New murals around town celebrate Vinton’s sesquicentennial in 2019

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Vinton celebrated 150 years as a community last summer, and now there’s a new addition reminding people of the town’s past.

The new downtown murals celebrate everything from the trains, to the former Iowa Braille School, to sports championships.

The town commissioned them from Walldogs, a traveling group of mural artists who create personalized art for towns. The group was first in Vinton in 2000. Town leaders asked them to come back for the sesquicentennial in 2019. They just gave the artists a topic, and the painters came up with the rest.

Melissa Schwan, Vinton Unlimited director, said they’ve made an impact on the town’s appearance.

“It brightens things up a little bit,” Schwan said. “We still need to move some of them into their final locations, but it’s just a fun conversation piece as you’re out shopping downtown.”

There are 11 murals scattered throughout downtown, each one depicting something in Vinton’s history.

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