Artist restores his Route 66 mural in Webb City

29c Webb City MO - Mural

John Biggs, who created in 1993 a large Route 66 mural on a building in downtown Webb City, Missouri, has restored the landmark, according to the Joplin Globe.

The mural on the Bruner Pharmacy building at Main and Daugherty streets (map here) portrays several landmarks on Route 66 from Chicago to Webb City. The location is one block north of Route 66 through town.

The mural is based on a painting that Biggs did. In the background, you can see the outline of the downtown Chicago skyline as well as downtown St. Louis and the Gateway Arch. In the middle of the painting sits the Jasper County Courthouse with the historic Webb House in the foreground. The Webb City Praying Hands statute is also included.
Postcards of the painting were printed and sold to pay for the cost of the mural. Those postcards are still being sold today.

The original plan was to paint the mural on the now-closed Bradbury Bishop Deli, but Biggs couldn’t work out an agreement with the owner.

The artwork had faded to where portions were unrecognizable. Recently, Biggs power-washed the mural to remove grime, then began to repaint it — with a subtle difference:

In the original mural, the trees reflect the colors of fall. For the updated mural, Biggs changed them to the show the colors of spring. He also made the tops of the trees slightly more pointed to reflect the roofs of the Webb House and the Jasper County Courthouse.

Biggs finished his work Tuesday. You can see the finished artwork here.

According to KOAM-TV, Bruner Pharmacy sells postcards of the mural.

(Image of the Webb City Route 66 mural in 2009 by John Hagstrom via Flickr)

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