Garage Mural
Printed From: MiddletownUSA.com
Category: Middletown Community
Forum Name: Fun Pictures and Video
Forum Description: Share your Middletown Area Fun Photos and Video
URL: http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3070
Printed Date: Nov 22 2024 at 11:27pm
Topic: Garage Mural
Posted By: 409
Subject: Garage Mural
Date Posted: Jun 23 2010 at 4:58pm
The mural on the south side of the parking garage at Broad and Central
was in the process of being removed as of this afternoon.
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Replies:
Posted By: viper771
Date Posted: Jun 23 2010 at 8:38pm
| I guess they will start to demo the garage soon? When was the last time that thing was really used anyway? It has always been empty since I came to Middletown. |
Posted By: Rhodes
Date Posted: Jun 24 2010 at 7:10am
| Middletown has so much visual history. Why did this mural show a generic downtown as its subject? I never recognized any building from that garage mural. |
Posted By: viper771
Date Posted: Jun 24 2010 at 8:11am
| I think it shows North Broad from that point of the street north... or what it use to look like up until the 1950s or 40s... maybe even earlier. The houses are on the libary lense pictures of Middletown. |
Posted By: Rhodes
Date Posted: Jun 24 2010 at 9:21am
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No, that's not how N. Broad looked. On the left would have been the Paramount, then the YMCA. Before the Y was there a large older home that sat on the corner. Beyond that would be the Manchester Hotel. On the right I believe was either some type of city building/fire station, a newspaper building (Middletown Signal), and maybe a house. The next corner was a house converted into the first YMCA (where United Way was until a few years ago). That's my point. Nothing in this mural matches what was actually there. It doesn't make any sense to have someone come in and do a mural of something different than what was actually there when what was there was interesting all in itself.
This is an example of what is wrong with Middletown. You get a quack over here and a quack over there in charge and people in this city just get befuddled and let the quack do whatever they want. They'll complain afterwards, but they seem to always manage to let imagination lacking people control too many outcomes. |
Posted By: wasteful
Date Posted: Jun 24 2010 at 10:15am
| The problem with Middletown is it is dying and some of you are worried about a Mural which in the overall scheme of things is inconsequential to Middletown's survival. |
Posted By: DuaneGordon
Date Posted: Jun 24 2010 at 10:28am
| It only took three or four minutes to find the original photograph on which the mural was based in the online version of the Library's Crout Collection. It's from a photograph of the AB Shelter Carnival held April 4, 1914, on the west side of North Broad Street. From the photo description, it was a car sale (a street carnival to show off the cars that were being offered -- kind of a forerunner to today's fairground tent sales that dealerships do). http://www.middletownlibrary.org:8080/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/Crout&CISOPTR=1065&CISOMODE=thumb - http://www.middletownlibrary.org:8080/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/Crout&CISOPTR=1065&CISOMODE=thumb |
Posted By: Rhodes
Date Posted: Jun 24 2010 at 10:39am
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What in the world does a discussion over a generic mural have to do with the city dying?
The big reason Middletown is dying comes down to an influx of poverty. That's it. There's no big secret as to what is wrong with the city. Here's what happens when you have an influx of poverty: 1 - unkept properties 2 - littered streets (in all areas, b/c the poor always manage to drive everywhere) 3 - crime 4 - low test scores for K-12 5 - low test scores causes low ranked school district 6 - low rank school district means a drop in property values 7 - low value, almost no appreciation in home values means loss of higher income citizens (aside from all the other problems that follow poverty) 8 - stagnant real estate market, even fewer new home owners in mid price ranges That's what is wrong with this city. It's not the discussion of a generic mural, it's the influx of poverty. The only way to put an end to it is to make sure city council fires whoever is in charge and makes sure they do not hire any future city managers that allow situations like the Section 8 fiasco to ever happen again. Middletown will not turn around until Section 8 is wiped out to the bare minimum. It's going to take a while to rebuild this city, but it can be done. And while that happens, if some of us want to complain over a generic mural, then we will continue to do so. I wish a mural was all there was to complain about, but sadly it is not. |
Posted By: Rhodes
Date Posted: Jun 24 2010 at 10:48am
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I don't mind being proven wrong. I swear to God I never recognized anything in that mural and it still kinda looks generic, but it definitely is a true scene from the past. I guess I was stuck in the 1930's version of that part of the street. That's what I always remember from photos. The Paramount, the YMCA. I think a better mural would have been one that included the Paramount & YMCA, instead of brushing over them like they never existed.
So that block has had so many different versions. After looking at the image Duane linked to, I found this one: http://www.middletownlibrary.org:8080/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/Historical&CISOPTR=31 |
Posted By: Hermes
Date Posted: Jun 24 2010 at 11:00am
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Rhodes - I don't think the problem is 100% section 8. Part of the problem is the "hood mentality" of many,many young people. These young people could care less about anything,they sell drugs on the corner,drive around in drug bought automobiles with the "thumping" of rap & hip hop crap (I refuse to call it music) They throw their trash in the streets,most can't even speak english because it's cool to talk like you have a 2nd grade education. Most of these kids come from tax paying property owning hard working parents. So it's not all section 8. ------------- No more democrats no more republicans,vote Constitution Party !! |
Posted By: Rhodes
Date Posted: Jun 24 2010 at 11:03am
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Ok, I figured out why this mural has always thrown me. It is off. The A.B. Shetter place was roughly where Dohn's Hardware building now sits. The mural is from a photo that was taken from the intersection of what is now Central Ave. So the mural is depicting a 1910's version of the street as though that was what was beyond where the garage is wherein it actually shows how the street looked from the corner. Where the garage starts on the left side of the street was the Paramount and before that there were homes there. This mural makes it look like the tall brick building would have been in that spot. True image, wrong location.
