A total of twenty-nine artist created murals in thirty Tennessee Post Office buildings during the Great Depression of the 1930s. One of the artist Minna Citron received multiple commissions. The artist and their awarded sites as listed below.

We have found having a list such as this is convenient when performing research at the National Archives Records and Administration. Any researcher will reveal, that finding information is part of the fun, somethings what you are looking for is catalogued by the artist name. Other times the research materials you need may be cataloged by the city or town, and so on.

Having a list to refer to is helpful on your journey of discovering these wonderful treasures in our nations post offices.

Tennessee Post Office Mural Artist

Bolivar – Carl Nyquist
Camden – John H. Fyfe
Chattanooga – Leopold Scholz, sculpture
Chattanooga – Hilton Leech, mural
Clarksville – F. Luis Mora
Clinton – Horace Talmage Day
Columbia – Henry Billings, mural
Columbia – Sidney Waugh, sculpture
Crossville – Marion Greenwood
Dayton – Bertram Hartman
Decherd – Enea Biafora
Dickson – Edwin Boyd Johnson
Dresden – Minetta Good
Gleason – Anne Poor
Greeneville – William Zorach
Jefferson City – Charles Child
Johnson City – Wendell Jones
La Follette – Dahlov Ipcar
Lenoir City – David Stone Martin
Lewisburg – John H.R. Pickett
Lexington – Grace Greenwood (Ames)
Livingston – Margaret Covey Chisholm
Manchester – Minna Citron*
McKenzie – Karl Oberteuffer
Mount Pleasant – Eugene Higgins
Nashville – Belle Kinney
Newport – Minna Citron*
Ripley – Marguerite Zorach
Rockwood – Christian Henrich
Sweetwater – Thelma Martin

Sources

David W. Gates Jr. on site visits to each location.
Tennessee Post Office Murals by David W. Gates Jr.
Indiana Post Office Mural Guidebook by David W. Gates Jr.
National Archives Records and Administration, College Park Maryland
Who was who in American Art, 1564-1975: 400 years of artist in America, Peter H Falk; Audrey M Lewis, Georgia Kuchen, Veronika Roessler, Madison, CT, Mount View Press. 1999.
Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal: [Hardcover] Marlene Park, Gerald E. Markowitz

ADDRESS: 901 Broadway, Nashville, Tennessee, 37202
ARTIST: Belle Kinney
TITLE: Portrait Bust of Admiral Albert Gleaves
MEDIUM: Bronze (portrait bust)
STATUS: The bronze bust no longer resides here. It can be found in the courthouse and can be viewed by interested members of the public.
YEAR: 1940

UPDATE!! January 2015

Prior to arriving in Nashville I had learned the was a portrait bust that was once located here. At the time my sources mentioned it was in the courthouse and other’s mentioned it may be in the side entrance of this building where their post office window is. So naturally I had to find out. However, the post office was closed on the Sunday when I arrived. Since my other sources mentioned the court-house we drove over there, but once again because it was a Sunday the court-house was closed.

Fast forward to December and I was able to visit again. This time it was a weekday and the court-house was opened. I decided NOT to head to the post office at the Frist Center but to just head over to the court-house. So I parked my car and feed the parking meter and headed up the ton of stairs that lead up not only to the court-house but also since I was below the court-yard there was another ton of stairs just to get to the court-yard and parking lot around the building.

Exhausted already I went inside and was greeted by a nice security guard that told me I needed a photo id in order to enter the building. I have it right here I said as I was reaching for my pocket. Wait, crap I don’t have my wallet with me. “The security guard” I’m sorry you need a photo id in order to enter the building.

So I left and ran down all the stairs, went to my card grabbed my wallet and stormed up the stairs again. This time much more slowly, damn I’m really out of shape. By the time I got to the entrance with the security guard I was soaking wet from the perspiration and running up the stairs.

I found the Portrait bust on the second floor stair landing in the court-house. Since I needed a break, I casually took my photos and took a look around the building. I was completely amazed at all the art work and history in this building. It really is pretty cool to visit the court-rooms and chambers.

The Portrait bust of Albert Gleaves is now located in the Nashville Court-house.

***Original Post below***

I had not planned on stopping here in September of 2014, but since we were driving right through Nashville, we decided to stop, and I’m glad we did. Since I’ve started visiting post offices, I’ve become really good at spotting the buildings I’m looking for. So you can imagine my excitement when I first saw this massive building on Broadway. It truly is an impressive building and I’m equally impressed the Center for Visual Arts has re-purposed this building so beautifully.

The building was converted to the Frist Center For The Visual Arts a number of years ago. The post office does occupy a small retail counter on the side of the building. The address still appears on the USPS website. So that makes this article a bit more challenging to write. If you notice, I have two categories of classifying buildings. One is for “Former Post Offices” and another category for “Current” Post Office. I’m including both categories for the Nashville post office.

I love this building and took a lot of photographs of the exterior and interior. Since it was free to go inside the lobby and gift store I roamed around admiring the impressive lobby, the old metal doors, the decorative metal squares of various subject. There is so much to see and so much detail I was really delighted we took the time to take it all in.

What impressed me even more is that the gift store sells a book (affiliate link): From Post Office to Art Center: A Nashville Landmark in Transition

It talks about the Art Centers purchase of the historic building and converting it to the art center it is today. A recommended read if you are at all interested in this beautiful old building.

Thanks,

David W. Gates Jr.

Former Nashville Tennessee Post Office 37202

Sources

Personal visit on 9/14/2014 and 12/23/2014 by David W. Gates Jr.
Tennessee Post Office Murals by David W. Gates Jr.
Tennessee Post Office Mural Guidebook by David W. Gates Jr.
United States Postal Service
(affiliate link) Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal: [Hardcover] Marlene Park, Gerald E. Markowitz
Frist Center Online (https://fristartmuseum.org)
(affiliate link): From Post Office to Art Center: A Nashville Landmark in Transition
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Reference Number (84000580).
National Archives Records and Administration Identifier Number (135816616).

Belle Kinney