or Warren. In 1943, during World War II, Mrs. Dorothy Allison and Mr. Roodhouse opened a Snack Shack, calling it “A Comfy Coffee Kitchen”. This emporium had outside plumbing.

After World War II, all businesses expanded, including the Snack Shack. In 1957, Mr. Roodhouse’s son, Rudy, took over the restaurant and after enlarging and improving it (including indoor plumbing), changed the name to Rudy’s Snack Shack.

In 1962 it was almost completely destroyed by fire, but was rebuilt and remodeled and its name changed again to Rudy’s Restaurant. Rudy’s health forced him to sell the popular eating place to the Accordinos in 1975. The food has always been excellent, which is probably the reason the restaurant has had many years of success.