Mural, mural, on the wall: Texas small towns showcase daytrip-worthy paintings
On the side of a former gas station, a large wagon hauls cotton to a gin. A train chugs straight ahead, seeming to emerge from the back of a meat market. A giant, old-fashioned sewing machine covers bricks on the side of a building.
Colorful, clever and charming, these murals — and many others — adorn the walls of businesses and other structures in some small towns around the periphery of Austin and beyond.
“The murals are a very popular travel stop,” drawing tourists and even passersby, according to Kelita Thomas of the Giddings Chamber of Commerce. “Even our locals will bring visiting family members.” A list of nine murals can be found at giddingstx.com.
In Smithville, as well, “We’re very proud of our public art here,” said April Daniels, executive director of the Smithville Area Chamber of Commerce, who has given many tours of about a dozen murals — including some indoors — that usually show some aspect of the city’s history or culture.
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In an age of uncertainty, with many people putting travel plans on hold and keeping themselves spaced apart, a short jaunt to Giddings (in Lee County) or Smithville (in Bastrop County) — each roughly an hour from Austin — can give folks a chance to get out and about, avoiding enclosed spaces or crowds while appreciating the artistry. Other Texas cities — from Lampasas to New Braunfels to Harlingen and beyond — tout their mural artwork, too.
Nowadays, a day trip gazing at all this creativity can be a pleasant distraction. And while wandering around, folks can perhaps patronize some local eateries and businesses that have reopened amid the pandemic crisis.
In Giddings, murals grace the landscape of this railroad city, where train whistles blow loudly. (However, U.S. 290 runs straight through town. In some instances, this can make a walking tour of the murals a bit more difficult, so driving for a look-see at a few locations might be a better option.)
Near the post office, a mural “Businesses of Giddings” depicts the fronts of Lee County Ace Hardware, Flowers by La Verne and First National Bank. The mural was painted by a local artist, Johnny Jones, according to Thomas. In the mural, Jones, now deceased, “hid” about a dozen small items, Thomas said, such as a mouse, fishing hook, chameleon, penny, clothespin, dime, safety pin, thimble and others. Wall watchers can take a long, closeup look at the details of the mural while searching for these little surprises. A key to finding 11 items is posted at giddingstx.com. (Three more items were hidden, but later the artist could remember where only 11 were, Thomas said.)
Fitting in a train town like Giddings, the mural “All Aboard for Hometown Hospitality” shows a Union Pacific train looming large. A separate “Hometown Hospitality!” mural recreates days gone by, saying, “Some Things Never Change.” With a bit of the paint peeling, the scene shows a Rexall store as well as people on horses and old-style automobiles. The mural resembles a postcard, with a 1910 postmark date on it.
A mural near the “City of Giddings” water tower shows a much-larger-than-life buffalo, which celebrates the Giddings schools’ mascot as “Home of the Buffaloes.”
While looking for other murals, walkers can wander a short distance away from busy U.S. 290 to look at the stately, red-brick Lee County Courthouse, with a clock tower and flags flying. Built in 1899, it sits on a grand and shady courthouse square.
Both Giddings and Smithville have murals of Texas scenes inside their U.S. Post Offices, which came about through art programs put in place under President Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of the Depression-era New Deal.
Also in Smithville, many murals are within blocks of each other in the central business district. With a list of the murals (available at smithvilleculturaldistrict.com/murals) and a local map, enthusiasts can go on an unlikely scavenger hunt, strolling along the streets and scouting out these lovely and large artworks.
Among Smithville’s murals, a wall of a building that was formerly the fire department shows a firetruck with a ladder on the back, based off of an old Smithville photograph, Daniels said. A small, red-collared Dalmatian peeks out from behind a door, just above the signature of the artist: “Jo Watts 2012.”
A mural that says “Cotton to the Gin” — adorning a former filling station — represents the era “back when we had a cotton gin in Smithville,” Daniels said.
And the sewing machine? That mural came as a surprise to locals. “We all just kind of randomly found out about it,” Daniels said.
Smithville has been the location of some movies. A “great, big beautiful” mural, Daniels said, is called “Our Town” along an elementary school gym. It was created for the 1998 movie “Hope Floats,” starring Sandra Bullock. Community members helped with it, Daniels said, and “now they’ve grown up, and they remember doing it,” Daniels said.
Some of the murals can be spotted in unexpected places. On the wall of the drive-thru at the First National Bank are images of buildings such as City Hall.
On a sunny day, visitors can turn a search for these murals and others — including some indoor works — into a self-guided walking tour, enjoying Smithville’s low-key sweetness and quaint storefronts. Tall trees arch over to shade some roads, and occasionally chickens cross the road. Also, visitors will notice that the Smithville Garden Club has been busy beautifying spots to sit and enjoy around town.
As long as mural-seekers are on the lookout, they can also eye several statues of roughly thigh-high tigers — the mascot of Smithville High School.
For day trippers, the drives — once past any construction or traffic in Austin – are scenic and peaceful, setting the mood for a relaxing time in these smaller places. Perhaps when travelers begin to step out more, they will return to explore other sights in these cities — in addition to their memorable walls.
Post office murals
Folks who are heading out to buy stamps or mail packages at Texas post offices might check out some historic murals dating back to the 1930s and 1940s, as part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.
Often in muted colors, the murals generally portray scenes of bygone days and glimpses of Texas history, industries, folk heroes and others.
These murals, initially intended to lift spirits from the Great Depression, are located in various post offices nationwide, as “President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal sponsored several art programs to help get people back to work and restore confidence in a nation facing 25 percent unemployment in 1933,” according to publications by the U.S. Postal Service. “From 1934 to 1943, the New Deal murals and sculptures seen in post offices were produced under the Treasury Department’s Section of Painting and Sculpture, later called the Section of Fine Arts.”
During those years, “about 97 murals were installed in 66 post offices and federal buildings throughout Texas. As of the 1990s, eight of those murals had been destroyed or lost,” according to the Handbook of Texas Online.
In Smithville, “The Law — Texas Rangers,” by Minette Teichmueller, around 1939, is one of the few post office murals painted by a woman, said April Daniels, executive director of the Smithville Area Chamber of Commerce. The artist chose to paint this as “praise for the elite band of law enforcers,” says a sign at the post office.
In Giddings, a post office mural, titled “Cowboys Receiving the Mail,” overlooks the lobby area. Painted by Otis Dozier, circa 1939, it shows three men with cowboy hats; one is holding a letter and another is by an open box with fancy cowboy boots.
Many of these murals were displayed around the postmaster’s door, according to a National Postal Museum newsletter. Some post office murals are gone now, and others need repair, it said. However, as of 2019, more than 1,000 post offices in the nation still had its New Deal artwork, according to the U.S. Postal Service.
Such Texas post office artwork can be found in La Grange, Rockdale, Elgin, Lockhart and elsewhere. A list of other Texas locations is available at wpamurals.com.