Chicago artist Thomas Melvin is reaching back in time with his paintbrush and bringing Cape Girardeau's history to the present.

Melvin is the lead artist in the floodwall mural project sponsored by the River History Mural Association. He and the other artists involved, Cameron Pfiffner and Gary Borremans, both of Chicago, and local artist Craig Thomas, began work Monday afternoon, hoping the rain will hold off. He said he expects to have as many as seven or eight artists working and will have the project completed "before the snow flies."

Melvin and the other artists transfer the images onto the floodwall from sketches at a scale of one inch equals one foot. The River Heritage Mural Association is selling the sketches to help fund the project.

The artist is using a mineral -based paint called Keim that was developed specifically for use on masonry. Melvin said Keim is preferable because it does not blister or fade.

When it's finished, the mural will be probably the longest, if not the largest, project Melvin has ever completed -- about a fifth of a mile long by 16 feet tall, panels depicting the era from before American Indians settled in the area to the construction of the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge.

"It really will be a nice stroll down the history of Cape Girardeau," he said.

Work is starting at the foot of Broadway and will continue down Water Street to Independence.

The mural will chronicle the era of the Mississippian mounds builders, the French exploration era and the voyages of Pierre Marquette and Hernando de Soto. It will feature the establishment of the Girardot post at Cape Rock, the settlement by Louis Lorimier, the Louisiana Purchase, and the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which is already on the wall.

Also to be featured will be Missouri's statehood, Missouri Compromise, the Trail of Tears, the Civil War, and the coming of the railroad. A panel will be dedicated to education featuring the Young Ladies' Academy which began in the 1830s, and the establishment of the Normal School and the beginning of Southeast Missouri State University.

Other panels will be dedicated to the steamboat era in the 1920s, the jazz era, fire, ice and flood in the early part of the 20th century, river commerce, the building of the floodwall and the old Mississippi River bridge -- but not the New Madrid earthquake.

"Not yet at least," Thomas said. "It may still be. There are still some things to be added, but it is 99.9 percent realized now as a design."

Thomas said he had much help in his research from the River History Mural Association. Some people have sponsored panels they are particularly interested in; Earl Norman of Cape Girardeau has sponsored one of the two panels depicting the Civil War featuring Gen. Benjamin M. Prentiss and Gen. U.S. Grant.

Once the project is finished, the River History Mural Association plans to build a reading rail to accompany the mural with additional descriptive information.

"What image can't immediately portray can be embellished in text," Thomas said.

Thomas has built a reputation as a muralist working on large-scale public projects across the country. Most of his work, he said, has been on canvas. He said the floodwall is "well built, of high quality and in good shape; I'm eager to get started."

lredeffer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160