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.

“Used with the permission of the United States Postal Service®. All rights reserved.”

Sources

• Personal visit on 7/14/2023 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
• Buchanan Preservation Society HOME | BuchananPreservation (preservebuchanan.org)
  Newsletter 1: The Gertrude Goodrich Post Office Mural – Google Drive
• Smithsonian American Art Museum Mural Study Production (mural study, Buchanan, Michigan Post Office) | Smithsonian American Art Museum (si.edu)
• University of Michigan Michigan Post Office Murals Project | U-M LSA History of Art (umich.edu)
• Thumbwind WPA Great Depression Art – 8 Of 47 Post Office Murals & Reliefs We Found In Michigan (thumbwind.com)