Wheaton will introduce its new 275-foot "America 250" mural Saturday, Oct. 17, with a walking artist talk at the Downtown Wheaton Pavilion at Main Street and Liberty Drive starting at 11 a.m.

Artists Jeremy Botts and Jeffrey Swider-Peltz, who designed and painted the piece, will guide attendees along the wall, explain the design and take questions. City officials and members of the Fine and Cultural Arts Commission will open with remarks.

Botts, an associate professor of art at Wheaton College, and Swider-Peltz, a Wheaton College alumnus and Chicago-based muralist, painted the mural in June and July on the retaining wall of the pavilion where the French Market takes place. Three Wheaton College alumnae and Botts' daughter, Cora, helped with the painting.

The mural traces Wheaton's history from Indigenous roots and frontier settlement through the railroad era, the Jazz Age and the Bicentennial period to the present. Painted in a style inspired by American Modernism, it spells out "Your Hometown" in typographic styles that shift chronologically from the 1770s forward, according to Wheaton College's news coverage published in August. Combined with Peru 143's existing "Wheaton" mural nearby, the two pieces read "Wheaton Your Hometown."

Details in the mural include Blanchard Hall, which served as a stop on the Underground Railroad, and the logo of Cock Robin, the burger and ice cream shop later replaced by Shane's Deli.

A bison shape uses the raw concrete of the wall itself.

"Working on this has brought up a lot of nostalgia," Swider-Peltz told Wheaton College's news team in August. "The mural has personal elements in it, like the logo of Cock Robin, the burger and ice cream shop I went to when I was younger, which Shane's Deli replaced."

The city's announcement said the Fine and Cultural Arts Commission, chaired by Lewis Achenbach, sought an artist to create a lasting mural as part of Wheaton's America 250 celebration. Botts and Swider-Peltz were selected from a pool of applicants. Botts first taught Swider-Peltz 17 years ago in his earliest class at Wheaton College.

Limited-edition posters will be available for the artists to sign. Coloring pages will be on hand for children.

Attendees can also learn about the city's next public art project: a projected art light show planned for year-round display at the Downtown Plaza.