CUTLINE: One of the many murals created by Gary Lofts depicting the daily lives of local coal miners. Courtesy / Miners Hall Museum
By Dustin R. Strong / dstrong@morningsun
FRANKLIN, Kans. — Miners Hall Museum Foundation has been awarded a grant from Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area (FFNHA) to support the restoration of their outdoor murals.
The project, titled “Preserving Coal Camp Stories: Mural Restoration at Miners Hall Museum,” will promote tourism and economic development by enhancing one of the museum’s most visible outdoor exhibits. Located behind the museum, Coal Camp is a key stop for visitors traveling along the historic Jefferson Highway corridor.
The restored murals will serve as an interactive and educational resource for both residents and visitors. Guests of all ages engage with the murals as accessible, visual storytelling tools that bring history to life.
Later this summer, Gary Lofts, a retired art teacher at Northeast USD 246 and creator of the murals, will begin restoring them through the funding this award provides.
Lofts has devoted his artistic talents to preserving and interpreting the coal-mining heritage of Southeast Kansas in ways that are both historically grounded and publicly accessible. He is widely known for the Arma Centennial Mural, created for the City of Arma and dedicated on August 8, 2009, in celebration of the community’s centennial.
In addition to this signature public artwork, Lofts created the original murals in Coal Camp, each related to the mining era that function as interpretive tools—combining art, history, and place—to convey the realities of coal mining to audiences of all ages.
Lofts has participated in the SEK ArtFest Coal Bucket event, where he created the coal bucket titled “People Make SEK Great.” This piece incorporates imagery honoring miners, veterans, immigrants, and community life, using the coal bucket itself as a symbolic and graphic canvas. The work was acquired through community donations and is now permanently displayed at Miners Hall Museum.
The project is made possible by Freedom’s Frontier, a congressionally designated national heritage area that covers a unique physical and cultural landscape across 41 counties and 31,000 square miles throughout eastern Kansas and western Missouri, including federal and state parks like Mine Creek and Fort Scott as well as local museums like Miners Hall.
By providing grant funding, the FFNHA promotes three diverse, interwoven, and nationally significant stories: frontier settlement, the Missouri-Kansas Border War and Civil War, and enduring civil rights disputes. Working with partners to preserve and share the stories of the region’s role in shaping the nation’s history, the FFNHA supports local heritage tourism, historic preservation, and public interpretation.
“Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area is proud to support projects like this that bring our shared history to life,” said Lucinda Adams, FFNHA Executive Director. “By investing in local partners, we’re helping communities preserve their stories, engage new audiences, and strengthen heritage tourism across the region.”
This reporting is made possible, in part, by the Support Local Journalism Project Fund. Learn more at: southeastkansas.org/Localnews
