The city hall of Joplin, Missouri, on Thursday marked the 50th anniversary of its dedication that included a commissioned Thomas Hart Benton mural, who began his artistic career in the city.
Joplin City Hall is at 602 S. Main St. (aka Route 66) and is only a short distance from Seventh Street, also an alignment of 66.
According to an article in the Joplin Globe, resident Mary Curtis Warten contacted Benton in 1971 and shepherded the creation of the mural to mark the city’s centennial two years later. Benton grew up in nearby Neosho, Missouri.
Local historian Brad Belk provided much of the background that led Benton to his artistic career:
His parents sent him to work with a cousin, Willie McElhany, in the surveying business in the rough-and-tumble mining community of Joplin in 1906.
“This timeless story,” Belk said, originates with Benton sipping a beer at the infamous House of Lords when some roughneck seasoned lead and zinc miners begin teasing him about staring at a painting of a nude woman that hung over the bar. In his defense, the 17-year-old Benton proclaimed his interest purely from an artist point of view. His tormentors fired back saying, ‘So you’re an artist, Shorty?’
“Well, the 5-foot-5 Benton quickly responded, ‘Yes, by God I am, and I am a good one.’ This animated bluff led him to proving his abilities as an artist for the Joplin American newspaper.”
Belk said Benton talked about his time at the Joplin American as the foundation of his art career and how “by a quirk of fate, they made me an artist in a short half-hour.”
Benton returned to Joplin in 1973 to present his mural, titled “Joplin at the Turn of the Century 1896-1906.”
Benton died less than two years later at age 85 and already was famous as a trailblazer in the Regionalist art movement that depicted everyday people in the United States.
His works are scattered across the country, including the National Gallery of Art. But Route 66ers can gaze upon one of his works in Joplin City Hall, which is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.
(Image of Thomas Hart Benton’s “Joplin at the Turn of the Century 1896-1906” via Explore Joplin)