And I could care less if anyone is annoyed that this discussion is taking place. |
Posted By: Rhodes
Date Posted: Jun 24 2010 at 11:07am
| Hermes, it isn't like that in Lebanon or Springboro or West Chester or Liberty or Monroe or Montgomery or Anderson or Hyde Park. The influx of poor is dangerous in so many ways. Being an influence on tax paying citizen's children is going to happen. Yes, the poor have to live somewhere, but Middletown doesn't have to have an open door policy that encourages them to invade this city. |
Posted By: Pacman
Date Posted: Jun 24 2010 at 11:50am
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Hermes for the most part it is not like that East of Breiel, with the exception of a few areas, like Old Roosevelt Blvd. in that one section.
Rhodes is right until you decrease the poverty and the stop laying out the welcome mat to every poor person in Butler County, Middletown is going down the tubes. You can not support this city with a declining population and an increasing Poverty Level. The young people who can are leaving to never return, even your churches are seeing a decline in parishioners due to a lack of young people.
Not that anyone is listening, Wake up Middletown.
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Posted By: Hermes
Date Posted: Jun 24 2010 at 2:23pm
Pac & Rhodes - I agree that a reduction in section 8 is much needed,but my point was that not all the troubles that exist originate or flow from all the section 8 residents. Yes part is due to section 8 but a large part is due also to the mentality as I stated earlier. Middletown has definitly rolled out the red carpet for section 8 no doubt,I see it first hand and know it well.
But you can't compare Middeltown to Lebanon,Springboro,Monroe etc,etc. Middletown is or was an industrial town so to me there is no comparison with other areas. ------------- No more democrats no more republicans,vote Constitution Party !! |
Rhodes wrote:Posted By: VietVet
Date Posted: Jun 24 2010 at 2:42pm
Back in the 50's and 60's, you couldn't compare Lebanon, Springboro, Mason and Monroe to Middletown for much different reasons than today's comparison. Back in the 50's and 60's, Middletown was the "king of the hill" as smaller cities go around here, mainly due to Armco's success and Aeronca and the paper mills paying decent money as well, providing a nice living for the people in this town. Lebanon, Springboro, Mason and Monroe were all farm fields, rural, little to no industry, little opportunity to make decent wages and people living in those towns came to Middletown unless they wanted to "stay on the farm". Now, it is the exact opposite. Middletown has been grossly neglected by former and current leaders as to providing decent wages/opportunities to live a decent life and Lebanon, Mason, Springboro and Monroe have sprinted by and now possess the upscale clientele for residents, leaving Middletown with the lower income/deficient income. The cow towns of yesteryear have become the places to be and Middletown, the king of the hill back then has been relegated to the bottom of the totem pole. The past and present city leaders are to be thanked for allowing that to happen due to their incompetence. 
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Posted By: Pacman
Date Posted: Jun 24 2010 at 4:40pm
Hermes for a change I did not mention Section 8 in my post above I mentioned Poverty, which includes Section 8, Public Housing and many others. Middletown needs to be attracting the Middle Class if it wants to survive. Having the welcome mat open only to the poverty sector will finish off this city. That is why you need to take down those 2-3000 homes that are vacant and falling down. You need to get Section 8 to a managble level which is well under 1000 vouchers. You need to also cut the Publci Housing Units, etc.
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Posted By: Jswoh
Date Posted: Jun 25 2010 at 9:16am
------------- Jswoh |
Posted By: Jswoh
Date Posted: Jun 25 2010 at 9:21am
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I am the Project Manager/Estimator on the project. We have been working to get all the EPA notifications in, working through all the burocracy that goes along with this type of project. You should see the building start to come down about the first of next week, hopefully Monday. We will start recking the Parking Garage first, working from East to West. Once the parking lot is demolitished, we will start removing the pavement for the new parking lot work. At that time we will relocate the temporary fencing around the Swallen's building and start the demolition. Our completion date will be about September. ------------- Jswoh |
Posted By: arwendt
Date Posted: Jun 28 2010 at 10:56am
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Amazing! ------------- “Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power.” Benjamin Franklin - More at my http://wordsoffreedom.wordpress.com/ - Words of Freedom website. |
Posted By: Mike_Presta
Date Posted: Jun 29 2010 at 7:27am
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Absalootly amaising! ------------- “Mulligan said he ... doesn’t believe they necessarily make the return on investment necessary to keep funding them.” …The Middletown Journal, January 30, 2012 |
Posted By: Jswoh
Date Posted: Jun 29 2010 at 3:37pm
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Today the parking garage started coming down. It is coming down faster than we expected due to the type of construction, (Hollowcore concrete panels sitting on concrete beams anchored with steel). With any luck we will have the parking garage completely down by the end of July. ------------- Jswoh |