ADDRESS: 805 16th Avenue, East Moline, Illinois 61244
ARTIST: Edgar Britton
TITLE: Early Settlers
MEDIUM: Fresco (mural)
STATUS: The East Moline post office is still an active, operating facility and the mural can be viewed by interested members of the public. It resides in the lobby on the wall next to the staircase.
YEAR: 1936
I like the look of this building. The arch above the windows stick out for me. I was lucky to have nice weather for this trip. The funny thing is I had to make the guy parked out front move his car. Sorry but I really wanted unobstructed pictures.
Ok, well I didn’t actually make him move. He observed I was trying to get pictures and asked if I wanted him to move. I agreed, and said, yes please. And that is how is goes some times. I like when people are kind enough to notice and help out when they can.
This is a great mural. It is taller than most murals I’ve viewed. Often times you see murals above the postmasters office door, often in landscape format. But for this one you see it hanging vertical on the wall in portrait format. Pretty interesting change of scenery.
What are your thoughts of the mural? Of the building? What do you like about it? Please comment and share below.
Update February 27, 2016
So it was pointed out the cornerstone on this one is quite unique. I have to be honest I had no idea how unique it was until a reader of mine pointed it out to me.
Here is the thing, I have had a hard time photographing the granite corer stones. They are really hard to read. The East Moline, IL post office corner stone is a perfect example. In my original article I only posted one close up image of the date, which is really all I was interested in at first. The rest of the images didn’t turn out very well.
However, since there has been more interest in this one I’ve decided to update the photo gallery below with additional images. I hope you enjoy these.
Thanks,
David W. Gates Jr.
Sources
- Personal visit on 8/16/2015 by David W. Gates Jr.
- Illinois Post Office Mural Guidebook
- United States Postal Service
- Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal
: [Hardcover] Marlene Park, Gerald E. Markowitz
I was using Google Images to look for a photo of Lincoln School and found your images of the East Moline Post Office. I remember walking with my Kindergarten class from John Deere School “all the way” to the post office for a tour, and falling in love with the mural. I visited often when I worked at the East Moline Public Library during high school.
Thank you so much for the trip down memory lane!
Susan
Hi Susan,
Thanks for the comment. Do you remember if the library has a “local” East Moline section? I never made it there and wanted to find out more about the mural and building. I usually stop in the library of the towns I cost to see if they have more information on them.
Have a great day,
David
I worked entirely in the Children’s Room, and admittedly rarely used the adult section. I do remember a locked room for special books. In my experience that’s often where the local history is, but I can’t say that definitively. They do have an email address that might be useful: eastmolinepl@eastmolinelibrary.org