Along the Chester Way: Visualizing History with Story Maps

Image Credit: Dan Gleiter

My name is Joshua Flores. I am a senior-level digital media major with a concentration in interactive design studying at Messiah University. This semester I enrolled in the Humanities Project course and became involved with the Commonwealth Monument Project Heritage tours which includes the T. Morris Chester & the Chester Way Story Maps. This project intends to showcase the newly installed Commonwealth Monument and recently renamed street, T. Morris Chester Way.

Last year, students started a Story Map collection – “Thomas Morris Chester: A Global Change Agent for Freedom, Equity, and Justice.” Previous contributions to this project can be read about in Keli Ganey’s – The end of this chapter and The Story Behind the Bronze, and Kelan Amme’s – Retelling the Story of Harrisburg’s African American Community and his Final Reflections. This year, students are finishing the Story Maps collection begun last year as well as developing a second Story Maps collection. These stories focus on the Pennsylvania Past Players and the Commonwealth Monument.

I am working with two fellow students, Kelan Amme, and Cade Smucker, on this project. Kelan plays the lead role in research and writing and is coordinating activities for the group. Cade is playing a role in content development. I have been assigned a key role in website design, given my background in digital media, art, and design. My work began with familiarizing myself with Story Maps. After creating an account, I designed several Story Maps to explore the extent of the website’s capabilities. I have also been tasked with reviewing the Digital Harrisburg Website and giving feedback for improvements. I am identifying potential design improvements, searching for typographical errors, and testing usability. I am working on a document that lists an area of improvement and gives a solution or recommendation for improvement.

Now that I have access to the previous Story Maps on the Harrisburg University’s ArcGIS account, I am starting to develop a new Story Map. At the moment, I am just designing the layout and visual look of the page. Soon, we hope to have fully functioning Story Maps highlighting significant information along Chester Way and showcasing great historical figures, represented by the Pennsylvania Past Players.

I believe that recounting the stories of uncelebrated heroes holds great significance, especially considering the history of slavery and racism in America. I hope that my involvement with this project will contribute to the larger objective of acknowledging and honoring the often-overlooked African Americans heroes of the past. I aspire to bring to light the inspiring stories of these Harrisburg legends. I have high hopes for this project, and I hope the community finds value in the outcome of our efforts.

Joshua Flores is a senior at Messiah University. He is majoring in graphic design with a concentration in interactive design. He is also on the wrestling team at Messiah and works in the Athletic Communications department as a sports photographer.