Christmas Lighting Installation in Boardman, OH

Older buildings, like the ones in those districts, mean older gutters, older fascia boards and roof edges that were never designed with seasonal fixings in mind. On a property that old, the fixing method should suit the surface that is actually there, and whether the property sits inside one of the district boundaries is a question for the township.

Boardman Township holds a Community Christmas celebration at Boardman Park on a Sunday in early December, with wagon rides to the St. James meeting house, caroling and a tree lighting. That puts an early December marker on the calendar for having a display lit.

The last local factor is Mill Creek Park, which the township abuts and shares. Properties backing onto park land have a dark treeline behind them, and a dark backdrop is the most flattering thing a winter display can have.

It also means light spilling backwards is entirely wasted. On those lots the whole scheme should be aimed at the road.

The township takes its name from Elijah Boardman, who handled land for the Connecticut Land Company, laid it out in the late 1790s as township 1, range 2 of the Western Reserve and later served as a U.S. senator. It was farmland, with grain crops and apple orchards, through the nineteenth century. The railroad later brought Southern Park, a horse racing track on Washington Boulevard, and its stable is still on the National Register.

St. James Meeting House on Boardman-Poland Road was built in 1828 as St. James Episcopal Church and moved to Boardman Park in 1972. The Forest Glen Estates Historic District lies between Homestead Drive and Market Street, and the Newport Village Allotment Historic District covers parts of Market Street, Chester Drive, Jennette Drive and Overhill Road. Boardman has no incorporated towns inside it and borders Youngstown, Struthers, Poland and Canfield Township.

Strip development began as early as 1950, and the northern part of the township filled in as suburban spillover from Youngstown's south side. Around then the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, a major steel maker, opened a headquarters complex here. The Mill Creek Park Historic District, listed in 2005, reaches from Mahoning Avenue to Boardman-Canfield Road and the park holds Lanterman's Mill, built in 1845 and 1846.