Painting history
A piece of history has been painted near downtown Fort Dodge.
An idyllic scene depicting the historic Bennett Viaduct that used to cross over the Des Moines River south of the Karl King Viaduct and north of the Kenyon Road Bridge, now blankets a wall on the outside of the Fourth Street Depot, 300 S. Fourth St.
The artist responsible for the mural, Kelly Hynes of Fort Dodge, was approached by the restaurant and bar’s owner, Rick Thompson, to paint something railroad-related on the wall.
At first, Hynes was thinking about painting an image of the “Mile High Bridge,” a railroad bridge which also crosses the Des Moines River, just south of the Kenyon Road Bridge.
“But then we just kind of thought of the history of this neighborhood,” Hynes said.
So they chose the historic Bennett Viaduct.
The Bennett Viaduct, also once called the Third Street Bridge, was built in 1901 and was dismantled in 1981, after 80 years of service.
It took Hynes about 28 hours over six days to airbrush the colorful scene. He finished shortly after Memorial Day.
The inspiration for the design of the mural came from a vintage postcard of the Bennett Viaduct Hynes had found online. The scene shows the bridge crossing over the old railroad yards that sat next to the river, and the old Fort Dodge Depot building with a train car waiting to carry passengers away.
“I remember going on that bridge, when my dad drove me on there,” Hynes said.
An artist, Hynes has been creating since he was four years old, working with an array of different methods and tools.
“I do everything,” he said. “Chalk, pencil, markers, pastels, paintings.”
Hynes has done murals in the past, but nothing of this large of scale, he said. The wall is approximately seven feet high by 12 feet long.
He said the most challenging part of creating this mural was having to go up and down the ladder. He said in the future, he’ll probably look at using scaffolding when taking on a project like this.
Thompson said his patrons have really enjoyed the new mural. He had a visitor last week tell him that back in the 1950s, at the spot where Fourth Street Depot is now, there was a bar called G.I. Bill’s, which served soldiers who were on the trains that made stops at the Fort Dodge Depot.
“This is just part of the history of this neighborhood,” Thompson said.
Hynes hopes visitors to Fourth Street Depot take the time to look at the mural and think about Fort Dodge’s history.
Hynes also recently painted a floor mural of a 3D shark at The Fish Room aquatic pet store, 1224 Central Ave.
Since he’s completed the mural at Fourth Street Depot, Hynes has received a lot of requests for more mural projects. He’s looking at doing a mural at Antlers Bar and Grill in Clare soon, he said.