Pennsylvania Post Office Murals Flashback - Doylestown and Bangor

This post is from my trip to Pennsylvania with Cory in September 2017

I did find time to see two New Deal Post Office murals while we were in Pennsylvania.  The mural “William Markham Purchases Bucks County Territory” was painted for the former post office building in Doylestown, Pennsylvani by Charles Child in 1937. The mural now resides in the lobby of Doylestown’s newer, mid-1980s post office which does not do it justice at all.  It was very difficult to see the way it was displayed and of course newer post offices have no personality and the painting wasn't painted for the spot it was hung like they did originally.

While driving from Doylestown to Bangor I saw this mural along the highway depicting life along the Delaware & Raritan Canal.  It was located in the town of Easton, which apparently has quite a few murals so if I ever get back there way I will have to search them out!

Built in the 1830s, the canal was used for barges to haul coal from Pennsylvania to New York City. Eventually railroads made the barges obsolete and the canals were abandoned. We actually followed the canal for quite a distance on our route.  On the New Jersey side of the river there is a state park named for the canal which I didn't know about or of course I would I stopped!

Once in Bangor, I was relieved to see the Post Office mural up on the wall where it belonged.  It is titled "Slate Belt People" and was completed in 1941 by Barbara Crawford, which may be the first post office mural I have come across painted by a woman or else I just misremember.  It is the only mural in the country completed for the The Section of Fine Arts program that was painted on slate slabs.

Across the street was another mural.

I found a link to the story, it sounds like their small town is doing great things with art for the youth of their community.

Linking up to Monday Mural.