Imagine a tall, lanky fellow in his 50s with a brown hat on his head, smoking a cigar, trudging up the hill from the Danville and Western train in Stuart to N. Main Street. Under his arm, he is carrying a large, rolled-up canvas mural.

Such might have been the scene if artist John Edward Constigan came to the Stuart Post Office to hang his mural in 1942.

Research has not revealed how the mural, “Receiving mail on the Farm” was delivered from Costigan’s studio in Orangeburg, New York to Patrick County or how it was hung in Stuart Post Office where it remains today.

However, the above scene was described by a post office employee in Rensslaer, Ind., which has a similar painting by the same artist. It also bears the same name and was hung during the same era by Constigan.

The Stuart mural, which is placed on the back wall of the post office, is often overlooked and taken for granted. But its presence and value become significant when it’s historical and artistic background are considered.

During the Great Depression, when 25 percent of the workers in the United States were without jobs, starving and standing in bread lines, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (elected in 1933) began numerous programs to ignite and rebuild the American economy. He wanted to raise the spirits of the American people as well.

Artists were one of the groups he wanted to encourage. Not only did he want to provide work and income for them, he also wanted the American people to have art accessible to them.

Through one of the New Deal programs created under President Roosevelt, public buildings were being constructed throughout the U.S. Artists were being invited to create art to embellish these buildings.

By order of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Section of Fine Arts was established. As a result of this program, 1,400 murals were created, the artists were compensated financially and art was made available to the public. Twenty-nine of these post office murals were placed throughout Virginia.

Probably, Constigan never came to Patrick County, but in order to compete for his art to be accepted, he had to create an image reflective of the community where the image would be placed.

The mural in Stuart Post Office is similar in content and style to many of his paintings.

A prize-winning artist who has paintings displayed in several well known museums throughout the U.S., he painted mostly figures and landscapes.

The post office mural reflects this, as it shows a family with mother, father, and their children in a field with draft horses pulling a plow. The father is reading the mail which has just been received.

The figures in the painting are probably members of his own family, as he used them frequently for models.

Constigan, who was normally a quiet, subdued person, became orphaned in childhood and was taken in by a cousin in New York City. He got a job in 1903 with the Minor Lithograph Company as a press boy.

In a few years, and with much work and practice, he became a sketch artist and illustrator for the company.

He created theatre posters, magazine covers, story illustrations and book covers. In the meantime, he was going to the Kit Kat Club nightly where other artists and models gathered in improve their skills. He met his wife there and they married in 1919. They bought a small farm in Orangeburg, where they lived and raised their five children.

After buying the farm, Constigan used an outdoor shed as his studio, but later, due to winter weather he moved to their basement. It was said that, even though he worked in a basement, his memory was so sharp he could include color and light in his paintings just as majestic as it appeared outdoors in nature’s sunlight.

Constigan, not opposed to service for his country, served as a private in the 52nd Infantry Division in France during World War I. He took a job as a machine operator in a defense plant in WWII.

For most of his life (he died in 1972), he and his family (two sons and three daughters, maintained their small farm which provided subjects for his art. Early in his career, his paintings were mostly representational. They grew more impressionistic in his later years.

Although his most significant period was the 1930s, he painted until he began losing his vision near the end of his life. His importance as an artist continued to be recognized, and before his death the Smithsonian Institution sponsored a traveling exhibition of his work.

Whether he was a starving artist who worked for a stipend of $24 per week, or an artist who was commissioned to paint and place murals in the post offices for 1 percent of the cost of the building construction, he will be remembered for his colorful portrayals of our American heritage and creating a glimpse into a fascinating time in our nation’s history.

Stuart Post Office was built in 1941 by the H.D. White Company from Chicago, Ill. It was designed in the Office of the Supervising Architect of the Public Buildings Administration for the US Post Office Department.

The contract was awarded in December 1940, and the contractor was given seven months to complete the project. A construction engineer from the office of the supervising engineer from the Public Buildings Administration in Washington, D.C. was dispatched to monitor the onsite construction.

The new post office opened without fanfare in September, 1941. Research indicates the mural was completed in 1942, when it must have been hung.

All federally funded art programs ended in 1943 due to WWII. The 200,000 artworks created under the Federal Art Project were then auctioned to be sold to the public. Most of the post office murals remain in the original buildings.

As a recent article in “The Enterprise” described, these murals, which were created in the WPA era, have experienced a re-birth.

Mural trails and vacations are now being planned around viewing illustrative art presentations.

Recent local news articles report that the Town of Stuart will soon have a newly created mural on the empty wall which exists on the lower end of North Main Street. This mural will be designed and created by local artists and will be funded by a grant.

Perhaps it will bring inspiration and hope to our small rural county, which has experienced economic loss through the years. Perhaps it will encourage us as we struggle to regain stability and a spirit of progress.

(Joanne Hill, originally of Claudville, is a retired visiting teacher and speech pathologist. She enjoys writing about her native Patrick County.)