The Mississippi River Tales is a
mural
A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage.
Word mural in art
The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...
containing 24 panels covering nearly of the -high downtown floodwall in
Cape Girardeau, Missouri. It illustrates the history of the area beginning with the Native Americans who inhabited the area between 900 and 1200. Each panel tells a story:
Louis Lorimier platting the city in 1793, the transfer of Upper
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
from
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in 1804, Missouri gaining statehood in 1821, the coming of the railroad in 1880, the Big Freeze of 1918-19 and the completion of the
Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge
The Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge connecting Missouri's Route 34 and Route 74 with Illinois Route 146 across the Mississippi River between Cape Girardeau, Missouri and East Cape Girardeau, Illinois.
It was built just ...
, among many others. The paintings are in a style similar to that of painter
Thomas Hart Benton. (Pamela Selbert,
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
, November 18, 2007). The mural was painted by
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
artist
An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...
Thomas Melvin,
[Thomas Melvin](_blank)
/ref> in collaboration with several local artists, and was dedicated at a public ceremony on July 7, 2005.
Panels
Image:CapeRiverWall1.JPG, Planning a City
Image:CapeRiverWall2.JPG, Lewis and Clark
Image:CapeRiverWall3.JPG, The Louisiana Purchase
Image:CapeRiverWall4.JPG, Missouri Statehood
Image:CapeRiverWall5.JPG, The Trail of Tears
Image:CapeRiverWall6.JPG, The Civil War
Image:CapeRiverWall7.JPG, The Civil War
Image:CapeRiverWall8.JPG, St. Vincent's Young Ladies' Academy
Image:CapeRiverWall9.JPG, River Commerce
Image:CapeRiverWall10.JPG, President Taft's Visit
Image:CapeRiverWall11.JPG, The Great Fire
Image:CapeRiverWall12.JPG, The Big Freeze
Image:CapeRiverWall13.JPG, The Three "Cape Girardeaus"
Image:CapeRiverWall14.JPG, Riverboat Jazz
Image:CapeRiverWall15.JPG, The Big Flood
Image:CapeRiverWall16.JPG, River Industry
Image:CapeRiverWall17.JPG, The Great Wall
Image:CapeRiverWall18.JPG, River Fest
References
External links
*
Tourist attractions in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri
Buildings and structures in Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Art in Missouri
Murals in Missouri
Native American history of Missouri
2000s murals
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