WALL MURAL WILL INCLUDE HONOREE NAMES

Painters hope to complete Cape Girardeau's Missouri Wall of Fame today with name plates for each of the 45 men and women honored on the mural.

J. Tim Blattner, president of the Missouri Heritage Mural Association, said good weather helped the painters make short shrift of the work.

"We never had a specific date to get done, but I think it went fast," Blattner said of the project that began Oct. 1.

The mural association set aside about half the $35,000 cost of the mural. Organizers raised the other half by offering mural panels to donors. Each panel cost $500, Blattner said.

"We still have about six panels remaining to be sold as part of the 'buy a panel' program," he said.

The mural, which is 500 feet long and 14 feet tall, is made up of 24 panels and two segments on either side of the row of panels that feature the state's new official animal, the mule. Donors who bought a panel will be recognized with a plague at the mural site.

The Missouri Wall of Fame is the seventh and largest mural sponsored by the association. The association hopes to complete 10 murals by next year.

Previous association murals include the Parker Mural painted on a building near the intersection of Water and Themis streets; Washington School mural; Riverfest mural facing Spanish Street in the block between Broadway and Themis; floodwall mural, a 320-foot-long mural on the river side of the floodwall between Themis and Broadway; bi-centennial mural near the corner of Broadway and Fountain; and the "Heritage of Music" mural at Broadway and Frederick.

The Wall of Fame recognizes people who were, or are, famous Missourians. The basic criteria used by a 10-member selection committee were that the persons be born in Missouri, or achieve national or international recognition in the state, and that permission be obtained.

The seven-color mural is intended to be of historical interest and add to the aesthetics of historical downtown. In addition to the mural, new shrubs and landscaping are planned for the site.

Blattner hopes to have landscaping in front of the mural completed by this spring. He also said a brochure about the mural will be printed soon.