Artwork in Osawatomie has been flourishing the past year or so. The newest mural, completed recently by Artist Lynnsey Fletcher, highlights the day Teddy Roosevelt visited Osawatomie. The mural commemorates Teddy Roosevelt’s August 31, 1910 visit to Osawatomie for the dedication of John Brown Park, during which he delivered his “New Nationalism Address:. The mural is based on a photo of Roosevelt waving to the Osawatomie crown from the rear platform of the caboose of his special train.
Fletcher painted a mural of the Big Boy steam engine on a wall near the Osawatomie History Museum and MOPAC Railroad Depot Museum. Earlier this year she was commissioned to add another mural to the wall, which was paid for by a grant from the Allen W. and Gladys Hawkins Charitable Foundation. She also painted the “Bee The Good” mural on the 8th Street Levee wing walls. Fletcher says she loves painting murals and it is the bulk of her business. She says painting three murals in Osawatomie has been inspiring and she loves to paint in the town. The people have been good to her and supportive of her work, many even stopping and giving her water and snacks.
