Plans are in the works once again for a Civil War mural that was pulled from downtown St. Joseph earlier this year after controversy.

“They’ve just redesigned it an tweaked it a bit,”said Rhabecca Boerkircher, St. Joseph Downtown Partnership Executive Director. “They added a picture of President Lincoln on there and Fort Smith as opposed to the controversial picture of Jeff Thompson taking down the American Flag,”

The new Civil War depiction will be painted on the west wall of the Ballinger Building at 620 Edmond St.  The same location as the original mural had been planned for.

Two other murals are also planned for downtown.

A music themed mural will be painted on the east side of the building located at 615-619 Felix St.  A Native American Themed mural with be located on the east wall of the building at 518 Felix St.

“I think it’s going to be great for downtown,” Boerkircher said. “The ambiance, will clean up those buildings and make them look nicer and that’s what we always strive for to make downtown a better place to live, visit and work.”

All the murals have been privately funded and will be painted by mural artist, Sam Welty.

Boerkircher said she expects work on the murals to start in August after the mural will go before the Downtown Review Board at the August 5th meeting.  Work on the Civil War mural is anticipated to begin first since the wall has already been prepped for artwork prior to being pulled the first time.