Something had been missing from the dining room at American Legion Post 314 in Lehighton these past few months.

A colorful mural of Lehighton once hung behind the bar, but the wall has been blank since November.That’s when the Legion sold its prized mural, painted by Lehighton’s own Franz Kline, in the fall. The Allentown Art Museum purchased the painting to hang permanently in its collection.On Monday, museum staff oversaw the return of Kline’s work to the Legion with the installation of a replica mural.Legion trustees said that they didn’t realize they missed the original until it was gone.“I think it’s fabulous. The other one had been up there since about 1945. Then to come in and see nothing but a blank wall?” trustee Carlos Teets said, laughing.The old mural hung above the bar in the Legion’s dining room for 70 years, and had been through a lot over that time. The new replica is brighter, crisper and clearly shows the details of the town’s landmarks.“It’s better than the original. The original was peeling off the wall, it had holes,” Teets said.The Allentown Art Museum hired a contractor to create the new version from a high-resolution photo.Barry Alexander of AlphaGraphics Lehigh Valley installs vinyl graphics on cars, trucks and virtually anything else. But he said he was excited for the opportunity to replicate fine art.“For the most part, I don’t ever know what I’m stepping into. They hand me a job, give me an address, and I go out. I definitely didn’t know it was gonna be as famous as they said,” he said.Alexander worked with four separate panels with an adhesive backing. After lining up each panel, he would slowly pull off a backing, smoothing out any trapped air bubbles as the panel stuck to the wall.Museum officials captured the restored painting using a special camera made specifically for creating prints of art.The photo was taken after the original mural was unveiled at the Allentown Art Museum earlier this month.“We wanted to make sure we had the cleaned version. We took this last week. The first order of business was getting this up here,” Chris Potash, a spokesman for the art museum said.The same photo used to make the painting will also appear on a series of souvenirs that will be given to people who backed an online fundraiser for the painting, held by the museum. The fundraiser produced more than $16,000 to help fund the restoration.The Legion plans to invest in better lighting that will hopefully make the replica last as long as the original did.Members of the public can come see the replica and eat dinner at the Legion, which is open to the public for dinner Wednesday-Saturday. Or they can visit the original in Allentown, where it hangs in the museum’s permanent collection.“Have you seen the one in Allentown?” Teets asked. “The way they have it displayed, wow.“I’m glad we made the decision to go there. We didn’t want to send it to California or somewhere you’d never see it again,” Teets said.