Some travelers will be rooting for their favorite sports teams across the country, others will be planning trips around great coffee and wine, or even planning a trip to see Missouri’s major landmarks and little roadside attractions.
Missouri is home to a multitude of vibrant murals that often have deep historical facts embedded within the artwork. Embarking on a mural tour in Missouri will take you to the beating heart of towns and cities and will undoubtedly influence the way you view the state.
Colombia’s rich murals
Here in Columbia, we have a serious history of supporting public art, including a strong mural culture.
The city’s website highlights several more notable sites, including David Spear’s work at 1000 N. College Ave., which speaks to the thunderous spirit of legendary pianist John William “Blind” Boone. Spear’s work pinpoints the enormous impact Boone had on local culture.
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Artist Adrienne Luther Johnson’s work is appearing in a growing number of murals around Columbia, including in the Arcades and North Village Arts District, and the city’s website also features impressive work by Shannon Webster, Paul Jackson, Brittany Williamson, and others.
Tunnels along the MKT trail create inclusive and surprising entrances with murals conceived and realized by artists such as Madeleine Lemieux, while stunning murals are popping up all around the North Village neighborhood, which has a dedicated art walking trail.
Those with a keen eye will notice murals, large and small, in less-traveled parts of the city and in public gathering places like Optimist Park. These artworks are essential to painting a picture of who we are as a whole.
Explore other areas of Missouri through the murals below, which are by no means a comprehensive list.
Cape Girardeau
A post from the Missouri Tourism Office highlights many of the state’s significant murals, including the Mississippi River Story Mural in Cape Girardeau, which stretches over 1,000 feet and covers a 15-foot-tall wall, and was installed to “protect the city from flooding.” Its 24 panels depict the city’s connection to the river and “47 famous Missouri figures, from Calamity Jane to Yogi Berra.”
Chillicothe
The Livingston County Courthouse website states, “Murals tell a story in every nook and cranny of our historic downtown.” Perhaps the best-known murals outside of town document the history of Chillicothe, the true home of sliced bread. Other murals document the history of the community, the evolution of transportation, and, in artist Kelly Poling’s work at the Livingston County Library, the vast amount of literature available to residents. To see a fuller collection, visit https://www.downtownchilli.com/muralportfolio.
Concordia
The murals don’t just tell a story, they’re becoming the story of this Lafayette County community. According to a recent article by Kansas City television station KSHB, artist Ray Harvey is about halfway through the series of 10 to 12 murals, and city leaders hope the murals will “brand the town as the patriotic mural city of Missouri.”
Cuba
The Missouri Tourism Bureau also lists 12 panels on Route 66 in this Crawford County town. The paintings “discover local and national history from the famous highway’s golden age and visits by Harry S. Truman, Amelia Earhart and Bette Davis,” the description reads.
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Hannibal
Hannibal’s murals feature real and fictional characters like Mark Twain and Tom Sawyer, plus “ghost signs” feature “new depictions of vintage advertisements that were found on buildings around town in the 1800s,” according to the Missouri Department of Tourism.
Jefferson City
Take a break from the outdoor murals and step into the cool air of the State Capitol to admire the work of Missouri master Thomas Hart Benton. His expansive “Social History of Missouri” may capture the state’s past, but it remains an important mirror holding up our strengths and weaknesses today.
Joplin
Black history, active contributions to and through the arts, and Joplin’s place on iconic Route 66 are some of the themes that speak to residents and visitors from the community’s walls. The presence of Joplin native and national treasure Langston Hughes is especially felt, with his words and face featured in several pieces. For a more extensive list, visit https://www.visitjoplinmo.com/blog/downtown-joplin-mural-tour/.
Kansas City
Visit KC and NPR station KCUR’s public art guide offer useful resources for mural lovers who live or visit the Kansas City area. “The Kansas City metropolitan area is home to more than 200 murals, so ubiquitous that we’re both a city of fountains and a city of murals,” KCUR’s Libby Hansen wrote in 2021.
The KCUR article brings to the forefront masterpieces such as the recent explosion of murals, beautifully sparked by the Sprayseemo Festival, Michael Toombs’ work at the American Jazz Museum, Alexander Austin’s murals celebrating Negro League Baseball, and the work adorning the campus of the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Visit KC is spotlighting works of civic pride, including the #KCLouves mural, the Kansas City Love mural, two different pieces in the Crossroads District, and a beautiful and thorough mural in the Power and Light District, also by Alexander Austin.
Louisiana
This city on the Mississippi River is home to a multitude of murals depicting everything from riverboat trips and railroads, to historic livery stables and lumber yards, and beautiful local scenery. A PDF guide accessible on the city’s website features a total of 24 murals, all created in the early to mid-2000s.
Springfield
Earlier this year, Madison Yorn of the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau posted an awesome list of “40+ Instagrammable Murals” in the Springfield area. Some of the coolest and most interesting are the orange and white geometric mural by The Vecino Group, the Ferris Bueller-themed mural on Commercial Street by Imaginational, the Springfield Cardinals mural by Chroma 417 outside Hammons Field, the Nikola Tesla and Marie Curie murals by artist François Larivière at the Discovery Center, and sea creature murals around town by artist Susan Sommer-Luarca.
St. Joseph
This northwest Missouri city’s murals document the lives of important cultural figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Chief Keokuk and jazz great Coleman Hawkins, as well as the community’s place in the westward expansion.
According to the St. Joseph Convention and Visitors Bureau website, seven murals have been painted downtown in the past 12 years, and an online portal provides maps to each location.
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St. Louis
A few resources are crucial when it comes to finding great murals around St. Louis. With over 11,000 followers, the Murals of St. Louis Instagram account is a great way to get a glimpse of the city’s public art. Recent posts have captured murals in progress, as well as close-ups of the All For City mural dedicated to St. Louis City SC soccer, and murals featuring the likes of Josephine Baker and Bruce Lee.
2022 “Explore St. Louis” posts feature work at Walls Off Washington, a hub of the city’s arts community, as well as work at the now-defunct Riverfront Times (RIP), whose murals center on blues music, black history and visionary design.
West Plains
The Ozark Highlands community also features murals by artist Michael McClure that depict “different eras” of the area, as well as important figures such as country artist Porter Wagoner and all-star pitcher Preacher Law, according to the tourism bureau.
Where to find WPA murals at post offices in Missouri
If you like 20th century history and murals and need to send a package or postcard, there is a list of WPA murals in Missouri post offices at http://www.wpamurals.org/missouri.htm. Communities on the list include Bethany, Canton, St. Genevieve, Union, Vandalia and Windsor. Contact your particular community to see if the murals are still hanging.
Aarik Danielsen is the Tribune’s features and culture editor. He can be reached at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1731. Twitter/X is @aarikdanielsen.
