The Cookeville History Museum has unveiled a mural on the side of its building featuring local landmarks and the message: “Find Your Story In Cookeville.”
Cultural Arts Superintendent Rex Bennett said the project was made possible through a grant from Tennessee’s 250th Commission. Bennett said the museum board wanted to utilize a blank space created after the building was repainted this year to celebrate America’s 250th birthday.
“I hope people want to reach out to explore that history, to come in, learn the story itself, see the artifacts in the museum, see the history of how this town came to be,” Bennett said. “And maybe when they leave the history museum and they see the exhibits, they’ll take that with them when they go explore the rest of the town.”
The mural features a postcard-style design with Dogwood flowers and historic buildings. Local Artist Katie Tyler designed and completed the project. As she painted, Tyler documented the entire process on social media
“We both kind of sat down and chatted about what we were going to do and made sure that we had everything kind of local to the museum and everything that they wanted to showcase for everybody traveling through, and that’s kind of what gave the idea for the postcard,” Tyler said.
A native of Sparta, Tyler said she was grateful for the opportunity to leave her mark in the city of Cookeville.
“I think with them having me add in the buildings of the eras back then and showing it by painting it in those certain colors helps people see just the growth of the area,” Tyler said.
Tyler said she spent approximately one week painting by hand to complete the mural while navigating summer heat and unpredictable rain. Tyler said the artwork features high-quality paint with UV protectant to ensure the colors withstand sun exposure for five to ten years.
“Especially with murals, you have to start off very basic when you’re doing the initial painting, and it doesn’t look that great as you get going, and you don’t love it, and then once you get towards the end and you add those fine little details, it really makes it pop and you can understand it better,” Tyler said.
For his part, Bennett said he hopes the mural draws more traffic to the history museum, which the public can explore at no cost. Bennett said the mural highlights the historic Cookeville Depot, the courthouse, and the fountain at Dogwood Park. Bennett said the Depot was chosen as a central element because it represents the city’s history as the “Hub City” of the Upper Cumberland.
Bennett said he hopes the mural serves as the new selfie spot downtown like they have in Nashville and other big cities.
“It’s a great place to come get a little bit more exposure to what the history museum is all about inside the building,” Bennett said. “Everyone loves murals. They’re kind of the thing right now. I know places like Nashville, Chicago and New York are full of them. So stopping by, getting a picture and being able to think about what’s here, what’s in this building, what draws you inside is a great way to kind of advertise what we have going on inside the building.”
Tyler said the mural also includes a stamped date of 1854 to signify when Cookeville was established alongside the completion date of the artwork.
“They actually got a hold of me afterwards and asked if I would give them permission to actually take that image and put them on postcards that they could have there in, and I said ‘absolutely,’ because I want people to kind of have a little piece of this mural and what it means to me and everybody else, you know, for themselves,” Tyler said.
