A piece of Mexico’s history that was buried in plain sight has been unearthed. 

The original mosaic tiles that once served as the entrance to the historic Orpheum Theater on West Promenade Street between South Jefferson and South Washington streets have been carefully removed and are now in the hands of the Audrain County Historical Society for preservation. 

The project was spearheaded by budding preservationist Chris Newbrough, who said he discovered the tiles while doing research for the History Takes a Walk tours in Mexico. 

“I was mapping out the route for one of our first walks, and I found that,” he said. 

Newbrough serves as the emergency management planner for the Audrain County Health Department and is the founder of the walking tours. He has an affinity for history and knew immediately that he wanted to save the mosaic. Following his discovery, Newbrough went to Jennifer Prior, executive director of the Audrain County Historical Society, who agreed and offered her support. 

The concrete slab containing the mosaic is approximately 27 feet long by 6 feet wide, so its excavation wouldn’t be a simple feat. 

Newbrough explained that back in the early 20th century, some concrete basements were poured as one slab rather than in sections, as they commonly are today. Since the basement was filled in, there was no way to tell whether the mosaic was attached without digging a trench alongside it and checking. 

“We had no idea when digging into it what we were going to find,” he said. 

Newborough said he then enlisted the help of Mexico’s Public Works Director Drew Williford, who was “excited to hop on board.” 

“I just started talking to people and came up with a budget of about $1,200 to make the cuts to lift it,” Newbrough said, adding that he received nine $100 donations from local businesses to support the effort. 

A little digging revealed that the mosaic rested on its own concrete slab, separate from the basement. With plans in place and the labor and funding secured, the city brought in Darren Scobee, the project’s mason, to cut the mosaic into more manageable sections. The team also received help from Lacrosse Lumber, which provided a piggyback forklift to lift each piece out. 

But the mosaic still wouldn’t budge. 

“The more we looked at it, we realized that about six inches in from the back of the mosaic, it went from a 4-inch-thick slab to about a 10-inch-thick slab,” Newbrough said. 

Mexico Street Superintendent Kevin Barker then decided it was time to bring in reinforcements. Using a 24-inch saw, the mosaic was cut even deeper, and the pieces were able to be separated, but Newbrough knew he wasn’t in the clear yet. 

“When we pulled the first piece out, it just crumbled,” he said. 

The second piece fared a little better but still crumbled more than Newbrough had hoped. All he and Prior could do was watch hopefully as the third and final slab bearing the Orpheum name was lifted out. Thankfully, this section came out almost entirely intact. 

“That made it all worth it to me and Jennifer (Prior,”) he said. 

While Prior and Newbrough continued to collect as many pieces of tile as they could, the City of Mexico provided a loader with forks to transfer the bulk of the mosaic onto a trailer. It was too heavy to be safely transferred to a pallet, so to reduce the risk of damaging it further, the city left the forks underneath the mosaic, disconnected them from the loader and transported everything to the Audrain Historical Museum that way, according to City Engineer Greg Sewell.

“This would not have been possible if Tim Williams, owner of Crown Linen, had not allowed us to come in,” Newbrough said, adding that Barker and his team were also great to work with.

Currently, the pieces are safe in the care of the historical society. George Martin, a construction expert, and Ethan Prior, Jennifer’s son and preservationist with the state historical society, are assisting with the mosaic’s reconstruction.

Newbrough said his next step will be figuring out what to do with the tiles. Ideally, he would like to see them on display, perhaps as a step in front of an information booth, but no decisions have been made yet.

“People are asking me, ‘Why are you doing it?’ I have no idea,” Newbrough said. “I just like history, and I don’t like seeing it destroyed. Some people look at it as just a mosaic tile mentioning a theater name, but to me, do you know how many people walked across that thing? How many prominent people probably went to the Orpheum?”