Paintings tell stories and that’s exactly what Waterloo Mayor Tom Smith wants the city’s latest new mural project to do.

Driving or walking past K&D Printing, 107 North Main Street, the exterior wall facing Mill Street is starting to tell Waterloo’s story.

“It talks about Waterloo history, but it does have some things about Monroe County,” Smith said. “We have stone bridges in Waterloo and Monroe County. It will tell about the history of the stone bridges. The buffalo were on the trail that went through Monroe County and that became the Kaskaskia Trail. Not only is it a history about Waterloo, it is a history about Monroe County.”

It will include a scene with a trolley and Abraham Lincoln will be featured — he spoke at the Monroe County Courthouse in 1840.

The mural will extend the length of the entire 87-foot wall. It is being paid for by the city’s beautification fund, which gets its money from the gambling machines around Waterloo.

The mural is being made primarily to beautify downtown, but also for the county’s bicentennial celebration next year. It’s a continuation of murals that have been painted in downtown Waterloo over the past year. One can be found outside Bean Tree Cafe and another is located on the side of Bountiful Blossoms.

“It’s something that city officers Shawn (Kennedy), Sarah (Deutch) and I have talked about,” Smith said. “We’ve been trying to do murals downtown and we’ve always liked that wall to do something more with it. You see a lot of other towns doing downtown murals.”

Working on the mural is Jennifer Howard, who is getting assistance from Barb Pace. Both are members of First Baptist Church in Waterloo.

Howard said Smith will place a plaque at the end of the mural to explain what each scene means.

“Our church does a lot of projects around the area,” Howard said. “(Smith) had seen some paintings we had done at our church, so he asked if we would do the mural.”

Painting is a passion for Howard. She is working on the mural constantly.

“I am hoping to be done in a month; I want to be done in a month,” Howard said. “I have to come up here after my regular job and paint. So, I paint on the weekends and then in the evenings sometimes.”
Her regular job is being a cancer registrar at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis

“It’s hard to explain, I would confuse you if I told you too much,” Howard added.

Howard said she has done a little bit of commercial painting, but mostly had done residential projects.

This is the first time Pace has helped on a commercial painting.

“She loves it,” Pace said about Howard’s passion for painting.

“What did you say? I love it?” Howard answered.

“You do love it,” Pace said.

“I do love it,” Howard agreed. “I haven’t been able to do a lot of painting since I started work, so this has been a great creative outlet for me.”

Howard has been in Waterloo for the past 10 years. Pace has lived in the community since 1969.

Howard said she has a rough draft of what will be included in the mural, but doesn’t have a real sketch of what it will look like when it will be completed.

“We are incorporating multiple things, so sometimes I just come up and draw them on,” Howard said.

“Then I paint it. I’ve already painted over one thing I had finished, but it’s just a work in progress that you make up as you go.”

Although she is making the drawing up as she goes, like Smith said earlier, this mural will tell the story of Waterloo and Monroe County.