The old wooden door opens, and in walks Alan Jenkins up the aisle of the small courtroom.
In the corner is a portrait of his grandfather, Judge David Jenkins. This room was his domain for 44 years.
But it was one those years, 1930, that brings Alan Jenkins back to Youngstown and his grandfather's former bench.
His book, "Steel Dreams," details what he calls the "greatest trial in Youngstown history."
It was March 1930 when the news broke that Youngstown Sheet and Tube was merging with Bethlehem Steel, putting the locally owned company into the hands of outsiders.
Cyrus Eaton, a Sheet and Tube shareholder and owner of the newly created Republic Steel, filed a lawsuit to block the merger. The trial began in June at the Mahoning County Courthouse. Jenkins' small courtroom was the epicenter of a national event.
"The trial itself was sensational for not only the business people there but the legal people," said Jenkins. "A lot of the top law firms in the nation and the world today had parts to play in that case."
The front row was dubbed millionaire's row. Sitting there were James Campbell, of Sheet Tube, along with Eugene Grace and Charles Schwab, of Bethlehem Steel, along with accountant CA Ernst.
The trial persevered through a sweltering hot summer.
"My grandpa was kind of a stickler for dress," said Jenkins. "He would not allow gentlemen to take off their jackets, so people were perspiring. It must have smelled like a locker room."
The trial lasted six months. Jenkins denied the merger. A ruling the other way may have only hastened the inevitable.
"I suspect it would have hastened what we actually saw happened, where ownership of local companies, those owners were in other places and they didn't care as much," said Jenkins. "They wouldn't refurbish the local factories as much. I suspect it would have just hastened the demise of Youngstown."
Alan Jenkins is a graduate of Boardman High School. He's now a lawyer in Atlanta.
"Steel Dreams" also has fictional characters. There's even a love story weaved in. The Mahoning County Library system has several copies, or you can buy it on-line.
