Female Seminary mural gets a touchup

STEUBENVILLE -- A mural originally painted 36 years ago to celebrate the "Female Seminary" that educated more than 5,000 young women before it closed in 1898 is getting a touchup, thanks to Historic Fort Steuben and the Steubenville Visitor Center.

The mural, located on Market Street near Fifth Street, was painted by artist Michael Wojczuk in 1990 to celebrate a piece of local history that could easily have been overlooked.

"The Steubenville Female Seminary is a great example of how much history is beneath the surface of our community," Executive Director Paul Zuros said. "There is nothing left of the original seminary today, so the mural provides an important visual connection to a place that was once a significant part of life in Steubenville."

Zuros said the restoration is part of Historic Fort Steuben's ongoing efforts to preserve and promote the City of Murals project, a collection of 22 murals spread throughout the community.

Artist Kyle Holbrook, who did the same thing for the Tuskegee Airmen mural, which was recently demolished by its new owner, has been tasked with restoring and enhancing the mural, including adding "depth and features" to the ladies it depicts.

"We chose Kyle because he is a nationally and internationally known artist and has done an excellent job for us in the past with the Lewis and Clark mural and the Tuskegee mural," Zuros said.

The seminary was founded by Dr. Charles Clinton Beatty and his wife, Hetty, as part of a 19th-century movement to expand educational opportunities for women. Hetty Beatty "played a leading role in establishing the school and served as its principal," Zuros said, while her husband was its superintendent.

It opened in 1829 with just seven students but "grew to about 150 students annually by 1846," he said, with a curriculum that covered reading, writing, geography, history, mathematics, literature, science, astronomy, music, drawing, painting and languages -- both ancient and modern. Over its 69-year history, the seminary educated more than 5,000 young women, he said, "many of whom went on to careers as teachers, missionaries and professionals throughout the country and beyond."

One of those students, Janet Jesse Woodrow, was a student at the seminary when she met her future husband, Joseph Ruggles Wilson, "while (she was) participating in a parade passing his N. 6th Street home."

Joseph was the son of James Wilson, who owned and edited the Herald-Star's forerunner, The Western Herald, beginning in 1815. Their son, Woodrow, would go on to become the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913-1921.

"Woodrow Wilson's parents met in Steubenville while his mother was a student at the seminary and his grandfather owned the paper," Zuros said.

Back then, the seminary occupied a large area on High Street bounded by Adams, Water and North streets. By the late 19th century, the campus included school and boarding buildings, a library of more than 3,000 books, reading rooms, a gymnasium, lecture rooms and music facilities. Contemporary accounts described landscaped grounds, trees and a fountain, none of which still exists.

"The murals are an outdoor history book for Steubenville," Zuros said. "We have 22 murals throughout the city and each one helps tell a different part of our story. Preserving them is important because they allow people to see our history in a very accessible way."

Holbrook, a Pittsburgh native now based in Miami, said the restoration is about 90% complete and he's "finishing the remaining details." Newly released before-and-current progress photographs show the dramatic transformation of the mural's faded imagery, architectural details and original character.

Holbrook's worked on murals in every state in the union and 51 countries. Through Moving Lives of Kids and the MLK Mural Project, which he founded in 2002, he's worked with thousands of young people and artists on community-based public art projects throughout the United States and internationally.