Carnegie: from mill town to arts colony

When Phillip and Jean Salvato went looking for a building to house an art studio in 1990 they settled on an unlikely spot — 220 Third St. in Carnegie — a town in decline since the closing of the Superior Steel mill, which once employed more than 1,000.

“This is an old mill town,” Mr. Salvato remembered his wife saying. “It could use a little art.”

Despite the borough’s small size (population 7,800 on 1.6 square miles), having the oldest population in Allegheny County, a Main Street business district pockmarked with vacant storefronts and a dwindling tax base as young people and businesses moved away, the Salvatos decided to take a chance. They opened the Third Street Gallery in 1994 after restoring the century old, threestory building that once housed everything from a pizza parlor to a hardware store.

“Our vision was that the town could become something like Chautauqua [a famed arts center in upstate New York] where artists of all kinds gather,” he said. “Wherever the arts are, there is prosperity. They attract wealthy people and intelligent people.’’

Today Carnegie may be on its way to become the arts center the Salvatos envisioned.

Vacant storefronts are now few and far between on Main Street. Every weekend the business district is crowded with those who come for music, the theater, good restaurants, and constantly changing exhibits at the galleries.

Eva Trout is one of the new artists there.

This year she opened her gallery, Fire Box Art Studios at 110 East Main.

“I liked the town because it was multi-cultural with people from the Middle East and India, yet it still had a hometown, steel

Andrew Rush/Post-Gazette photos Fire Box Art Studios on East Main Street in Carnegie features the work of owner Eva Trout as well as other female artists.

Phil Salvato at his gallery Third Street Gallery in Carnegie.

Blake Anthony works on a zombie stein at Pittsburgh Pottery.