Mural of Butler’s South Side past decorates Italian Fraternal Society building
The timing is coincidental, but a mural on an exterior wall of the Italian Fraternal Society building in Butler was completed Wednesday in time for this weekend’s Butler Italian Days.
Though the building is not a venue for the Italian Days event, it is one of the few remaining vestiges of the Italian heritage of the city’s South Side.
Butler artist Tom Panei worked with officers from the society to use photos of the neighborhood dating to the 1940s and ’50s as subjects for the 26-foot-by-30-foot mural.
The mural shows Panei’s abstract depiction of businesses on Center Avenue, the original St. Michael’s Church on Spring Street and the society building adjacent to each other.
Jason Delano, vice president of the society that was created in 1905 and has over 400 members, said Center Avenue was once considered the “Main Street of South Side” and was the hub of what used to be Butler’s Italian neighborhood.
“There were primarily all Italians in the South Side of Butler,” Delano said. “They walked to St. Micheal’s. It was the Italian Catholic Church.”
He said the society donated to the Sons and Daughters of Italy Lodge for the Italian Days event.
“The timing is really great for Italian Days,” Delano said.
The society decided to decorate the block wall of the building with a mural last year and approached Panei in September with a goal of doing the painting this spring. Weather and other painting jobs delayed the project. After outlining the mural last Thursday, he spent Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday doing most of the painting. He did some touch up work, including signing it, Wednesday. He started the painting by applying two coats of primer to ensure the paint sticks.
“They came to me with some ideas for some old time South Side buildings,” said Panei, whose studio is on Spring Street.
Old black and white photographs from the neighborhood were used as inspiration for the mural, he said.
Viewing from right to left, the mural features the society building, St. Michael’s, Pellicones (bar), Islay’s, a shoe repair shop and the Viaduct Market. A water tower from the old Franklin Glass plant, which was located where Father Marinaro Park is, also is featured in the painting.
“A lot of people knew these businesses,” Panei said.
He noted that his grandmother lived on Hickory Street, where the society building is and worked at Islay’s.
