In honor of Women’s History month, Focus On Renewal hosted a photographic exhibition entitled, “A Century of Strong Sto-Rox Women: 1916-2016” at the Father Ryan Arts Center on March 11th.  The event was free and open to all ages and dare we say an absolute hit!  

At the gallery opening, families packed the Arts Center as visitors were free to explore the gallery at their leisure.  The Baverso Theater showed a multimedia presentation and catering was provided by Rocks Landing.

Generations of Sto Rox women and their families gathered at the event.

The Father Ryan Arts Center, FOR Sto-Rox Library and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh partnered to source original photography from community members.  By offering a scanner to the public for free use and encouraging people to bring in their old photo albums, a substantial collection was compiled.  

The women featured in the images spanned a hundred years and all of them have had a significant impact on McKees Rocks.

FOR’s Executive Director Cynthia Haines said, “We wanted to take advantage of the space in our art gallery to do something creative and artistic to celebrate the matriarchs of our community.“

FOR plans to do a similar event in the Fall. “We’re not done yet, now that the women’s project has legs to stand on, we want to feature women in the community today”, said Nick Peterson, FOR’s Marketing Coordinator.

Eventually, FOR would like to turn this project into a book featuring these incredible women and their inspirational stories.

Recognize these folks? Tell us about them by contacting

Heather at hfranz@mckeesrocks.com!