A city of murals

It is hard now to imagine Cape Girardeau without its murals, but not even 20 years ago the downtown buildings and the Mississippi River floodwall were bare and devoid of the images that residents have come to know so well.

The first outside mural in Cape Girardeau appeared in 1986 on a building at Themis and Water streets and was designed by James Parker.

The mural was the result of a contest held by the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri to promote Riverfest, a now-defunct downtown celebration. Parker, a local artist and the founding director of the Southeast Missouri State University Museum, submitted the winning mural design, and the finished product was presented to the public at the 1986 Riverfest.

Parker's mural, which depicts the top of a steamboat, the Mississippi River and the Port Cape building, recently was removed from its original home because of building renovations but will be repainted on the building that houses Mollie's Cafe and Bar at 11 S. Spanish St.

The Parker mural sparked the creation of the River Heritage Mural Association, which is responsible for most of the murals in Cape Girardeau.

The association's original goal was to create 10 murals in 10 years in Cape Girardeau. It has been almost 10 years since that goal was decided upon, and the association has created eight murals. But considering the size of some of the projects, association president Tim Blattner counts more than eight murals worth of work.

"In a way we haven't met our goal, but in a way we're exceeding it," he said.

After the mural by Jim Parker, the association's next outdoor mural project was the 1989 "Riverfest" mural on the C.P. McGinty building on Spanish Street. It was designed by Southeast Missouri State University art professor Mike Holcomb.

In 1991 came the "Welcome to Cape mural" on the river side of the floodwall, designed by Fred Lincoln. This mural was the first to be painted on the floodwall.

Jake Wells, the university art professor who created the mural inside Kent Library, designed the 1993 "Bicentennial" mural at Broadway and Fountain Street. Also in 1993, university art professor Louise Bodenheimer designed the "Heritage of Music" mural on the Shivelbine's Music Store building on Broadway.

The association then took on a bigger project with the "Missouri Wall of Fame" mural, which was completed in 1995.

Local artist Margaret Randol Dement was picked to design the mural. Like the other artists who designed the association's murals up to that point, Randol Dement was not involved in painting the mural. During the two weeks it took to paint the mural, Randol Dement's drawings of famous Missouri faces like Rush Limbaugh, Harry Truman and George Washington Carver were projected onto the wall and traced on by the sign painters.

Randol Dement did get a chance to design and paint a mural on the floodwall in 2003. Her "Sunrise Over A New Land: Lewis and Clark in Cape Girardeau 1803" mural is located on the floodwall behind the Red House Interpretive Center.

While Cape Girardeau's exterior murals are the more visible presence, the city's first mural is located inside Southeast Missouri State University's Kent Library.

In 1972, Wells completed a 38-feet-5-inch by 20-feet-9-inch mural inside the library that depicted the history of Southeast Missouri. It focuses on four main themes Wells thought played a major role in the history of the city: the river, mining, timber and agriculture.

Wells conferred with well-known Missouri artist Thomas Hart Benton about the project through extensive letter writing.

In a Southeast Missourian article from 1973, Wells said, "I'd have been lost if Mr. Benton hadn't been so charitable with his suggestions."

Cape Girardeau has since made some additions to the number of indoor murals with Cape Girardeau artist Craig Thomas' 1987 mural at the Washington School and the history of medicine mural created by St. Louisan John Hunn in 1996 for Southeast Missouri Hospital.

While Cape Girardeau's first mural was a massive project that depicted the history of the region, so does the city's latest mural being painted on the floodwall -- "The Mississippi River Tales" mural.

Chicago artist Thomas Melvin was chosen for the job. He and his painting assistants have been working on the mural since April -- although the panels of Meriwether Lewis and Bill Emerson were completed months earlier -- and plan to be finished by the end of 2004. There will be 24 panels in all when the project is completed.

The River Heritage Mural Association will take a break after the completion of "Mississippi River Tales."

"I think we've reached critical mass, where we can be identified as a city of murals. I think the 'Mississippi River Tales' has helped us achieve that," Blattner said.