Oak Park Sites

The stone sculpture at this site, entitled "Alice in Wonderland," was likely made by Emmanuel Viviano with WPA Federal Art Project funding. Based on this post from 2009 0n the MIR Appraisal Services blog, the sculpture may have been relocated: Last Sunday, I attempted an “Emmanuel Viviano/ WPA Field Trip” all about Chicago—I wanted to scout out the Viviano public art in our city and report back to you. Sadly, I couldn’t locate any of his works… from the Carroll Playground in Oak Park (which once featured a statue and fountain of Alice), to the Nancy Hill School in Aurora (once...

This oil on canvas mural "Early Farmers" by Karl Kelpe, and a companion piece ("Pioneers"), were originally in the main entrance of the old Julian School building. They were painted in 1936 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. Size: 16'11" x 8'

This oil on canvas mural, entitled "Child and Sports--Summer" was painted by Ethel Spears in 1937. It is a companion piece to "Child and Sports--Winter" at the Percy Julian Middle School. Both murals were originally installed at the Lowell School. It measures 16'10" by 6'2".

This site originally displayed four oil on canvas murals, entitled "American Characters," painted by Mildred Waltrip in 1938 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. Two of the murals were removed in 1995 and placed in storage after a debate over controversial depictions of African-Americans and American Indians. From the Chicago Tribune story on the controversy: Two 1936 murals at an Oak Park elementary school touched off a 90-minute debate at a school board meeting this week, with some parents and educators demanding the murals be removed, while others argued to keep them as a caution against racial stereotyping. Several...

This oil on canvas mural, entitled "Community Life of Oak Park in the 19th Century," was painted in 1936 by Emmanuel Jacobson and Ralf Henricksen, with assistance from Charles Copeland and Irene Biannucci. The work was funded by the WPA Federal Art Project. The mural, measuring 7' by 75', still resides in the corridor of the Horace Mann School.

This carving, entitled "The Wild Beasts," hangs in the library of Lincoln Elementary School. It was designed by Andrene Kauffman and carved from oak by C. Svec.

In Feb. 1936 the Tribune reported Oak Park would be building a new branch of their public library thanks to a grant from the Public Works Administration (PWA). Library directors proposed the idea for the expansion. They wanted the South Branch of the library, which opened in 1915, to be moved to a new location at the corner of Gunderson Avenue and Harrison Street. A new site was purchased and a budget of $65,000 was proposed, $22,677 of which would be covered by the PWA. Construction got underway and by the fall of 1936 the South Branch of the Oak...

    Frances Badger completed these two oil-on-canvas murals, entitled "Sailor with Spyglass" and "Treasure Island," in 1936 with funds provided by the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project. They were originally painted for the Louis Stevenson Playground but have since been moved to the second floor of the Oak Park Historical Society, where they were restored in 1996. A third mural at that site has been lost. Badger "was one of the foremost female WPA artists in Illinois. In addition to her murals in Oak Park, she also painted four murals for what was then a girls' detention center in Joliet and...

Karl Kelpe painted this oil on canvas mural, entitled "Pioneers," in 1936 with WPA Federal Art Project funding. It measures 16'11" by 8'. From the New Deal Art Registry: "This mural and a companion piece "("Early Farmers") were originally in the main entrance of the old Julian School building." "Early Farmers" is now located in the Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School.

This oil on canvas mural "Child and Sports--Winter" measures 16'10" by 6'2." It was painted by Ethel Spears in 1937 with WPA Federal Art Project funding. The mural was originally at the Lowell School in Oak Park. Its companion piece, 'Child and Sports--Summer,' is now located at the Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School.

The Oak Park post office was designed to accommodate the village’s growing population which rose from 39,858 in 1920 to 80,000 in 1930. Congress appropriated $600,000 prior to new deal legislation in 1931 with an additional $70,000 appropriated in 1935 to complete the project which had been delayed. The post office sits on a prominent parcel of downtown Oak Park which was purchased at a cost of $175,000 from the George R. Hemingway brokerage office. The building was dedicated on August 21, 1936 and remains an active post office today.

"J. Theodore Johnson is best known for the four murals he created for the Oak Park post office in Chicago" (https://americanart.si.edu). The murals were funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts in 1939. Each depicts a historically significant moment in the area's history.