New historic artwork is on its way to Leawood’s Ranch Mart North shopping center at 95th Street and Mission Road.
The Leawood City Council on Monday approved two new murals highlighting the northern Leawood shopping center’s original look.
The murals show Ranch Mart North in the early 1960s
The first mural will show Ranch Mart North in a snowy winter setting in black, white and grey.
This 15-foot mural will be based off a photo taken of the center between 1961 and 1962.
The second mural will depict the original storefronts at Ranch Mart North from a few photos taken when the center first opened in 1960.
This 15 1/2-foot mural will have “muted” shades of black, white, brown and grey.
The murals will be near the main center building
- The snowy mural will go up on the east side of the main center building, in the passageway between the building and Meat Mitch.
- The second mural will be painted along “The Lawn” area of the shopping center, between the main center building and the two-story building next to it.
- Local artist Whitney Kerr will create both murals.
The city council unanimously approved the plan
- Bob Regnier, owner of Ranch Mart North, said the paintings will probably be finished by the early spring — pending winter weather.
- He said the murals serve as a nod to his family’s original design for the center, before it received a revamp in 2021.
- “It was one of the first shopping centers in the city,” he said. “We really liked the way it was redesigned and reformed, but it was a certain amount of a nostalgia — we missed the original design that my dad put together in the late ’50s.”
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