Mississippi River Tales mural
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This mural features Cherokee tribe members traveling through the harsh winter during their forced relocation known as the Trail of Tears. Between 1838 and 1839, the U.S. government forced thousands of Cherokees to move from their homes in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee to present-day Oklahoma. Thousands of tribe members who traveled on foot died on the roughly 1,000-mile journey.
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The Civil War left its own mark on Cape Girardeau, which is why it makes sense that the floodwall mural includes three scenes from the conflict. On the left, blue images of Ulysses Grant and Benjamin Prentiss recount a heated argument the two generals had over rank. The next scene is the Civil War-era view from Fort A, one of Cape Girardeau’s four forts. Finally, the mural on the right depicts a moment from the Battle of Cape Girardeau, which took place April 26, 1863.
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This mural features educational institutions in Cape's history. For the center image, artist Thomas Melvin chose to depict a scene from St. Vincent’s Ladies Academy, founded in 1839 and located near where the St. Vincent church now stands. On the left is St. Vincent’s Seminary, which was located where Southeast Missouri State University’s new River Campus will be built. On the right is Mark Twain and an image of the Normal School. Twain is featured in the mural because he mentioned passing by Cape Girardeau in his book "Life on the Mississippi."
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This mural depicts the height of riverboat commerce in the 1880s and shows men unloading a riverboat docked at Cape Girardeau. The men hauling barrels and sacks are supposed to be roustabouts, the longshoremen of the steamboat era. These roustabouts are carrying grain off the riverboat -- grain that likely was destined for George Thilenius' flour mill on Broadway. In addition to Thilenius' mill, there were three other mills in Cape Girardeau circa 1880.
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