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 Post Office Mural - Kellogg, ID Posted by:  T0SHEA
N 47° 32.072 W 116° 07.296
11T E 566111 N 5264941
One of only six in the State of Idaho, this post office mural was actually the artist's second attempt at pleasing the local audience.
Waymark Code: WMW8TB
Location: Idaho, United States
Date Posted: 07/25/2017
Views: 0
The first federally constructed post office in Kellogg, the Kellogg Post Office was built in 1937 with Public Works Agency (PWA) funding. The supervising architect on the project was Louis A Simon, the engineer, Neal A Melick. Fairly plain and unadorned, it nonetheless was given a classical entrance, in keeping with a great many other small town post offices built under the auspices of the PWA. The double glass doors are flanked by fluted Doric pilasters and surmounted by a transom half filled with glass, half paneled. Above the transom is a small cornice with modillions running from end to end. The only other real embellishments on the front facade are stone lintels and sills on the four windows flanking the central entrance.
Inside the post office, over the postmaster's office door, is a 5' by 12' mural, also a PWA project and one of only six post office murals in the state. Painted by Fletcher Martin in 1941, it was done at a cost of $740 to the federal government. The mural depicts " the discovery of the Bunker Hill Mine in 1886 by Noah Kellogg, Phil O'Rourke, and the historic jackass". It is entitled Discovery and was done within the purview of the Fine Arts-Federal Works Agency, created in 1939 with a reorganization of the Executive Branch.
Largely self-taught, Martin was a migratory farm worker, a lumberjack and a light heavyweight boxer in the Navy before pursuing his interest in art. He was a mural painter under the Works Progress Administration and specialized in Western subjects.
From The Smithsonian
A legacy of the Depression Era federal building program, the Kellogg Main Post Office is characteristic of small town post offices constructed throughout the United States during the Roosevelt Administration. The mural, one of only six post office murals in Idaho, provides a further association with the federal relief policies of the New Deal. The artwork is a significant example of the American Regionalism fostered by the Section of Fine Arts-Public Works Agency, as well as representing the work of an established artist.
The structure consists of concrete footings, steel framing and brick walls. The exterior is red brick and the details of the facade are composed of terra cotta. The built up tar composition roof is flat. Concrete steps lead up to the main entrance, flanked by wrought iron balusters. The building has a 50 percent basement, with the remainder excavated but unfinished.
From the NRHP Registration Form
Project type: Mural/Painting
Date built or created: 1941
Location: US Post Office
City: Kellogg, ID
Condition: Pristine condition
Website for additional information: [Web Link]
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