A gracious thank you to Mr. Aylward, Postmaster of Hoisington, for his kindness and generosity in providing the photographs and history of the post office.

Hoisington Post Office

Located at 121 E. 2nd St

The Hoisington United States Post Office (c. 1936) is located at 121 E. 2nd Street in Hoisington, Barton County, Kansas (pop. 3,678). The one story, gable roofed, red brick building has a northern facade orientation. The building measures approximately fifty—nine feet from east to west and eighty feet from north to south. A transomed, double door with a wooden classical surround pierces the center of the building’s facade. Steps lead up to the doorway. Two pairs of large, multi—paned, double paned windows flank the doorway. Similar windows pierce the lesser elevations of the building. A limestone watertable and a classical entablature grace the building. Fanlights pierce the gable ends. This post office is an example of a smaller class C or D standardized design type that was repeated throughout the country during the 193Os.

Mural

"Wheat Center"

1938

The mural, “Wheat Center”, was installed on the east wall of the Hoisington Post Office lobby above the postmaster’s door and the original bulletin board. This is the traditional location for Section artwork in the smaller class C and D post offices. The mural “Wheat Center” is an oil on canvas mural that depicts a harvest threshing scene. Tomlinson employs a primary palette of greens, golds, and blue greys for the mural. A white farm house and red barn stand in the center of the mural, encircled by the threshing activity. Wheat laden wagons roll across the field in front of the house to the thresher, carving figure eights into the field. Wagons harvest the wheat in the field behind the farmstead.

A road cuts through the center of the canvas, making a triangular junction at the near horizon. Two other farmsteads dot the rolling landscape at the horizon.

The mural was installed on June 7, 1938. It measured 12’ by 5’ before installation and is surrounded with a small moulding and surmounted by a scalloped classical cornice. The mural was glued to the post office’s lobby wall with a lithiphone and varnish mixture. A buttermilk topping was added to the canvas after installation to protect it. In August, 1973 the mural’s condition was recorded as slightly defective. Although that defect was not apparent in 1987 it does not appear that the mural has ever been restored.

Presents a panoramic view of a common mid-western landscape, as if seen from a hot air balloon. Tomlinson presents a harmonious, pastoral view of agrarian America. Her style is clearly influenced by Grant Wood, placing her work solidly within the school of mid-western regionalism. “Wheat Center” encompasses the essence of the wheat harvest as a concept and in this way is representative of the regional social realism that was encouraged under the Section program.

Other Mural in the Hoisington Post Office

by Bob Booth

Triptych Mural showing evolution of "Wheat Center" from 1938 to 1990

Artist

1898-1985

Born in the central Iowa town of Fairfield, Dorothea took private lessons with a local artist, Bertha Linder Pumphrey, and sold her first painting at the age of sixteen. A gifted artist, she won a four-year scholarship to the Cumming School of Art in Des Moines with her work, "Spinning Wheel," painted when she was eighteen. Dorothea attended the 1932 Stone City Art Colony session as a student advisor, reviewing works and mentoring students. She would later diversify her talents through WPA mural commissions, landscape paintings, portraiture, lithography, and industrial design.

In 1939, Tomlinson was awarded the WPA mural commission for the Mount Pleasant, Iowa post office and produced three small murals that captured the town’s history in 1840. Tomlinson would also design and create a WPA mural for the Hoisington, Kansas post office in 1939 titled “Wheat Center,” showing a harvest scene.