ADDRESS: 127 East 9th Street, Gibson City, Illinois, 60936
ARTIST: Frances Foy
TITLE: Hiawatha Returning with Minnehaha
MEDIUM: Oil on canvas (mural)
STATUS: The Gibson City post office is still an active, operating facility and the mural can be view by interested members of the public. It resides in the lobby on the wall above the postmaster’s door.
YEAR: 1940
My travels today brought me through Gibson City. I will be honest I did not research this post office and had no idea what it looked like. When I finally spotted it, I was excited because it had the appearance of an older building.
I started taking pictures of the exterior, when a postal worker spotted what I was doing. He paused a few times and walked back into the building.
I continued to take pictures and then headed inside. As I was walking through the front door a man stopped me in the entrance and asked what I was doing. He had a worried look on his face, but because I was caught off guard the only thing I could come up with is that I’m just visiting and taking pictures. He asked what for and I just mentioned I’m a fan of older post offices and I’m interested in the mural.
After I regained my thoughts I introduced myself and I think this set him at ease. Once he understood I wasn’t a threat he proceeded to show me the writeup on the wall regarding the mural and artist. I never asked but he appeared to be the postmaster as he headed back into the office with the postmaster sign on the door.
While we were taking he mentioned several other people have been by to photograph the mural. He even mention one lady had written a book about the mural. I proceeded to inquire about the book and he ran and got it for me to look at. This was really exciting to me and I’m so grateful I met him and learned something new.
The name of the book is “Let’s Look for Transportation in Illinois Post Offices” by: Mary Emma Thompson, Ph.D
I look forward to looking for this book later when I have time to reflect more on this visit. Has anyone else read or seen this book in print somewhere?
Thanks,
David W. Gates Jr.
Sources
- Personal visit on 2/6/2012 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
- Smithsonian National Postal Museum
- Chicago Modern
I have a painting from the post office in Gibson City it was going to be thrown out. It was in one of the restrooms, the signature on it was Lucille i.Z. The painting in my opinion is a willow thicket, it is in an original frame, the image was covered with nicotine. I used a wet cloth an removed some of it. It was saved by a friend who is an employee and he gave the painting to me, of course I jumped on it. I have looked for her name in many places but have come up empty. Thought you might like the story and maybe give me a hint where to look for her.
Hi George,
Thanks for the comment. What a great story. I’m glad you were able to save the painting from the dumpster. At this point I’m not entirely familiar with that mural or Lucille but I will keep an eye out and check my sources.
I’m just getting around to adding the artist names as one of the keywords for each of my articles. So this will force me to revisit each article which as art. As I add the names, If i come across Lucille, I’ll be sure to let you know.
Of course if you hear find out before me, it would be great to see what you come up with. Have a great day and thanks for following along.
David