Most of Downtown Jasper's Murals Share One Painter. The Unity Tree Was Painted Tile by Tile.

On June 11, the Jasper Civic Center was set up for a patriotic program. Mayor Josh Gates was there, along with a flag presentation, the national anthem, a speech by State Senator Matt Woods, performances by Athletic Arts Center and Jasper High School's Phoenix show choir, and the planting of a magnolia tree. The Chamber also introduced Liberty, the newest mule in the Walker County Arts Alliance's 50-Mule public art project. Then people sat down and painted small tiles.

Those tiles are now on a downtown wall. The America 250 Community Unity Tree Mural is permanently installed on the side of the Glover Drugs building at 408 18th St. E. The City of Jasper, Jasper Main Street, the Chamber of Commerce of Walker County and the Walker County Arts Alliance scheduled its unveiling for 1 p.m. on Veterans Day, November 11, right after the parade and the community cookout on Courthouse Square.

The Unity Tree was made a different way than almost every other wall downtown.

One Name Runs Down the Mural Map

Jasper Main Street keeps an online map called Murals on Main. It lists 13 stops. Missy Miles is credited on 10 of them.

She painted the gateway piece "Flourish With Us – Welcome to Jasper" on the back of the Brown Building, along with the Tallulah mural at the Welcome Center, the Elle Luxe wall, "Greetings from Jasper," Sergeant Jasper, the Burton Building tribute and the Coca-Cola wall. She also did the art panels at Wade Stanley Pocket Park. On the other two she shares credit: "Flourish Street Art" is listed as Miles "with community support," and "Frames" is credited to various local artists with Miles as project leader.

Three stops on the map belong to other artists:

• "Will's Wings" by Jeremy Jordan, on the east wall of Twisted Barley Brewery at 520 19th Street West
• "Good Neighbor – State Farm" by Gina Scruggs, Eddie Brown and friends, on the west side of the State Farm office at 19th Street and 6th Avenue
• "Love Jasper – Bless Your Heart" by Mollie Standifer and Levi Sanford, on the south side of a building on 5th Avenue South next to TV16

So for most of a decade, downtown Jasper's look has largely come from one painter's hand. The few earlier pieces with shared credit, "Frames" and "Flourish Street Art," still had Miles leading. The Unity Tree is the first mural on the walk built from individual contributions. Its tiles came from the people at the June 11 event, students of the Walker County Arts Alliance, and visitors who stopped by the Jasper Welcome Center. America250AL grant money paid for part of it.

"Every tile represents someone who took part in creating something for our community."

Mike Putman, executive director of Jasper Main Street, said that in the City of Jasper's announcement. In the same release, Mayor Gates called the mural a reflection of "the strength of a community coming together to create something lasting."

The First Mural Downtown Had to Be Painted Twice

The Sergeant Jasper mural shows how much these walls matter to people. The Murals on Main map calls it the first downtown Main Street mural. It honors the Revolutionary War hero the city is named for. Dr. David Rowland commissioned the original in 2015, and Missy Miles painted it. It was lost in the July 2025 downtown fire.

The Walker Leader reported on September 9 that Miles had recreated the mural at a new location on 3rd Avenue South between 19th and 20th Streets. Rowland's daughter, Sue Ellen Rowland Summers, commissioned the new one. The historic marker from the original site survived the fire and now stands beside the new painting, with a new dedication marker next to it. City of Jasper Street Department staff helped install both.

The mural tells the story of June 28, 1776. During the defense of Charleston, South Carolina, under heavy British naval fire, Sergeant William Jasper went out to retrieve and raise the fallen South Carolina flag at Fort Sullivan. Repainting it in the nation's 250th year, the same year the Unity Tree went up, puts downtown's oldest mural and its newest on the same anniversary.

Where the Map Is Behind

The Murals on Main map was published in August 2026. That was before the recreated Sergeant Jasper was finished, and months before the Unity Tree went up.

The map still sends you to the old Sergeant Jasper site, the west side of Boutique Tallulah & Home at 19th Street and 3rd Avenue. Walk to 3rd Avenue South between 19th and 20th Streets instead. The Unity Tree isn't on the map at all yet. Add Glover Drugs at 408 18th St. E. to your route.

Jasper Main Street's downtown murals page and Visit Jasper's art and history page both link to the same story map. They work well as a starting point, but you'll need to make those two changes yourself.

A Corrected Walk, West to East

Here are 14 mural stops, grouped by the part of downtown they're in. That's the 13 on the map with Sergeant Jasper at its new spot, plus the Unity Tree. Addresses come from the Main Street map unless noted.

1. "Flourish With Us – Welcome to Jasper," back of the Brown Building, Elliot Boulevard at 19th Street West. This is the gateway piece for anyone coming into downtown from that side.
2. "Will's Wings," 520 19th Street West, on the east wall of Twisted Barley Brewery. The map links to a Daily Mountain Eagle story about what inspired it.
3. "Frames," 6th Avenue at 19th Street West. The map calls it an award-winning "outdoor gallery" of scenes from Jasper. The Public Art Archive dates it to 2016.
4. "Good Neighbor – State Farm," 19th Street and 6th Avenue.
5. "Greetings from Jasper," 419 West 19th Street at the Cigar Box Lounge. Its theme is local merchants working together.
6. "Making Your Way Downtown to Elle Luxe," east side of Elle Luxe Spa & Gift Shop, 502 18th Street West.
7. "Miss Tallulah Bankhead Putman," on the 4th Avenue side of the Jasper Welcome Center & Museum, 311 West 18th Street. The map calls Tallulah the "Jasper Mascot." The Welcome Center is also one of the places where visitors painted Unity Tree tiles.
8. "Love Jasper – Bless Your Heart," 5th Avenue South, next to TV16.
9. Los Reyes Tribute to Burton Manufacturing and George Lindsey, back of the Burton Building on 19th Street. It sits on top of the 48-foot building and honors the old Burton Golf Bag Factory. A sideways golf bag commemorating Jasper native George "Goober" Lindsey can be seen from blocks away.
10. Sergeant Jasper, now on 3rd Avenue South between 19th and 20th Streets, with the original historic marker beside it.
11. America 250 Community Unity Tree, Glover Drugs building, 408 18th St. E.
12. "Flourish Street Art," painted on the street itself at 19th Street East and Alabama Avenue.
13. Coca-Cola, 19th Street East at Birmingham Avenue. It shows a classic thick glass bottle personalized for Jasper Main Street.
14. Wade Stanley Pocket Park, 19th Street East at Euclid Avenue. The art panels here can be swapped out and are used to welcome visitors coming in from the east side of town.

The mules are a separate walk. The Arts Alliance's 50-Mule project has its own Mule Trail, which Visit Jasper describes as a self-guided stroll. Jasper Main Street also has a "Murals & Mules" interactive map that puts both on one screen.

Finding Your Tile

If you painted a tile on June 11, took an Arts Alliance class, or stopped by the Welcome Center while tiles were being made, part of the Unity Tree is yours. Putman described it as public art "that residents can take pride in, and visitors can enjoy for years to come." It's the one wall downtown where you can go looking for your own work.

Downtown's walls have changed a lot in the past year, from a mural repainted after the fire to one built from residents' tiles. If you're curious how those changes look from the property side, Jay Barrett has spent 36 years watching Jasper's blocks fill in and is glad to talk it through. Schedule a Free Consultation.