These colorful Missouri murals showcase history and culture

Some travelers follow their favorite sports team across the country. Others plan their trip around great coffee or wine. You can certainly organize a Missouri tour around major landmarks or along the way.

Missouri has quite a few vibrant murals, often embedding deep historical realities into the artwork. A Missouri mural tour would take you right into the heart of the cities and towns, and would undoubtedly influence the traveler’s vision of and for the state.

The rich variety of murals in Columbia

Here in Columbia we have a serious history of supporting public art. This includes a strong mural culture.

A post on the city’s website introduces a few more prominent spots. Among them is David Spears’ piece at 1000 N. College Ave., which speaks to the thundering soul of legendary pianist John William “Blind” Boone. Spears’ work accurately captures Boone’s vast influence on local culture.

Artist Adrienne Luther-Johnson’s work continues to crop up in Columbia, with murals in the Arcade District, the North Village Arts District and elsewhere. The city’s site also identifies rich works by the likes of Shannon Webster, Paul Jackson and Brittany Williamson.

Tunnels along the MKT Trail become portals to unity and wonder, with murals imagined and brought to life by artists like Madeleine LeMieux. And great murals continue to pop up in the North Village area, with its dedicated art walk.

Keen eyes will notice murals, large and small, in other less-visited corners of the city and in public gathering places like Optimist Park. These pieces can’t help but form a total picture of who we are.

Visit other parts of Missouri via the murals listed below. This is by no means an exhaustive list.

Cape Girardeau

A release from the Missouri Division of Tourism highlights several notable murals in the state. One of them is the Mississippi River Tales Mural in Cape Girardeau, which is more than 1,000 feet long and covers a 15-foot-high wall that exists to “(protect) the city from flooding.” In 24 panels, the artwork describes connections to the Mississippi River and “47 famous Missourians, from Calamity Jane to Yogi Berra.”

Chillicothe

Murals “tell a story on every corner of this historic downtown,” according to the Livingston County capital’s website. Perhaps the most famous of these murals documents Chillicothe’s history as the veritable home of sliced bread. Other murals chronicle the community’s history, the evolution of transportation and — in artist Kelly Polling’s work on the Livingston County Library — a notable portion of the literature available to residents. For a more complete offering, visit https://www.downtownchilli.com/muralportfolio.

Unity

Murals don’t just tell a story, they actively become the story in this Lafayette County community. As a recent article from Kansas City TV station KSHB documents, artist Ray Harvey is about halfway through a series of 10-12 murals that city leaders hope will “brand (the city) as Missouri’s patriotic mural city.”

Cuba

Also on the Missouri Division of Tourism list: 12 panels on Route 66 in this Crawford County town. The paintings “depict the golden age of the famous highway and local and national history, including visits by Harry S. Truman, Amelia Earhart and Bette Davis,” according to a description.

More: These 17 Unique Roadside Attractions in Missouri Are Worth Going Off the Beaten Path For

Hannibal

Favorite sons, real and made-up, such as Mark Twain and his Tom Sawyer, are among the figures depicted in Hannibal murals. In addition, “ghost signs” include “new paintings of old advertisements that appeared on the town’s buildings in the 19th century,” according to the Missouri Division of Tourism.

Jefferson City

Take a break from outdoor murals and step inside Capitol Cool to view the work of a Missouri master, Thomas Hart Benton. His comprehensive “Social History of Missouri” may chronicle the state’s past, but it’s an important reflection of our strengths and weaknesses, even today.

Joplin

Black history, vibrant contributions to and through the arts, and Joplin’s place on the iconic Route 66 are among the themes that draw residents and visitors alike from the community’s walls. Joplin native and national treasure Langston Hughes is a particularly palpable presence, with his words and face included in several pieces. See a longer list at https://www.visitjoplinmo.com/blog/downtown-joplin-mural-tour/.

Kansas City

Public art guides from Visit KC and NPR station KCUR offer helpful resources for the mural-minded living in or visiting Kansas City. “There are more than 200 murals in the Kansas City metro, so ubiquitous that we’re as much The City of Murals as The City of Fountains,” KCUR’s Libby Hanssen wrote in 2021.

The KCUR article highlights the recent explosion of murals beautifully sparked by the SpraySeeMo festival, as well as notable works such as Michael Toombs’ work at the American Jazz Museum, Alexander Austin’s murals celebrating Negro League baseball, and works on the campus of the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Visit KC highlights pieces of civic pride like the #KCLoves mural and the Kansas City Love mural, two different works of art in the Crossroads area, and a beautifully detailed mural in the Power and Light District, also by Alexander Austin.

Louisiana

This city on the Mississippi River is home to a number of murals, depicting everything from riverboat tours to railroads, historic stables and lumber mills to examples of local beauty. A PDF guide accessible through the city’s website lists 24 murals in all, all of which were created in the early 2000s.

Spring field

Earlier this year, Madison Yohn of the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau posted a great list of “40+ Instagrammable Murals” in the Springfield area. Some of the coolest and most interesting: a geometric orange-and-white mural by The Vecino Group; a Ferris Bueller-themed mural on Commercial Street by Imaginational; Chroma 417’s mural of the Springfield Cardinals outside Hammons Field; artist François Larivière’s Nikola Tesla and Marie Curie murals in the Discovery Center; and artist Susan Sommer-Luarca’s murals of sea creatures around town.

Saint Joseph

Murals in this northwestern Missouri city document the lives of important cultural figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Chief Keokuk and jazz hero Coleman Hawkins, as well as the community’s role in westward expansion.

Over the past 12 years, seven murals have been created in the city center, according to the St. Joseph Convention and Visitors Bureau website. The online portal also provides a map of each location.

More: These 9 Underrated Destinations Within 2 Hours of Columbia Are Great for Day and Weekend Trips

St. Louis

Several resources prove invaluable in discovering great murals in the St. Louis area. The Instagram account Murals of St. Louis, with over 11,000 followers, offers a great look at the city’s public art. Recent posts have documented murals in progress, zooming in on the All For City mural dedicated to St. Louis City SC football and murals featuring the likes of Josephine Baker and Bruce Lee.

A 2022 Explore St. Louis post showcases the work done at Walls Off Washington, in the heart of the city’s arts community. And the work of the now-defunct Riverfront Times (RIP) centers murals on blues music, black history, and more chimerical designs.

Western Plains

This Ozarks community features murals by artist Michael McClure that depict the area during “successive eras” and also feature notable figures such as country music artist Porter Wagoner and star pitcher Preacher Roe, according to the state Department of Tourism.

Where can you find WPA murals in Missouri post offices?

If you enjoy 20th century history and murals and want to mail a few packages or postcards, you can find a list of WPA murals in Missouri post offices at http://www.wpamurals.org/missouri.htm . Communities counted include Bethany, Canton, Ste. Genevieve, Union, Vandalia and Windsor. Check with specific locations to see if the murals are still up.

Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at [email protected] or by calling 573-815-1731. He’s on Twitter/X @aarikdanielsen.