Art Info
Public Art Install Date: August 2026
The artwork will be on the back of the FEED Media building and include a virtual element. The back of the building is located on 13th and Commerce streets.
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Why this location?
During the 1915 Flood
As the floodwaters passed beneath the railroad, carrying debris of all kinds, the flow began to move east at this location. According to a young man, Tivis, walking home from work that evening, "I was soaked just like a rat. It was already flooding. They didn't have sewers then to catch the water in the streets. They just had boardwalks across the street. By then, you couldn't even see those boardwalks" (Erie Times News 7/30/1989).
Left behind at this location is an iron I-beam that was jammed into the brickwork of the building now owned by PACA (Performing Artists Collective Alliance).
Looking Back
FEED Media is a beautiful building located at the heart of Erie's manufacturing and industrial growth in the early 1900s.
A variety of businesses and manufacturing operations were located at this location during the flood. While Mill Creek was an open creek at the time, concrete walls had been built to contain the water and slow erosion. Many industries, including auto garages, liveries, refineries, tanneries, and butchers, were located along the banks of Mill Creek.
The waters traveled through the middle of the block, directly down Commerce Street. On the north side of the block, the flood suddenly veered east, crossing French Street and continuing northward to the lake.
Robert Seelar was 6 years old that evening. He remembers, "Flood water was rushing down State Street. My father and uncle had removed their gas headlights from their motorcycles and were flashing the beams on the flood waters...The city was in total darkness as all electricity and gas were shut off. "(Erie Times News 8/8/1975).
