Pittsburgh muralist commemorates Lewis & Clark’s Steubenville stop through paint

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (WTRF) — Two hundred years ago, the Louisiana Purchase took a Corps of Discovery across the country before many states even existed on the map.

They included Lewis and Clark, along with Sacajawea and York, and their route through Steubenville has earned them a mural along North Court St.

The 40 by 50 foot painting is unfinished, but getting there next to the Jefferson County Courthouse, as an extension of Historic Fort Steuben’s exhibit about Merriwether Lewis’s stop here in 1803, and how his boat got stuck in the river.

The work is by international mural artist and Pittsburgh native Kyle Holbrook, who dedicated himself to months of research and says he wants to make visible the lesser-known people of the expedition.

That includes Sacajawea’s invaluable guide experience, and York, a slave who built relationships with tribes during the journey.

Holbrook has embraced its status as a community collaboration, allowing anyone to add paint to the giant brick canvas.

“In the actual facilitation of the painting, we had community members and kids being able to come and make their mark, senior citizens, it was intergenerational. And so that made the mural mean more.”

Kyle Holbrook, Mural artist

These bricks will even have a QR code on them once the last coat of paint is complete.

That will link to a website to hear more about how their steps paved the way for ours.

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