The mural depicting the history and culture of Centralia on the wall of Central Bank of Boone County's branch there. The mural must be destroyed because water damage is forcing replacement of the wall. [Photo courtesy Central Bank of Boone County]

A mural depicting the history and culture of Centralia on an outside wall of Central Bank of Boone County’s branch there will be lost when the wall is replaced, the bank said in a news release.

There has been extensive water damage to the wall and it is crumbling, the release stated. Repairs will damage the mural significantly and it cannot be saved, the release stated.

“This is heart-breaking,” Mike Watson, president of the Centralia bank, said in the release. “We looked at every way possible to save it but it can’t be done. We will find ways to commemorate it but it is a hard loss.”

The mural, which depicts the history and culture of the city, was painted by the late Kelly William Poling of Chillicothe. Poling was primarily known for a series of 15 murals in Chillicothe, which made him uniquely qualified for this project.

The wall is on the same side of the Railroad Street building as the bank’s drive-thru window. The decision is that the mural must go and no portion can be saved, Mary Wilkerson of the bank wrote in an email.

“The wall is so bad that we’re going to have to remove quite a bit of it,” she said. “Plus, the tuck-pointing would have made it a jigsaw puzzle.”

While the work may cause some access issues for customers for short periods of time, the bank is doing everything it can to continue serving customers during the construction, the release stated.

nav-oc Naviga Writer 2020-08-24T14:39:04Z false yes NEWS mocol-082120-news-mural