HENDERSON Ky. (WEHT)- A mural depicting historical figures is underway in downtown Morganfield.
The mural is being created by artists, Steve Kindrick Lane of Go Big Time Art and Rebecca Vincent of Mindseye Studio. The mural depicts the history of Morganfield and Union County with four individuals and three scenes.
The first of the historic individuals is President Abraham Lincoln, who was born in Kentucky, and gave his only political speech in the state in Morganfield in 1840. This was while he was campaigning for presidential candidate William Henry Harrison in Shawneetown, Illinois, across the Ohio River.
Thomas Lyle Williams, who was the founder of Maybelline Cosmetics, as well as his sister, Mabel Williams are also depicted. The Williams family lived in Morganfield until 1912. Thomas was inspired to create the first commercially available mascara after watching his sister apply a mixture of petroleum jelly and coal dust to her eyelashes and eyebrows in 1915.
The third depiction is of Jackie Robinson- the first Black baseball player in major League Baseball. Robinson was a lieutenant in the United States Army. In 1944, while he was stationed at Camp Breckinridge in Morganfield, he met a former Kansas City Monarchs player who encouraged him to try out for the team. This encounter helped launch his professional baseball career.
The mural will also include scenes depicting coal mining and corn farming, as Union County has long led the state in coal production and corn harvested. It will also depict Camp Breckinridge, which was one of the largest German Prisoner of War (POW) camps in the southern United States during World War II. Camp Breckinridge now houses the Earle C. Clements Job Corps.
The Mural is on the wall of a building adjacent to property owned by the city at 115 East Main Street, which is slated to be developed into a public park with the next few years.