Hello friends and Hivians. I hope you all are doing well. Well another day and I have decided to share some more art I ran into driving around doing errands and such.
It was a couple of days ago I ran across this mural. I was on my way home from the grocery store. It was a quick turn into a bank parking lot which was empty due to it being closed. I got out of my car and took a picture of this cool looking mural shortly after 7:00 p.m.
It would have been an even greater shot if it was a bit later when the sun set. That would have matched the sunset in the mural. Which I believe would have a made for a great capture.
The name of this mural is, "Riverboat on the Missouri" and the artist is Luis Valle. It is located at 127 Pearl St, Council Bluffs, IA 51503. This is located in downtown in Council Bluffs across from a park and a nearby public library. It's all made possible due to the funding of Availa Bank and Western Iowa Mutual Insurance company. The mural is painted on the north side of the insurance company's wall. This mural was finished in 2020.
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Luis is a Nicaraguan artist born in Managua, Nicaragua. When he was young his family exiled to the United States due to war and political instability in his homeland. Quite the story as he took interest in artworks and now has numerous artworks primarily in the Miami, Florida area. He also has works in a handful of other countries as well.
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The center piece of the artwork of course is the riverboat. Back in the 1800s the river had a lot of riverboat traffic. Not that long ago there use too be two river boat casinos that docked off the shores of river. Every once in awhile they were required to take voyage on the river. It's no longer a requirement now and only one remains as one of them was scrapped in 2013.
The bridge that you see off to the right in the mural is the East Omaha Bridge or IC bridge. It was constructed in 1893 for railroad traffic and is called a swing bridge. It was closed in 1980 but is still in the river.
The part of the bridge on the Iowa side is now swung completely open so traffic can pass by. It's really a cool rustic looking bridge to see. For the longest time I thought why is there an old partial bridge in the river not realizing the other part of the bridge is near the shore. I never heard of a swing bridge until I moved here. What I don't know is if it's still functional. There are no longer railroad tracks leading to it though.
Well I have come to the end but I will pick up again when I find some more murals in my area. Perhaps I will take some pictures of the remaining river boat casino (looks a lot like the one in mural) and the old swing type bridge. I'll figure out how to tie them into articles in the future. Maybe I'll press my luck at the boat 😂 or do an all out bridge post.
Take care, stay safe and enjoy the rest of your week. Until next time!