ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – Over 90 years ago, artists put their stamp on Florida history after they were hired to paint murals across the U.S. during President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s plan to get Americans back to work.
“I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a New Deal for the American People,” Roosevelt said during his first term, while the country was still reeling from the Great Depression.
As part of his New Deal, the government searched for ways to provide work for all Americans, including artists.
The twist – these new art projects were planned for the nation’s post offices and federal buildings.
According to the U.S. General Services Administration, the U.S. administered four separate art projects that operated from 1933 to 1943 during the New Deal era. The projects produced thousands of paintings, sculpture, and works on paper – but for the purpose of this article, we are highlighting the Florida murals.
One of those, the Section of Painting and Sculpture – often called “The Section” – awarded commissions to artists through competitions or invites. The project sponsored more than 1,400 murals and nearly 300 sculptures across the country by more than 850 artists. The art was spread out across 1,300 cities in post offices and other federal buildings.
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“When they first came up with the idea to do this, one of Roosevelt’s friends who had gone to college with it was also a mural painter, encouraged him to create this kind of national expression of art in post offices,” said Dr. Keri Watson, associate professor of art history at the University of Central Florida. “They were building them anyway, many of them are in small towns, and they didn’t have a museum. And so this was an opportunity for people to see original works of art, oil paintings hanging in a place that they would be going to anyway.”
In Florida, 16 new post offices were built from 1937 to 1943. Each one was decorated with murals or relief sculptures paid for by “The Section.”
As for Central Florida, two post offices were built during this period and decorated with murals – one in Lake Wales in 1940 and another in Sebring in 1941.
The Lake Wales post office was constructed in 1940 and is still in use today. You can see the mural titled “Harvest Time - Lake Wales” by artist Denman Fink, which was unveiled in 1942. It depicts a working citrus farm with Bok Tower in the distance.
Watson is also the assistant director of School of Visual Arts and Design and author of the book “Florida’s New Deal Parks and Post Office Murals.”
“There was money put aside to decorate them with these murals that there were national contests held and an office committee in Washington, D.C., as well as local postmasters and local people, would decide what kind of mural they wanted in their post office,” Watson said.
According to the National Postal Museum, artists were given guidelines and themes and scenes of local interest were deemed to be the most suitable.
One example is featured on the wall of a West Palm Beach post office. As one of the more iconic murals, the six-panel mural features scenes depicting James Edward Hamilton, Florida’s barefoot mailman. Each panel tells a different story of Hamilton’s trek.
The piece pays homage to the men who worked the barefoot mailman route. In the late 1800s, there were no roads connecting Palm Beach and Miami, or any of the other towns in the area.
“My grandmother was a postmaster in Mississippi, but my husband’s grandmother actually worked at the post office where the West Palm Beach ones are,” Watson said.
According to the University of Florida, the men often walked along the water’s edge barefoot where the sand was more firm. The distance traveled by the mail carriers was about 80-90 miles on foot and another 50-60 miles via small rowboats. The trip took three days in each direction.
While a mural is usually painted directly onto a wall, most of the artwork created for post offices were oil paintings on canvas. They were then affixed to the wall, often above the space over the postmaster’s door, according to Watson.
The full list of post office murals still in existence in Florida are:
- DeFuniak Springs: It was relocated to a newer post office in 1989 located at 100 South 18th St.
- Fort Pierce: Originally installed at the Fort Pierce Post Office, it is now located in city hall located at 100 North U.S. Highway 1
- Jasper: 105 M.L.K. Drive SE
- Lake Wales: 6 West Park Ave.
- Lake Worth: 720 Lucerne Ave.
- Madison: 197 SW Pinckney St. (According to the website the Living New Deal, “This mural, along with about a dozen others under the care of USPS, were covered following one or more complaints about its content in Aug. 2020.”
- Miami Beach: 1300 Washington Ave.
- Miami: 300 Northeast 1st Ave.
- Milton: After postal operations were relocated, the mural was moved to the Santa Rosa Historical Museum located at 6866 Caroline St.
- Perry: 1600 South Jefferson St. Murals were moved to this newer post office in 1987. They were originally located at 201 East Green St.
- Sebring: Originally installed at the Sebring Post Office, it was moved to the Sebring Public Library in 1994
- Tallahassee: Located at 110 East Park Ave., the former post office is now the Florida Northern Bankruptcy Court
- West Palm Beach: 3200 Summit Blvd.
If you want to learn more about these amazing pieces of art, Watson will give a free presentation on Saturday, March 29, from 10-11 a.m. at the Anderson Price Memorial Building in Ormond Beach. To learn more, click here.
And to purchase a copy of “Florida’s New Deal Parks and Post Office Murals,” you can find it in many bookstores or order on Amazon by clicking here.
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