Feb. 6, 2025 -- To raise awareness of the history of the indigenous people who first settled the Lackawanna Valley and to acknowledge and honor their legacy, Lackawanna County and the downtown advocacy organization Scranton Tomorrow have commissioned a mural to be created this summer on the north side of the Brixx Building, 130 N. Washington Ave.

Commissioners Bill Gaughan, Matt McGloin and Chris Chermak unanimously approved the project Wednesday during their regular meeting, following a presentation by Maureen McGuigan, director of the Department of Arts and Culture.

The mural will commemorate the Lenape tribe of the Delaware Tribe of Indians, and will be called “Remembrance and Continuance: The Lenape Story in Scranton.”

Muralist Ben Scott Miller of Lake Placid, Florida, who has been certified by the Heard Museum in Arizona as an official Native American artist, will create the mural. He will work with a partner, Miquel Angel Belinchon Bujes, a Spaniard known as Belin, who has worked on numerous urban art projects in Europe and the United States since 2001.

According to McGuigan, the artists will be paid $95,000 for the project, the total costs of which will be no more than $137,000. The county will not bear all of the costs. The Lackawanna County Convention and Visitors Bureau, an independent agency, has contributed $35,000. The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce has contributed $5,000 and the University of Scranton has contributed $1,000, for a total of $41,000. McGuigan noted that other grant applications are pending with the National Endowment for the Arts, America 250, and several other local foundations.

Downtown developer Art Russo, doing business at ATR Properties of Scranton, owns the Brix Building and has agreed to the installation. He will do the necessary preparatory work, including resurfacing the north wall of the building, and install lighting to illuminate the mural. The project will reimburse him up to $20,000.

A design has not yet been approved. McGuigan said there is not yet a definitive start date, but that project is expected to begin in late spring or early summer and take about eight weeks to complete.

McGuigan noted that most of the historical focus on Lackawanna County is on its major role in anthracite mining and the Industrial Revolution, but that the mural and related programs that it will foster offer an opportunity to more closely examine the region’s deeper past.

“I’m proud to support … this project,” Gaughan said. “Public art like this not only beautifies our communities but also preserves and celebrates our rich cultural heritage. By recognizing the Lenape, we’re acknowledging our past and inspiring a future that values diversity, history, and artistic expression across our county.”