|
Conroe Post
Office Mural
By Larry Foerster and
Steven Muir
Photo Courtesy of Shirley and Robert Meadows
ca 1936.
On Aug 17, 2020, 10:43 AM Larry
Foerster wrote:
"To some of you “Oldtimers” in Conroe, do you happen to know what happened
to the mural that was painted inside the old Conroe post office built in the
mid-1930’s?
The building was located on today’s Conroe city hall but was later torn
down. The Conroe post office was one of many built during that time that
had a large mural painted in its lobby. Some of these murals around the
country were saved. I assume that the mural depicting a scene in Texas
would have been destroyed with the building but perhaps it was saved."
Photo Courtesy of Montgomery
County Historical Commission
Photo Courtesy of Montgomery
County Historical Commission ca 1935
It appears that the mural was lost when the
old post office was torn down to make room for a 6-story First National Bank
Building in the 1970's which is today Conroe City Hall.
Steve Muir, one of our County Historical Commission members, has provided the
following information about the Conroe Post Office Mural. It appears from the
following Smithsonian Institute links that Nicholas Lyon was the painter and had
been trained at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. He was commissioned by the Fine
Arts Section of the U S Treasury Department to do the small mural at the Post
Office.
The research that we have done gave us the following information:
"Early Texans"
from study of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
The artist for the mural was Nicholas
Lamont, AKA Lonnie Nicholas Lamont Jr. or Lonnie Nocholas Lamont. He was
trained at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. He was commissioned to paint
the mural at the Conroe Post Office in 1937-38 by the Section of Fine Arts
(now a part of the US Treasury). The work was entitled "Early Texans" and
is now lost or destroyed. The study for the mural is in the collection of
the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Below are links to information on the
work and another painting by Lyon:
|
