City leaders of Baxter Springs, Kansas, on Monday held a ceremonial ribbon-cutting to mark the completion of the enormous “The Baxter Springs Historical Mural” that features Route 66 and other touchstones of the city’s past.
A meet-the-artists event for the father-and-son team of A.J. and Jordan Wood also will be held from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Rial A. Niles House, 605 E. 12th St. in Baxter Springs, reported the Joplin Globe.
The 12-by-100-foot mural depicts Baxter Springs’ history as a cowtown, the Baxter Springs massacre during the Civil War, Indigenous people, Route 66, the railroads and its baseball Whiz Kids.
The mural is at old Route 66 and U.S. 69, across from the high school.
Here are a bunch images of the mural from start to finish:
And here’s a video:
Jennifer Burton, chairwoman of the Mural Art Committee, saw the wall after a sports event at the school and released it would be perfect for a mural.
“Public art creates such enthusiasm,” Burton said. “This particular location has been wonderful because our students from the high school have been over here, learning so much from the artists. It also brings people to the area, which is sorely needed.”
In an effort to introduce more public art into the community, Burton’s committee learned about an Office of Rural Prosperity Rural Mural grant for Kansas communities with populations under 15,000. In July, Baxter Springs was named one of the 12 Kansas communities and organizations to share a combined $78,000 for 20 new public art projects.
The city received a $7,500 grant for the mural. Jim Hoskins, trustee of the Ronald O. Thomas Foundation, overheard a conversation about the grant and immediately connected the group with the foundation for the total of matching funds required by the grant.
It took about three weeks for the Woods to paint the mural once a final design was approved. The artists also greeted tourists from Italy, Sweden and Mexico during that process.
(Screen-capture image from KODE-TV video from the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the mural)