MURAL: ARTIST OFFERS HISTORY LESSON IN A HALLWAY

Students at Franklin School will receive a visual lesson in Missouri history when they walk through the halls this fall.

The lesson is in the form of a mural just completed in the school's north-end stairs. Craig Thomas's mural is a compendium of Missouri scenes and important contributions, from Tom Sawyer leaning against a fence in Hannibal to the St. Louis-built space capsule that carried astronaut John Glenn into orbit.

Thomas, whose design for the $1,500 mural was chosen over other submissions, said, "They wanted it to be about Missouri history," said Thomas. "I've learned a lot about Missouri history doing it."

The fourth-graders whose class is located near the top of the stairs will be studying Missouri history.

There's an Osage Indian, and the Trail of Tears the Cherokee crossed. There's Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis. Lead miners, agricultural workers, a cattle train, an Old West gunfight, a Pony Express rider, and a wagon train representing the trails that brought the pioneers west. Also the state Capitol.

All of which is framed by St. Louis's famous Arch.

On the wall just to the left of the mural, Thomas has painted four different kinds of boats that have been important to Missouri's history the riverboat with barges, the paddle wheeler, the keel boat and the canoe.

On nearby walls are depictions of the state flag, which was designed by one-time Cape Girardeau resident Elizabeth Oliver, and bluebirds on a dogwood tree, both state symbols.

Thomas, who works as a photo artist at Hutchings Photography in Jackson, is not new to the mural form. A few years back he painted a mural at Washington School depicting forms of transportation.

His design for the $1,500 mural was chosen over other submissions. He spent about 150 hours working on the 18-by-15-foot piece. An opaque projector was used to help him transfer his original idea onto the wall.

The mural was commissioned by the Franklin School Beautification Committee. Ruth Rhodes, the committee chairwoman and a fourth-grade teacher at the school, expects it to be a teaching tool.

"These are exactly the things we study in fourth grade," she said.

The mural was paid for through a garage sale, silent auction and donations from the PTA and Boatmen's Bank.

It is the first of three planned for the school. In subsequent years, the plan is to portray national and world history in the hallway at the other end of the school, and perhaps fictional characters in a mural for the primary grades.

Rhodes called the project "truly a community effort," noting that students brought items for the garage sale and that businesses donated many goods and services for the auction that raised more than $600.

The murals are part of an overall enhancement plan that includes landscaping and fixing up playground equipment, Rhodes said.

"We simply want to improve the looks of the building."