Mural depicts history of Butler's West End
Anyone passing My Buddy's bar on Pillow Street in the near future may mistake it for Memory Lane.
Owner Elizabeth Graham has commissioned New Castle artist Rabecca Signoriello to paint a 43-by-28-foot mural on the side of the bar depicting historic events in the city of Butler, particularly in its West End.
"The more she paints, the more phenomenal the mural becomes. I can hardly wait," Graham said.
Most prominent on the mural are baseball legends like Whitey Ford, who played for the New York Yankees' minor-league affiliate at Pullman Park in the 1940s. Ford rented an apartment on Third Avenue, which runs next to My Buddy's.
Other Butler Yankees greats Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig are featured, as well Major League Baseball Hall of Fame umpire Elmer Massey, who also played for the Pittsburgh Crawfords in the Negro League. Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard of the Homestead Grays are featured, too.
"Every one of those men played at Pullman Park. This is about Butler and its history. You should never forget where you come from," Graham said.
The mural also depicts steel rail cars, commemorating Pullman Standard, which produced the nation's first all-steel rail cars. It also shows the old swinging bridge, a walking bridge since closed, that once connected the city's Island neighborhood to the West End.
"Everything that happened when you were a kid living in this neighborhood, it happened there," Graham said.
Steelworkers are depicted to honor the employees of Armco and a Jeep, first produced by Butler's American Bantam Car Co., will be painted on a road alongside another car produced by Bantam.
"The original image I gave her and what she has given me are like kindergarten and college," Graham said.
She said the mural should last for 10 years and she intends to add extra lighting to the side of the building to showcase it.
"It's going well. It gets really exciting once you actually see things going on instead of just random colors," Signoriello said.
Signoriello, 27, earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from Edinboro (Pa.) University and works as a laborer for IA Construction in Zelienople.
She has painted several large-scale murals, one at Rosewood Plaza in New Castle, one at Edinboro University and another in Erie. She plans to use the profits to attend graduate school.
Signoriello is the former Rabecca Sullivan of Harrisville. She is a 1999 Moniteau High School graduate. Her work can be seen on her Web site at www.rabeccasignoriello.com.
Signoriello estimates she has put 200 hours of work into the mural since the second weekend in July, when she began the project. By the time it is completed near the end of September, weather permitting, the mural will have consumed about 20 gallons of paint and about 500 hours of labor and research.
"There's a lot more involved than just painting on a wall," Signoriello said.
Graham said she has spent about seven years planning the mural, finding an artist and gaining approval from the city, but it has all been worth the effort.
"It's truly been something watching it every step of the way," Graham said.
The mural was approved by city council and the Butler Planning and Zoning Commission, which commended Graham for her idea and contribution to the city's history.
Graham first discovered Signoriello after seeing her Erie mural appear in a Butler Eagle article. After meeting Signoriello, seeing the young woman's work ethic and vision, Graham knew she was the artist for the job.
"If I don't feel it in my heart and don't mean it, you won't see it inside or outside my place," Graham said.
