Historic pictures chosen to adorn courthouse walls

The money for the pictures comes from a filing fee.
YOUNGSTOWN -- The bare walls of Court No. 2 in the Mahoning County Common Pleas Courthouse will be filled in a few weeks with pictures depicting the history of Youngstown.
Six historic photographs including those of former Mahoning County Courthouses, Federal Plaza during the 1930s and The Rayen School during the same era will be enlarged to 16 inches by 20 inches, and framed in the third-floor courtroom.
The cost of enlargements is $270, and court officials will shop around for inexpensive frames for the pictures, said Rob Rupeka, court administrator.
The money for enlargements and frames comes from a $25 special projects fee charged to those who file civil complaints in Mahoning County, Rupeka said.
Selected pictures
Rupeka, along with H. William Lawson, director of the Mahoning Valley Historical Society, and Judge Maureen Sweeney, who handles cases in the courtroom, selected the photographs.
Judge Sweeney, appointed by the governor in July, faces Judge Elizabeth Kobly of Youngstown Municipal Court in Tuesday's election.
Judge Sweeney said she and the two others have been considering which pictures to display for a few months. If Judge Sweeney loses Tuesday's election, Rupeka said Judge Kobly could choose to keep the historic pictures or decorate the courtroom in another way.
"We'd put the pictures somewhere else in the courthouse if a new judge is elected," he said.
Large murals adorn the three courtrooms on the second floor.