Dodge City ? Dodge City has taken the first step in purchasing a mural by Kansas artist Stan Herd.

The city agreed on an initial $5,333 payment on Monday for the mural. That payment acts as a deposit until city officials can view the mural itself where it’s stored in Emporia. They want to check its condition before paying the balance on the $16,000 piece.

The mural, consisting of two scenes about 36 feet in length, depicts a history of Kansas in nine panels. The panels show cowboys watching over a herd of cattle and workers building a railroad track.

Herd has agreed to touch up any faded areas of the mural and will also add a locomotive to the railway scene, said John Deardoff, city manager.

Dodge City officials haven’t decided where to place the mural.

“The goal is to keep them in the downtown area, so our tourist traffic can experience and see them,” Deardoff said.

The mural was commissioned by the National Beef meatpacking plant in Dodge City in the early 1980s. It was recently removed to make room for a new mural by Herd.

If the original returns to Dodge City, it would be the third such mural in town. Another on the First National Bank building is modeled from Fredrick Remington’s “The Old Stagecoach of the Plains” painting.

Herd, who grew up in southwest Kansas and now lives in Lawrence, is also known for his “crop art” field murals made using earth and native plants.