ADDRESS: 119 W. Cass St., Greenville, Michigan, 48838
ARTIST: Charles W. Thwaites
TITLE: Lumbering
MEDIUM: Oil on canvas (mural)
STATUS: The Greenville post office is still an active, operating facility and the mural can be viewed by interested members of the public. The mural resides in the lobby on the wall above the postmaster’s door.
YEAR: 1940
Today’s featured post office is from Greenville, Michigan. So I’m sitting here creating this articles and my first thoughts are about the Greenville Tennessee post office I visited last year.
I find it interesting that both the Greeneville Tennessee and the Greenville Michigan post offices both have artwork. This made me wonder what other states have a “Greenville” and also have art. It will be interesting to compile all this and sort by the towns and see what town name has the most artwork.
Enough about my thoughts and curiosity, how about that mural? Beautiful piece I tell ya. Although, I associate lumbering more with Wisconsin or Maine than I do with Michigan. This is the same artists that painted the mural in Plymouth, Wisconsin and Chilton, Wisconsin. The more buildings I visit, the more I tend to see the work from the same artists.
What are your thoughts on this building and mural? Please comment and share below.
Thanks,
David W. Gates Jr.
Sources
- Personal visit on 8/06/2015 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
- Parma Conservation (https://parmaconservation.com)
The Greenville, Michigan Post Office was built by The Henry Dattner Construction Company, 1515 Barlum Tower Bldg. Detroit, Michigan in the amount of $52,000.00 The contract was awarded in 1938. Mr. Edward J.Garvy was the Construction Engineer for the Government.It is also interesting to note that the mural artists were paid at one per cent of the actual conatruction cost paid by the Government, in this case Mr. C. W. Thwaites was entilted to approximately $520.00 for the mural titled, “Lumbering” painted in 1940.
(Robert Mis collection)
Hello David: I stand today to make a correction, on my remarks towards the fee paid to the mural artists for the mural paintings, this would include sculptures, wood carving, including plaster murals, and paintings. The approximate amount paid was one per cent of the congressional appropriation to build the post office building, and not the one per cent of the contract cost.In relation to Mr. Thwaites fee, it would be much larger than previous stated.
Hi Robert,
Thanks for the correction. I hadn’t realized this. It appears Charles Thwaites, did a few murals for post offices.
David