Post offices with artwork.

Kilgore Texas Former Post Office – Guest

October 5, 2023 By Roger

ADDRESS: 200 S Kilgore St, Kilgore, TX 75662
ARTIST: Xavier Gonzalez
TITLE: Pioneer Saga, Music of the Plains, Contemporary Youth, Drilling for Oil
MEDIUM: Oil on canvas (mural)
STATUS: The former Kilgore post office is no longer an active operating postal facility. However, the murals are still located here and can be viewed. They reside on the walls of the former lobby and above the former postmaster’s door.
YEAR: 1941

The Kilgore Historical Preservation Foundation was instrumental in preserving the old post office and creating the building as the Kilgore History and Arts Center. The four murals have been returned to the former post office which has been restored beautifully. The post office closed in 1998. From 1999 to 2019 the murals were housed in the East Texas Oil Museum. They were returned in 2019 to their former location; the KHPF purchased the former Post Office from the USPS in 1999.

Thanks Roger

Sources

Personal visit Roger.
(affiliate link) Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal: [Hardcover] Marlene Park, Gerald E. Markowitz
KLTV: Historic murals return to their original places at old Kilgore post office.
Save the post office: New Deal murals returning to Old Post Office in Kilgore, Texas.

Longview Texas Post Office – Guest

October 5, 2023 By Roger

ADDRESS: 201 E Methvin St, Longview, TX 75601
ARTIST: Thomas M. Stell Jr.
TITLE: Rural East Texas
MEDIUM: Oil on canvas (mural)
STATUS: The Longview 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 above the postmaster’s door.
YEAR: 1939

Thanks to Roger for submitting this one.

Sources

Personal visit Roger.
(affiliate link) Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal: [Hardcover] Marlene Park, Gerald E. Markowitz
Charm View: Post Office Murals Offer a Window in Time.

Buchanan Michigan Post Office

July 17, 2023 By David W. Gates Jr.

ADDRESS: 112 W. Front St., Buchanan, Michigan 49107
ARTIST: Gertrude Goodrich
TITLE: Production
MEDIUM: Tempera (mural)
STATUS: The mural formerly resided above the postmaster’s door. However, it appears to have been painted over sometime in the past. There is a photograph reproduction of the mural hanging in the original place.
YEAR: 1941

This was a one off stop to visit this building. The weekend of July 15, 2023, I took my son to boy scout camp. We has some extra time before camp started on Friday night. So we stopped by Buchanan. What a handsome building. At the time I wasn’t sure about the mural. I had read that it was painted over, but was not able to confirm this.

If you look closely, I took a few pictures of what I believe to be the remnants of the mural behind the current photograph hanging on the way today. I’ll need to investigate this one further when I get some extra time. But for now enjoy the photographs I did take for now.

David W. Gates Jr.