Manteca’s Murals
Manteca’s murals are designed to give visitors, newcomers and longtime residents alike an insight into the community’s culture, history, and economy. There are 25 murals with all 190 of the outdoor murals in downtown. The best place to start an easy walking tour of the Manteca Mural Society murals completed so far is at Library Park in downtown.
1.Baseball
The 138-foot by 7-foot-8 mural donning the wall just north of the Tidewater Bikeway at Library Park features 92 faces of real people who are depicted as fans, players, and the umpire. The mural depicts the final inning of a girls’ game. Lined up alongside the third base fence line are the boys who are waiting to take the field next. On the other opposite fence line are more spectators as well as a passing engine of a Tidewater Southern Railway train.
2. The Yokuts Indians
The mural shows a family of Native Americans whose ancestral lands are in and around Manteca gathered around the evening campfire listening to the story of creation.
3. The Pioneers
The mural depicts the hard struggle to make a living and provide for the family that was faced by farmers that settled the Manteca area before irrigation was developed.
4. Agriculture
The mural portrays the bountiful harvests and once Manteca farming came into its own with irrigation.
5. Industry
The mural depicts images of industry from Manteca.
6. Kids Playing
A mural made by the young people of the Manteca community is on the side of the Library Park restrooms.
7. Manteca Snow
This whimsical mural on Manteca Avenue across from Library Park offers a vantage point out of a window looking into an orchard where children are frolicking in “Manteca snow” — gently falling almond blossoms
8. Bounty of the Valley
The salute to the richness of Central Valley farmland can be found on the alley off the 100 block of Sycamore Avenue.
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9. Cow-munity Mural
The society’s 96 by 12 foot salute to Manteca’s dairy industry is on a wall in the 200 block of West Yosemite Avenue facing the Athens Burgers parking lot.
10. Free-for-All
This is in the 100 block of South Maple Avenue and shows a Manteca barn scene with children playing.
11. San Francisco
The next mural is reached by heading south on Maple Avenue. Stay on the east side of the street when you reach Yosemite Avenue. Look upward to the west and you’ll see the “San Francisco” mural.
12. Rotary Mural
Keep going down Maple Avenue and you will reach the “Rotary Mural” and a mini-plaza.
13. Crossroads
Return the way you came on Maple Avenue and then east on Yosemite Avenue for a block and turn right on Main Street. The mural gracing the Main Street wall of Century Furniture located at Yosemite and Main is Manteca’s largest. “Crossroads” depicts what Manteca’s business district looked like in 1917. That is when the community was incorporated as a city. It offers the same vantage point you would see standing across the street next to the Bank of America parking lot, but 98 years earlier.
14-15. Honoring Those Who Served
Murals honoring those who served in the Global War on Tour and World War II are o the side of the Manteca Bedquarters. Other murals planned will honor veterans from the Korean War, Vietnam War, and World War I.
16. Pitching Pumpkins
The mural pays homage to Manteca’s most famous crops — pumpkins. Seventy percent of California’s jack-o’-lantern pumpkins are grown in the Manteca countryside.
17. The Family City
Located in the 200 block of North Main Street on the side of Crystal Down’s State farm Insurance Agency, the mural is a salute to the different cultures and people that make up Manteca. The City of Manteca’s official motto is “the family City.”
18. Cruising
Arguably the most popular of all murals, people who didn’t even grow up in Manteca and experience the cruise down Yosemite Avenue in the 1950s and 1960s find themselves reminiscing about bygone days. It is in the 100 block of North Main Street on the Accent Carpets building.
19. Sierra’s Crown
The last mural on your tour is part of the Veterans Plaza in front of the Legion Hall in the 200 block of West Yosemite Avenue. Ripon artist Dave Peterson’s original transparent watercolor of Half Dome is blended with images of Yosemite Valley and Merced River.