LITTLE CHICAGO: THE CITY OF MURALS - Steubenville, OhioBy day the city is often overhung with clouds

LITTLE CHICAGO: THE CITY OF MURALS - Steubenville, OhioBy day the city is often overhung with clouds of smoke and soot, but this means that the steel mills are having good runs, and Steubenville accepts this mantle of prosperity cheerfully. At night, lights along the valley climb the slopes of the back hills to quiet residential sections, while along the river, steel converters redden the sky. But the flavor of the river still seeps up into town. Occasionally a powerful headlight picks a steamer’s path, and, when it passes, the blast of the whistle can be heard all over town.  -The Ohio Guide  (WPA, 1940)Entering downtown Steubenville, Ohio from the north, one can view thevisible demarcation line that exists where Sunset Boulevard turns into MarketStreet. This is where the whole architectural geography of the city haschanged, and an explosion of now foreclosed businesses and empty lots havetaken the place of this once burgeoning steel town. Steubenville has had a slowburn of struggle for as long as I can remember. I was born here, had family andneighbors that worked in the mills, and spent a lot of my teenage yearsdowntown. Even then, the economy was suffering. Now, with a poverty rate of10.6%, nearly 57% of the population can’t afford to rent a two-bedroomapartment.Steubenville serves as the county seat of Jefferson County (45 minutes westof Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) with a population of close to 20,000 peopleaccording to the 2010 Census, and has experienced decline in economic andpopulace growth since the mid-1980s. From the beginning of the 20th Century,the area garnered the reputation as a hot spot for criminal and ganglandactivity, effectively earning the name of Little Chicago. Mafia ties werestrong. My grandfather would tell me stories of how the city served as ago-between for gun runners traveling from Chicago to New York. You could stopin the city for a meal and a drink, play the tables and bed a girl, and quitepossibly hear the crooning of the not-yet-known Dean Martin on one of thespeakeasy’s stages (in between his stint as a waiter and blackjack dealer).In recent times the city has garnered more negative attention due toallegations of political corruption, which reached critical mass throughout thenation with the exposure of the Steubenville High School rape case in 2012,where a high school aged-woman was sexually assaulted by two members of theschool’s football team, and various employees of the administration wereindicted in trying to cover up the matter. This incident has become the perfectillustration of the prevalence of rape culture in our society, and has furtherblighted a city with no recourse.This is a shame to those in the know, because there is beauty in thecommunity, both in its people and structures. Organizations such as the UrbanMission distribute over 869,284 pounds of groceries to low-income familiesthroughout the area, and have implemented housing initiatives and mortgageassistance programs to those in need. Eastern Gateway Community College has oneof the lowest tuition rates in the state of Ohio, and was a true blessing whenI returned home from losing my job in 2007. The faculty and staff of thecollege were paramount in me excelling in my courses and finding a newdirection, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without that support system inplace.Another hidden treasure scattered throughout the city is the work of themural program. Along with the Little Chicago moniker, Steubenville is alsoknown as the City of Murals. The gallery tour consists of 25 murals spread outover the downtown area. When I was in high school and flunking out of my junioryear history class, I managed to save my failing grade by creating a shortdocumentary video on the murals. I remember walking the city with my bestfriend capturing the images on VHS-C tape, eating Dicarlo’s Pizza by the slice,and visiting my friend’s grandfather who owned an appliance store on FourthStreet. This was, and still is, my favorite memory from downtown.But now, as I passed that demarcation line and entered the city to take theimages you see before you, all I heard was the singing of crickets. Sure therewas a football game that day in Pittsburgh, and maybe the citizens ofSteubenville were inside enjoying the game, but downtown was barren andominous. The only thing to shine a light on the proceedings was the murals andtheir display of elegant craft. It reminded me that beauty can be foundanywhere. You just have to look for it.Andy Prisbylla is an artist anddocumentarian who works in many multimedia platforms. Born and bred inSteubenville, Ohio, he witnessed the deindustrialization of the community andthe effect it had on his friends and family. This experience informed much ofhis storytelling, which covers entropy and transformation in topics such asworking class culture, community and art. His work has been featured in variousmagazines and websites, and he has exhibited in both public and digital formats.He is currently working on his long-term documentary project Citizens ofIndustry, which chronicles labor culture and folklore in the Rust Belt region.He resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is pursuing his master’s degree inlibrary and information science at the University of Pittsburgh iSchool, with afocus on exhibitions and preservation. Visit his website at www.andyp.org and on Tumblr at blog.andyp.org. -- source link

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