CHAUNCEY, Ohio — The village of Chauncey celebrated a streetscape project at a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday that will bring new murals, lighting, sidewalks and other amenities to the village’s downtown.
“This is a very special moment in our community,” Chauncey Mayor Tammy Hawk said at the ceremony. “It’s a testament to what we can accomplish when we work together for the betterment of our community.”
Ross County was awarded a $154 million Appalachian Community Grant from the Ohio Department of Development, which included funding for Chauncey’s project.
In its application, Ross County included various projects throughout Appalachian Ohio focused on history and revitalization at the suggestion of the Buckeye Hills Regional Council, council Executive Director Chasity Schmelzenbach explained at the groundbreaking ceremony. The council supported the Appalachian Community Grant Program application process in the region.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am and how much this is going to mean as we start to build these corridors for people to come to this region, invest their dollars when they visit, bring their businesses here,” Chmelzenbach said.
Posters on display at the groundbreaking ceremony offered a detailed look at the Chauncey streetscaping project. Photos by Dani Kington.
Once the project is complete, anyone turning into Chauncey off SR 13 from Athens will encounter a brick marker featuring the village’s name and the year it was established, as well as a new mural by artist Nick Stull on the side of the building at 21 Main St. Stull’s mural celebrates Chauncey’s coal mining history, featuring depictions of coal miners walking through a mine shaft, a train, a coal cart, and a close-up image of a miner.
Across Converse Street from the mural will be one of three paver patios and bicycle parking areas that will be installed along the road. The others will be located near the village hall and at the future library site across the street from village hall, both of which will also feature seating and landscaping. Sidewalks will be installed or fixed up along the road.
Streetscaping will also ensure better drainage and a clear divide between the shoulder of the road and the sidewalk. Parallel parking and street lighting will exist along the road.
“We’re really kind of cleaning up the different conditions along the roadway,” Matt Leasure, principal at Designing Local, a contractor on the project, said at the ceremony. “So in some places there are sidewalks, and places there are sidewalks that are maybe overrun. We’re going to clean all that up and put in new sidewalks.”
Further north, a second mural will be added at 70 Converse St. Designed by Keith Wilde, the mural will feature depictions of gathering and mining salt, including an Indigenous person preparing salt from a natural lick in a ceramic dish, and depictions of salt mining by early white settlers.
Wilde told the Independent he is excited to depict salt harvesting and mining in the village, as an aspect of Chauncey’s history that is “both true and a little bit unknown.”
“I hope that people, on a day to day level, you know, you’re showing your out-of-town friend, and you get to be like, ‘Look what happened here. Isn’t that cool?’” Wilde said.
Chauncey Village Council member Connaught Cullen, who chairs the village’s Arts, Parks and Recreation committee, said she is excited about the two new murals, which will join another recently painted on the village hall.
“I love more murals, more murals, more public art,” Cullen said. “It’ll also it’s another way
to draw people here to come look at the art. As an artist, I appreciate this sort of thing.”
Closing out the streetscaping project will be additional brick markers, which will serve as another gateway into and out of the town.
Construction will start on the streets early next week, while progress on the murals is already underway, Leisure said at the groundbreaking.
Chauncey’s former mayor Amy Renner attended the ceremony. Renner initiated many village development projects in her tenure and told the Independent that attending the ceremony was “a full circle moment.”
“It’s very fulfilling to see this moment happen for Chauncey,” Renner said. “I think it’ll really help establish Congress Street as a place of opportunity for small businesses. And also it’s prioritizing safety — pedestrian and bicycle safety, designated parking. From a beautification standpoint, it’s really going to go a long way for Chancey, too.”
“I think it’s going to have the visual that some people need when they drive through Chaincey to reinforce the idea that they should stop and hang out and not just keep driving,” Renner added.
Governor’s Office of Appalachia Director John Carey also attended the ceremony and addressed the crowd.
“It’s gonna make a difference, not only for Chancey, for the region as people go to Baileys [Trail System] and use that to be able to come to the village downtown, and spend money and learn more about our region,” Carey told the Independent.
Carey added that the Chauncey project is one part of one grant in a total of 114 that the GOA funded through the Appalachian Community Grant Program.
“All together, I think it’s gonna make a real transformational impact, not only for the people who live in the communities, but also as far as attracting interest from the outside,” Carey said.
The grant requires Chauncey’s project to be completed by September 2026 but it is expected to be completed by next spring or early summer, Leisure said at the groundbreaking.
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