Post Office Mural – Prosser WA

Description

Prosser’s historic post office contains a 1937 Section of Fine Arts mural by Ernest Norling entitled “Mail Train in the ’80s”.

“According to the 1991 National Register of Historic Places nomination form for the Prosser Post Office,  ‘The lobby of the Prosser MPO contains a mural entitled “Mail Train in the 80’s. Painted by Ernest Norling in 1937 at a cost of $550, the mural is oil on canvas (approximately 6 feet by 14 feet) and glued to the wall over the postmaster’s door. The mural depicts the activity on the Northern Pacific’s depot platform, while a smoke-belching steam engine and railroad cars rest in the background. Indian teepees and a telegraph pole are revealed beyond the engine. Wooden kegs and crates, a plow, and sacks of grain furnish the set upon which Indians, school children, farmers, and cowboys read their just-arrived mail.'”

(depts.washington.edu)