The Massillon Museum’s second-floor local history gallery has been refreshed to highlight Massillon’s westside via artifacts and images.
During the early 20th-century popularity of community bands, the West Brookfield Citizens Band was one of the favorites. More than 30 Brookfield musicians posed for the group photograph that is displayed near a 1909 band uniform jacket with gold braid.
Familiar westside images include Finefrock’s Furniture; Bordner’s; Watts Confectionery; Harvey, Horace Mann and Lorin Andrews Schools; a 1969 view of the Boys and Girls Club recreation room; and the First Reformed Church (now Grace UCC) that faced directly downtown at “the point” (Lincoln Way West and Main). One photograph marks the 1966 reopening of the Tremont Viaduct. A wall panel honors, among Massillon’s 19 Vietnam casualties, “The Three Buddies” who grew up together on the westside, enlisted and served together, and perished together in a helicopter crash. They are all commemorated on the Tremont bridge, now rededicated as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Viaduct.
Photographer John Coyne captured the Fort Pitt Limited billowing black clouds through the Tuscarawas River trestle bound for the Pennsylvania station in the early 1950s. About the same time, he photographed his young son and two pals sitting on Rawson Avenue looking over westside neighborhoods and industrial areas.
Visitors to the Museum during the holidays can also see the Stark County Artists Exhibition, Susan Byrnes: The Viscosity Series, Flu and Football and the Paul Brown/Massillon Tiger Football History Timeline in the Paul Brown Museum, the Immel Circus, the Albert E. Hise Fine and Decorative Arts Gallery, a new exhibit in the Photography Gallery, Eterovich Contemporaries, and Artwork by Members of the Boys and Girls Club of Massillon.
What – New Westside Focus in the Massillon History Gallery
When – Ongoing during regular museum hours, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday–Saturday; and 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Museum is closed Christmas Day and New Years Day.
Where – Massillon Museum, 121 Lincoln Way East, Massillon.
More – massillonmuseum.org or 330-833-4061