During the planning stage of the new Clear Lake Twp. Hall, township supervisors drew up a list of interior items they wanted included to reflect the history of the area. Not long ago one of those items was completed, a historical map of the region painted on one of the walls in the meeting room.

“We wanted to show how the Mississippi River looked when Clear Lake Twp. was first established combined with the local history of the area,” said Twp. Supervisor Bud Stimmler. 

The river originally included a sharp curve along its path just south of Clearwater that was known as “Big Bend”. Inside the curve was a small island called “Boyington Island.” 

To start the project, Twp. Engineer Terrance Vander Eyk took an 1899 river map and overlapped it with a Clear Lake Twp. road map at the same scale. The combined maps were then projected onto the wall to be painted.

Stimmler hired local artist Reanna Leuthard to paint the mural. She first sketched the map onto the wall with a pencil, then went back and painted it using acrylic paint.

“Although I’ve done a lot of paintings, I’d never painted a mural before,” said Leuthard. “I’ve also never painted anything so big. I had to use a ladder to get the top of the map completed. I’m happy with the way it turned out, it’s different than my usual style of art.”

The mural was completed over the course of a few days. Along with the cities of Clear Lake and Clearwater, it highlights many of the township’s early roadways; the oxcart trail, stagecoach road/military road, and railroad tracks. 

Significant historical locations within the township are also identified, including Kirk’s ferry crossing, the first trading post in the area Marks and White, which operated from 1846 to 1848, and Big Meadows, which was a trading post that served travelers along the oxcart trail.

After the mural was completed, Stimmler added black and white photographs that include the ferry and original Hwy. 24 steel bridge in 1930 and after it was washed out by high water and ice jams in 1943.

“It shows a lot of history in this area,” said Stimmler. “People come in and enjoy looking at it.”