New mural celebrates the rich history of the Nebraska Neighborhood

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Fort Wayne’s NBC) - Members of the Fort Wayne Public Art Commission, city officials and Nebraska Neighborhood leaders held a dedication for a new mural on Wednesday afternoon.

The mural is on the corner of Main Street and Growth Avenue, right behind O’Sullivan’s Pub.

Jeff Pilkinton is the artist behind the mural, and he says that he lived close to the area as a child and developed fond memories growing up close by.

“I didn’t exactly grow up in the Kekionga neighborhood, I grew up just kind of over the hill there in the Bloomingdale neighborhood, but I visited this area quite a bit as a child,” Pilkinton said.

He says the project took around 80 hours to complete, and that creating the mural was nostalgic, because of the memories he created as a child.

“Just driving in here to paint... I would even sometimes go by my old house and look at it, and all these childhood memories would flood my head,” said Pilkinton.

Pilkinton said he loved bringing out some of the neighborhood’s nostalgia in the mural with things like Wayne Knitting Mills, which was the first factory in the neighborhood and is a nod to working class women from the 1940s. The mural also depicts a player from the Kekionga baseball team from the 1870s.

Pilkinton says he was thrilled to be chosen by city leaders to help celebrate such a rich history.

“I’m very honored to have this mural up and representing the neighborhood for all the people that go down the street and drive by and look at it,” said Pilkinton. “It gets their mind going on the history of the neighborhood, so it’s a great feeling.”

Pilkinton says he hopes the mural recognizes the past, as well as the modern-day Nebraska Neighborhood.