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Seguin dedicates downtown mural
Published January 11, 2009
It’s been awhile, but the sound of hoofbeats was heard on Old Stagecoach Road again on Saturday.
Riders of the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Posse joined local officials and members of the community in dedicating artist Brent McCarthy’s two-story historical mural, “The Old Stagecoach Road,” which he has been painting over the past few months on the West Donegan Street side of Chiro Java, located across Austin Street from the county courthouse.
Nan Udell, a volunteer with the city’s mural committee who commissioned the mural as part of Seguin’s Main Street program, introduced McCarthy, Mayor Betty Ann Matthies and others who played a part in the project, thanking volunteers and donors who made the $30,000 project possible.
Now, she said, $2,000 more will need to be raised to pay for a protective coating to ensure the mural can be enjoyed for decades.
McCarthy, who has painted a number of murals, told the group assembled on Donegan Street he’d had a “blast” painting the project over four months.
He had a long list of folks to thank, too — including his family, the city, the people at Chiro Java and the locals who would walk by each day to discuss — and sometimes offer suggestions for — his work.
“I want to thank the guy who came by every day to point out spots I’d missed, and I want to thank the guy who came by every week to ask when I was going to put him in the mural,” McCarthy said, searching the crowd.
“Are you here? If you are, you’re in the mural, but you’re behind those women, where every man belongs,” he joked.
Matthies, whose ancestors go back five generations in Seguin, praised the project — particularly the job McCarthy did.
“I look at these people and I can’t help but think of the people of my family who came here many, many years ago,” Matthies said.
The clothing the pioneers in the mural wear, the animals and the implements all depicted in the painting remind Matthies of things she’s seen in old family photos, she said.
“It reminds me of what we owe these people,” Matthies said.
Seguin has long had an interest in historical murals as a potential community enhancement, and McCarthy’s mural comes in a year and in a neighborhood where a lot of exciting community enhancements have recently taken place. As a result of the Destination Seguin bond initiative approved by voters, Central Park got a very attractive, retro-makeover this year, with improvements to the fountain and the addition of the bandstand.
The mural adds another welcome flourish to downtown, Udell said.
Udell said such murals increase interest in a community, contribute to a sense of community pride and can lead to a kind of neighborhood renewal or even renaissance.
“I was excited about murals because I’ve lived in places where there are murals, and they change the entire atmosphere of the town,” she said. “People around them begin sprucing things up, and it increases their pride in where they live.”
After Udell arrived in Seguin, she and Pat Schultz went on a road trip to see other Texas towns that have murals.
They put some ideas together, brought them to the Main Street board and got approval for the idea.
Udell said she hoped the Donegan Street mural would be the first of several for Seguin, and said other downtown buildings were under consideration for possible future murals.
But she didn’t say what the murals would depict.
“I think it’s important to find the building first and from that, like here on Donegan Street, we can decide what should be on the mural,” Udell said.
Matthies can’t wait to hear the next proposal.
“Not only is this something we’ll all enjoy right now, but it’s something people will be able to enjoy for years,” Matthies said.
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