Joseph Museum, and his team of Jackie Lewin, David Mead, and Bonnie Watkins oversaw the total project. The local questers group paid for the total cost of restoration and reframing. Imagine cleaning and repairing a 56 year old mural that had originally been a backdrop in a bar! Although there is no documentation, it was rumored that Eleanor Roosevelt would not unveil the mural in the bar. The mural was stretched out in the newly dedicated Messick Gallery and the cleaning and repair was undertaken by Tom Duggins of the Frame Station. During the last week of January, 1995, the mural was rolled onto a giant spool for its trip to the Pony Express Museum. ![]() The local questers raised $5,000 and that was matched by Questers International. Joseph questers groups, headed by Jeanie Burnham and Peggy Iffert, stepped forward and agreed to restore the mural. In 1994, we learned the museum could get the mural if we could figure out how to get it out of the bank building. The fourth mural with the World War I theme is now in the Donnel Court Building. Three of the murals are now exhibited at the Pony Express Museum. Through the collaboration of Don Paden, Manager of The Holiday Inn, Bill Cole, President of the bank, and Sharon Evers, Vice President of the trust department, and with Dave Bahner’s later assistance, it was confirmed that ownership of the mural would be the Pony Express National Museum. Bank.Ī mild controversy existed over ownership of the murals. ![]() When the bank building was completed, “The Pony Express” mural was moved to the trust department of the Mercantile Bank (American National), today the U.S. Prior to the demolition of the hotel the murals had been moved to the new Holiday Inn. In 1996, the Hotel Robidoux was blown up to make way for a new bank office building. The other murals were: The Platte Purchase Centennial, World War I Memorial, and Jeff Thompson Memorial. Gray was also commissioned to paint 3 other murals for the Hotel, all of which decorated the walls of the Pony Bar’N at the Hotel Robidoux. from Arts and Science, majoring in History, from the University of Missouri. ![]() For one course, I was the only student and sat outside a classroom and took every test for the course under Professor Popplewell. College and took every history course taught by Professor Popplewell. ![]() Joseph, MO, Columbia, MO, Washington, D.C. On this mural he was assisted by Professor Frank S. Gray explained the months of research required for every mural and the verification required for authenticity. After becoming President of the American Hotels Corporation, he obtained the services of George Gray to depict military and civic history of the United States by the means of 233 murals placed in the chain of hotels.īesides the Pony Express Trail, the mural shows the Oregon Trail, the California Trail, the Santa Fe Trail, Old Spanish Trail, the Northwest Passage of Lewis and Clark, the Butterfield Route and numerous other routes done by explorers to reach various points in the United States and Japan. General James Leslie Kincaid, President of the American Hotels Corporation, of which Hotel Robidoux was a unit, was the father of the idea to make a permanent record in paint of the historic trails through the middle west. She loved the warmth of color used by the artist and pointed out it should be of great worth as a collection of data in studying the history of the pioneer group of the West. In speaking of the mural she said, “The real value of the historic painting will not be realized for some time as something as complete as this mural needs perspective to appreciate its true worth”. Roosevelt unveiled “The Pony Express Map”, a mural by George Gray, for the Hotel Robidoux in the Crystal Ball Room.
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