Mural for downtown features local history

Collaboration between the Downtown Development Authority and the art department at Tecumseh High School has led to a 16’ x 8’ mural for downtown Tecumseh.

Linda Hewlett, marketing coordinator for the city, designed the mural after consulting with the Tecumseh District Library, Tecumseh Historical Society and Tecumseh Area Historical Museum to help determine what landmarks and people to feature.

Fifteen Tecumseh High School art students, along with art instructors Christine Obeid and Ron Frenzen, and local artist and muralist Ellen Saddler participated.

“It’s exciting. We are going to look back at this and have a great sense of pride,” said art student Dulce Mendoza.

The mural project represents an ongoing effort to bring art into the community, according to Paula Holtz, the city’s economic development director.

“We want to make downtown an experience. People come downtown for entertainment, value, for unique things to do, and public art is one more reason,” Holtz said.

The mural was completed June 13 after a five-month project and features both current and past landmarks, including the Sutton Opera House, Hayden Mill, Carnegie Library, Old Stone Church, Tecumseh Community Center and the Anderson-Beardsley House.

The faces of people represented on the mural are Chief Tecumseh, Musgrove Evans, Laura Haviland, Ray and Hazel Herrick, Robert and Genevieve Sage, Clara Waldron, James C. Lincoln and James Robideau.

In addition, symbols of Tecumseh’s past can be found on the mural, including wheat for the Dynamic Kernel project, an airplane for local development of the Meyer’s Aircraft, and the River Raisin.

The location for the mural is pending agreement with a downtown property owner.