We didn't realize... - Cuba, MO - Route 66 Mural City

Even the smallest engineer finds a train in Cuba's Public Art.

When Viva Cuba, the beautification organization in Cuba, Missouri plans their public art, they do not always anticipate the impact of the art.

When the project began, in 2001, they hadn’t thought about using the murals to teach the nation and the town’s history to fourth graders. But now they have added a mural curriculum for the school to their projects and give tours to students. Parents and their children both study the murals.

They didn’t realize that boy scout Chip Lange would include their Civil War Murals as part of his Eagle Scout project. But he did, and it has impacted him and the town.

When the organization thought that it would be neat to rent the 1904-style trolley for Cuba Fest and give tours of the murals, they didn’t realize how many children would be touring with parents and how well that would work in conjunction with the school curriculum.

And Viva Cuba really didn’t realize how many people would travel through Cuba to stop and photograph the murals, the Viva Cuba Garden, and the train sculpture. But it is a daily occurrence during the tourist season. Looking over the blogs, a reader will see how this attraction has also brought the media to report on Cuba’s public art. And the idea of art in Cuba has spread to individual businesses.

And the organization didn’t realize that the public art would take its place in the family history of individual families. These photos show that families have chosen the community art of Cuba as a backdrop for interesting family photos. The culture and history of a nation is often reflected in the personal photographs of its citizens. Future years will show that there was public art in Cuba, “Route 66 Mural City,” and history will judge if it had a significant impact.