MORGANFIELD, Ky. (WEHT)- The City of Morganfield, Kentucky is celebrating its rich past by showcasing it larger than life. A mural depicting historical figures and scenes is taking shape downtown.
“We want everyone to know our history,” says Randy Greenwell, the mayor of Morganfield.
The mural is going up on a building on East Main Street. Steve Kendrick Lane of Go Big Time Art and Rebecca Vincent of Mindseye Studio were asked by the mayor to paint a mural in 2019.
“It is all fitting together good… and these last two are going to be in color,” Lane says.
The mural will have four people and three scenes:
- Abraham Lincoln, who gave his only speech in Kentucky in Morganfield in 1840.
- Thomas Lyle Williams, who founded Maybelline Cosmetics after watching his sister, Mable, apply petroleum jelly and coal dust on her eyelashes. They lived in Morganfield until 1912.
- Jackie Robinson, the first black Major League Baseball player who was stationed at Camp Breckinridge in Morganfield in 1944.
- The mural will also depict coal production and corn harvest, and Camp Breckenridge, which was one of the largest German prisoner of war camps in the southern U.S. during World War II.
“People come through town and watch it,” says Mayor Greenwell.
The mural is estimated to cost around $40,000, paid through a grant form the National Endowment for the Arts and Local Businesses.
More from Ann Powell
Eyewitness News. Everywhere you are.
