ADDRESS: 615 Main Street, Carthage, Illinois 62321
ARTIST: Karl Kelpe
TITLE: Pioneers Tilling the Soil and Building Log Cabin
MEDIUM: Oil on canvas (mural)
STATUS: The Carthage 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
Another post office on my two-day road trip in Illinois. The corner-stone on the front of the building indicates the following. Henry Morgenthau Jr. as secretary of the treasury. James A. Farley as postmaster general, Louis A. Simon as supervising architect and George O. Von Nerta as supervising engineer.
Thanks,
David W. Gates Jr.
“Used with the permission of the United States Postal Service®. All rights reserved.”
Sources
- Personal visit on 1/11/2012 by David W. Gates Jr.
- (affiliate link) Illinois Post Office Mural Guidebook
- United States Postal Service
- (affiliate link) Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal: [Hardcover] Marlene Park, Gerald E. Markowitz
- Parma Conservation (https://parmaconservation.com)
Robert Mis says
Not to many cornerstones around with the name of GEORGE O VON NERTA as the supervising engineer, only in the years 1934 and 1935.
Post Office Freak says
Rob,
So now you have me thinking. I never thought to tag or categorize the cornerstones and names. I wondering if this is something I should start doing. Where I would list the names on the cornerstones or somehow categorize them.
Thanks for the comment.
David