After several years on the drawing board, the Brundidge Business Association has commissioned artist Amanda Trawick to design and paint a mural that will tell a part of the story of downtown Brundidge.

The City of Brundidge has given the BBA the go-ahead to use the rear wall of the Brundidge Fire Station as a canvas for the 20×120-foot mural.

Dixie Shehane, BBA president, said the idea for the mural originated with BBA member Delatha Mobley. The BBA members pooled their ideas for the mural and the consensus was to include businesses that were viable along the railroad on the town’s north side during the early to mid-1900s.

“The depot was in that area, a sawmill and cotton warehouses and the town’s horse-drawn hearse was kept there,” Shehane said. “The idea was for the mural to depict what that area of town was like when cotton was king.”

Members of the BBA’s mural committee met with Trawick Thursday at the Tupper Lightfoot Memorial Library. She presented three paintings for the committee’s consideration – one of a horse-drawn hearse, one of a cotton warehouse and the other of a fire truck, because the mural will be painted on the fire station wall, Shehane said.

Trawick presented a pencil drawing of a train scene, which the committee had expressed as a “must” for the mural. The committee also wanted to consider the inclusion of a hotel that was a town landmark for years.

Sarah Bowden, committee member, said she has yet to find anyone who has a photograph of the hotel, which was first named the Ballard House and then the Sarah Charles Hotel.

“One other person might have a photograph but, if not, I think can describe the hotel in such a way that you will be able to see it and paint it,” she told Trawick, who said she could have the paintings of the train scene and the hotel in about two weeks.

The committee gave its nod to the three paintings presented at the Thursday meeting. The other two paintings will be considered at a second committee meeting.

All five mural scenes will be offered for consideration to BBA members and the city council for final approval.

Shehane said she is excited that the BBA is moving ahead with the mural project and is confident that it will greatly enhance the downtown area.

She expressed hope that other organizations will follow the BBA’s lead and continue the mural project on available walls in the downtown area.

She acknowledged Sarah Dickert Bowden and the C.L. Dickert Farm and Timber Corporation for their plans to paint a mural of a sawmill and old country home on the wall of the building that is now the Thrift Store. The Dickert family owned and operated C.L. Dickert Lumber Company in Brundidge during the early to mid-1900s.