Murals – Page 2 – The Parnassus Pen

Updated: Here are the photos that I took at yesterday’s mural dedication.

Mural by Bernie Wilke. Mural Dedication. Downtown New Kensington, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. April 11, 2021. (Photo: Jenny Gaffron Woytek)

*Mural Dedication. Downtown New Kensington, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. April 11, 2021. (Photo: Jenny Gaffron Woytek)*

Here is my blog post from last week:

*Mural Creation. Downtown New Kensington, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. April 5, 2021. (Photo: Jenny Gaffron Woytek)*

“Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men`s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever- growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty.“

This quote from the architect Daniel Burnham produces a lot of Google results. However, I learned about this from Adam Selzer’s Mysterious Chicago livestreams. Selzer taught me that Burnham spoke these words at an urban planning conference in London in October 1910.

So, today when my husband came back from his lunchtime walk around Parnassus and downtown New Kensington, he told me something.

He said, “Hey, they’re putting up that mural downtown right now.”

We’ve known for awhile now that community leaders planned for a mural in downtown New Kensington. In fact, here is the story from the local media that told Jonathan and I almost everything that we knew about the mural.

You will be able to see this mural as you finish crossing the bridge that locals call “The New Kensington Bridge” (technically the C.L. Schmitt Bridge) over the Allegheny River, into downtown New Kensington.

It’s being added to the side of a building right next to the scene of a devastating multi-building fire that happened a few years ago. In fact, my husband worked at the scene of this fire as a volunteer firefighter. In my opinion, the fire seemed to be pretty heartbreaking for so many people. So, I’m happy to see something pretty created here.

I’m so happy that I headed downtown and took photos of the mural-in-progress.

Every single one of you who comes here to look at my photos is fantastic and I love you all. For those of you who dream bigger than I do, “God Bless You!”

Mural by Jared Badder. Quakertown, Pennsylvania. Eastern Pennsylvania, across from the Train Station. September 2018. (Photo: Jenny Gaffron Woytek)

Jonathan and I returned to Pennsylvania at the end of July. Then, in a three-week span, we witnessed the baptism of two brand-new nephews, on opposite sides of this state. (One baby belongs to Jonathan’s sister, and the other baby belongs to my sister.)

I joked to Jonathan that August was the month of turnpike baptisms.

(FYI if you’re not familiar with our family or with Pennsylvania: Jonathan and I live in a suburb of Pittsburgh, in Western PA. The first baptism that we attended was also in Western PA, and thus on the western end of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The second baptism that we attended was in Eastern PA, and thus on the eastern end of the turnpike.)

For this second baptism, we stayed in Quakertown.

The temperatures during each day of our trip hit the 90’s. We spent our “free” time before and after the baptism enjoying the hotel pool and air conditioning.

Thus, we only explored and photographed one thing: The Quakertown Train Station.

I linked the train station’s official website above so that you don’t have to witness me poorly regurgitate the website. To paraphrase the website, the station was built in 1902. At some point before 1989, the building stopped being used to service rail passengers. In 1989, a fire significantly damaged the building. Non-profit restoration efforts saved and repaired the building. The public can now rent the train station for private events.

The train station sits at an intersection. When we pulled into the train station parking lot, the first thing that I noticed was a classic car with a “for sale” sign at the edge of this parking lot. A mural promoting Quakertown landmarks covered the building on the other side of the intersection. The photo that I took of this car is the first photo in this blog post.

Then, I took the second photo of this blog post. Now, these are the only two photos of this blog post that I took.

Jonathan took this photo of the restored train station: