The City of Murfreesboro and Building and Codes Department officials have taken a recent interest in murals painted on the walls of businesses.

A press release sent by city staff in October included comments from Robert Holtz, Director of Murfreesboro Building and Codes: “Murals can be interesting and enjoyable, even help define a community and encourage artistic expression and conversation,” Holtz said, also encouraging artists to stay within the lines of local ordinances when creating their artwork on outside walls of businesses. The city even helped promote a community mural project on the exterior wall of a Vine Street business through official city channels.

Some took this as a sign that Murfreesboro was becoming more welcoming of original paintings on buildings, more “art friendly.” However, one local business owner didn’t find city officials to be very art-friendly after being served with a notice that a mural—one that has been on his building for 25 years—was in violation of city ordinance.

Thor’s, on Medical Center Parkway, which sells model trains and handcrafted furniture, had an artist come out in the mid-1990s to paint a train station scene on its exterior wall, according to business owner Thor Rankin.

In October 2019, the building owner, Dr. Jerry Compton (a dentist who practices in a building nearby, who has leased the Thor’s building to the Rankin family for decades) received a letter from Murfreesboro Building and Codes, stating that the mural was in violation of the sign ordinance. This letter threatened that the city “may cause the sign to be removed AT THE EXPENSE OF THE OWNER(S), AGENTS(S), OR PERSON(S) having a beneficial interest in the building on premises on which the sign is located,” and threatened fines, a citation to city court and payment of court costs.

Thor’s crime: having a mural on the front of his building.

The sign ordinance does indeed contain a section (Murfreesboro, Tennessee – Code of Ordinances, Section 25.2-25(D)(17), in fact) that prohibits “Murals on the front or on more than two elevations of a building” and specifies that a mural should contain “no advertising material.”

But Rankin wonders why the city codes officials would come after his little business 25 years after the mural had been painted.

“All these years, and it’s never been vandalized. And look who vandalizes it—the city! The people who should know better,” Rankin says. “It’s bullying.”

Numerous kids, probably in the thousands, Rankin estimates, have had their picture taken with the mural over the years and have enjoyed seeing the scene of the train station.

“People from all over the world have enjoyed it,” he said. “I don’t give [the city] any trouble. I’m just a little guy selling porch rockers and Lionel trains. This is just out-and-out being mean.”

Being a small business owner, Rankin simply didn’t have the time and the resources to neglect the daily operations of the business to try and keep the mural, painted by Dan Hosse.

“Any time you go to court it costs a bunch of money,” Rankin says.

So he painted over it with a solid color. He didn’t want this matter to be a distraction as he entered the holiday shopping season, he didn’t want to cause any trouble for his landlord or with Building and Codes, and he certainly didn’t want to pay any fines or court costs.

“Mom and Dad are dead and gone, but they would have gone down there and argued with them,” Rankin said. “But you can’t fight city hall.”

Many observers in Murfreesboro found it outrageous that the government would require a law-abiding business owner to paint over his “beautiful train mural,” as T.J. Compton, wife of Dr. Compton and building owner, said.

Leanne Alsup calls it “unbelievable” that local government officials would spend their resources telling business owners to paint over their art.

Other area residents find it “stupid,” “not right.”

“Will there ever be common sense?” T.J. Compton asked. “The mural has been there for 20 years and was a professional painting. I do not know the reason for this mural being offensive. I do know that ‘someone’ in our city made the unilateral decision to destroy it. There is too much power and too little regulation of those who are in power.

“That’s our tax dollars at work . . . makes a statement about the brains of our government officials,” Compton said.

While the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution does offer some protection of personal expression through art, Ken Paulson, Director of the Free Speech Center at MTSU, says that consistent enforcement of sign ordinances and similar codes is legal, and in the case of Thor’s train mural, taking the issue to court on Constitutional grounds “would be an uphill battle for the business owner.”

“Signage can be regulated by the government because [protection of] commercial speech is not as robust as political speech,” Paulson said. “In this instance, the images are pretty tightly integrated into the business’ theme. I suspect most Murfreesboro residents found the display to be charming, but that wouldn’t help the owner in court.”

Murfreesboro government officials say they do not pick and choose which murals are allowed based on their personal taste or the quality of the artwork, they simply follow the instructions set forth in the sign ordinance and other local laws.

“The City supports the creative initiative of Murfreesboro artists, but regulations do apply,” according to City of Murfreesboro Public Information Director Michael Browning. “The City seeks to work with artists to help beautify the city, within the confines of the Murfreesboro Sign Ordinance.”

Holtz reaffirms that “murals cannot be on the fronts of a building, cannot be on more than two walls and cannot contain commercial advertising.”

He notes that the “front” is defined as a “portion of the building that contains a main entrance,” regardless if that side of a building faces a roadway. So some other existing murals may be safe, even if they are visible from the street, as long as they are not on the side of a building that contains a main entrance.

He did add that his department is “in the process of sending a notice of violation for a mural that contains advertising.”

If a painted piece includes words and graphics that depict a service or product that is offered at the business, it would fall under the regulation of the Murfreesboro Sign Ordinance.

“Murals that contain advertising would be considered a sign and, in some cases, be allowed if they meet the requirements of the sign ordinance. A good example is Garage Barre at the corner of Vine and Broad street,” Holtz said. “The bicycle wheel with ‘GB’ in the middle of it is a sign. The owner applied for a sign permit and it was issued once we determined it complied with the sign ordinance and the fees were paid.”

Holtz says that his staff is available to review plans for a mural with local artists, prior to any work being done.

“We are asking that artists planning a mural submit a drawing of the mural to the City Building and Codes Department and the location it will be placed,” Holtz said. “We will review the drawing to determine if it is a sign or not. If we determine it is not a sign, then a permit will not be required.”

The City Code specifically states that “Nothing herein shall prohibit noncommercial speech,” and that it does not regulate “Public Art” or “Murals on a side or rear wall.”

Justin Frazier, a local art fan, says he enjoys seeing more colorful murals going up around Murfreesboro, but commented, when considering that Thor’s longstanding mural was ordered removed while other larger murals down the street go up, “I definitely agree that the politics behind it is hypocritical.”

Hosse, who created the mural along with his wife, Sandy, said “I don’t really understand why [the mural had to go] . . . but I’m not going to make a big deal about it like the guy at Vanderbilt,” referring to an incident earlier in 2019 when a mural created by Michael Cooper on West End in Nashville depicting the Vanderbilt sports coaches was painted over without the artist’s knowledge.

Hosse said he does feel that in some cases governments can be “too restrictive what people can do with their own property,” but he knows that murals don’t last forever.

“I expect it when a business changes hands or renovates,” said Hosse, who has painted numerous murals for area businesses over the years. And his train scene at Thor’s endured far longer than did his mural at the long-gone Murfreesboro establishment Puffin’ Billys.

Find the Murfreesboro sign ordinance and other information on local laws and officials at murfreesborotn.gov; artists or businesses planning a mural, can contact Murfreesboro Building and Codes at 615-893-3750.

Although the storefront is a little more plain, Thor’s remains at 416 Medical Center Pkwy., ready to serve the furniture and model train needs of Murfreesboro.