RICHMOND – The Ray County Community Arts Association dedicated the Ray County Bicentennial Mural on Sunday in downtown Richmond.

Painted by Sam Welty of Norfolk, Virginia, the mural depicts Ray County in the time of the state’s founding in 1821. Welty’s mural is based on a sketch by Ray Countian Patricia Pierce.

“We wanted to talk about Ray County 200 years ago – what it might have been like – and we figured that it would mainly have been farm people,” Pierce said shortly before the dedication.

Located across from the Farris Theatre at the intersection of West Main and South Camden streets, the mural includes one of the oldest buildings in Ray County, the Manser House, Pierce said. Her sketch included a generic building, but the association decided to get specific in the mural for the Missouri bicentennial and the Manser house matched the theme, she said.

“It’s around 200 years old and it’s northeast of town, out past Millville,” association President Melinda White said. “It’s in beautiful, pristine shape. … We liked the house. It is similar to the house that Patricia drew, and we thought it would be kind of neat to have a real house in the picture.”

The little girl on the swing does not depict a specific person and the church in the background represents all faiths, Pierce said.

“It just seemed like (faith) was probably a very important part of the community,” she said.

A central part of the mural involves farming, something still important today, but instead of a 9RX, 640-horsepower, four-wheel-drive John Deere tractor, the painting shows a horse pulling a hand plow directed by a farmer.

The mural’s purpose, White said, is to beautify Ray County.

“All of us in the Ray County Community Arts Association really like murals and go to other towns and visit the murals,” she said.

The event dedicated the mural formally, Pierce said.

“All the planning and all the dreaming, it’s finished, and we just want to acknowledge that,” she said. “It took a lot to get here and have it, and we just want the community to enjoy it.”

“We hope it’s enjoyed by the entire community and people that are passing through,” White said. “We think it beautifies this little section of town.”