The Phoenixville community is determined to see the town mural, a symbol of the borough’s renaissance, returned to its rightful spot, writes Eric Devlin for the Daily Local News.

The efforts are being led by Barbara Cohen, a member of the Phoenixville Cultural Coalition, who addressed the borough council Tuesday night to try and gain support to resurrect the Phoenixville mural at Bridge and Main streets. Already, over 3,000 people have signed a petition aimed at convincing the owners of the property to allow a digital mural to be projected onto the wall.

“We have a moral commitment to the community,” Cohen told the council.

The original 40 by 80 foot mural depicts the borough’s history as a steel town. However, to get the mural back up, it needs the permission of the owners of the building, the Phoenixville Area Economic Development Corp.

The original mural was painted twenty-two years ago on the remaining interior wall of the old Steel City coffeehouse after most of the building was destroyed by fire in 1971. The mural was removed last year for safety reasons as the interior wall was crumbling.

According to Cohen, PAEDCO has shown no interest in recreating the mural on digital wallpaper, despite no financial cost to them.

“I had volunteered to obtain the funding needed,” said Cohen. “This past spring I had obtained pledges from various public and private donors to take care of bringing back the mural as digital wallpaper.”

Cohen says that PAEDCO is attempting to sell the plot of land, home to Renaissance Park, which could dash any hopes for the mural’s return.

However, Kurt Kunsch, President of the PAEDCO, denied this saying “We’re not selling the park,” and reiterated that plans to preserve the park as an open space remain.

Read more about the mural at Daily Local News here.