7th & Broadway, Marysville, KS 66508

At Marysville’s Pony Express Plaza, you will find three unique interactive murals that allow you to view history in motion.
When the LIFETILES are viewed from a stationary position, they appear as a fixed image.  However, as you move from
one side to another, the embedded images become a moving picture.

The Left Mural

On the left, a Pony Express rider gallops across the prairie, his long duster lifting in the wind to reveal the mail pouches. During the short life of the Pony Express— April 1860 to October 1861—Marysville was the site of Home Station No. 1.  The Pony Express Mural is designed to show what the prairie may have looked like as the Pony Express rider left Marysville and headed to the next station.

The Center Mural

The center mural depicts a variety of images significant to Marysville’s rich history, including the Pony Express Barn, historic Broadway, the lions at the gate of the Koester House Museum, the historic courthouse, and our former railroad depot. 

The Right Mural

On the right, a Model 119 steam locomotive from 1861 changes into a modern diesel locomotive, suggesting the technological progress over the 140 years since Marysville became a railroad town.

unique artwork

There is no other artwork of this kind in Kansas. Produced by Boston, MA artist, Rufus Butler Seder, the murals are a rare art form.
Each mural measures 4’ high and 10’ long, consisting of 90 individual ribbed glass tiles with images embedded in each.
The LIFETILES are hand-crafted from start to finish.