Dothan’s mural project began in the early 1990's as an answer to the town’s struggles with urban decay. For decades the downtown area had been declining as more and more stores, restaurants, hotels and services moved out of downtown to reach more customers along the higher trafficked roadways of the outskirts of town. With every store that left, downtown Dothan got another dead, empty space. As these spaces would sit empty year after year, the buildings would just simply fall down from lack of use or be bulldozed into the ground because they weren’t safe anymore. Where there were once stores, shops and offices there were now empty spaces.





One summer, a former mayor of Dothan, Larry Register and some friends made a trip to the western coast of Canada in British Columbia that would end up changing the face of Dothan Alabama forever. While touring Vancouver Island, they discovered a place called Chemainus, a small town with a total population of less than 5,000 people. Chemainus had come up with a novel idea to combat urban decay. In 1983 when their biggest business and largest employer, the local lumber mill, closed its doors, the town decided to reinvent itself and promote itself as a tourist destination by sprucing up the downtown area by painting gigantic murals on the sides of buildings. These murals depicted the history of the town and of the area and gave visitors who were already in the area a reason to stop in and see the town. Register and his friends decided that this would be a good thing for Dothan to work on and they spread the word about it when they got back. A group of local citizens enthusiastically embraced the idea and went to work to make it happen, and the Dothan Mural Project was born.






To See the Virtual Tour Photo Album Click Here or On the Photo

The first mural was painted in Dothan in 1993 and now there are a total of 16 if you count the 4 part “Early Commerce: mural as one. In 2006, the Downtown Group, the City of Dothan, The Wiregrass Museum of Art, Troy University Dothan and others organized the Wiregrass Festivals of Murals, which is a weeklong festival that celebrates the murals, history, music, art and life.






These murals of Dothan and the artists that created them are:

1. Salute to the Peanut Industry by Susan Tooke/Bruce Rickett
2. The Abduction of Elizabeth Stewart Dill by Art Rosenbaum
3. Mules in the Wiregrass by Mike Svob
4. Fort Scott: Protector of the Wiregrass by Wes Hardin
5. Johnny Mack Brown by Susan Tooke
6. Chief Eufaula – Creek Indian Removal by Bruce Rickett
7. The Dothan Riot by Cheryl Hardin
8. Tribute to Sherman Rose by Wes Hardin
9. Dothan Opera House by Wes Hardin
10. Salute to Fort Rucker by Wes Hardin
11. Women of the Wiregrass by Cheryl Hardin
12. The Steamboat Era by Wes Hardin
13. Cherry Street A.M.E. Church by Wes Hardin
14. Early Commerce of the Wiregrass (4 part mural) Wes Hardin
15. DeSoto’s Journey Through the Wiregrass Region by Art Rosenbaum
16. Camp Recovery by Wes Hardin





To learn more about the murals see these resources on the web:

Murals Audio Tour: Convention and Visitor's Bureau

Murals Video Tour: The Downtown Group

Chemainus, BC Murals







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