Description

The Rhinebeck post office contains a series of twelve murals (plus those over the windows) depicting scenes from local history. The murals were painted by Olin Dows in 1940 with Treasury Section of Fine Arts funding.  Dows was a Rhinebeck resident , trained at Vassar College and head of the Treasury Relief Art Program – no doubt brought in by the request of President Roosevelt, who had taken a keen interest in the Rhinebeck post office near his home in Hyde Park.  

The artist provided a thorough explanation of all the panels in a pamphlet published in 1940 by the Civic Club of Rhinebeck.