Visitors to the North Texas History Center in McKinney, Texas (the town’s former Post Office building) have a rare treat in store when they see an important 1930s era mural painted by Frank
Klepper (1890-1952.). Victoria
Cummins, a Professor of History at Austin College and who is also my wife, has done extensive research on the life of Frank
Klepper. She notes that he was born in Plano (then a small farm community) and grew up in McKinney. He attended the University of Dallas for a short time, but, like many artists of his generation, as a young man he left Texas and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, because there was little art training available in Texas. When the US entered World War I in 1917, he volunteered for the army and served in France painting camouflage for the 36
th infantry division. After the war, he remained in Paris, France for a time, studying at the American Art Training Center. He opened an art stud
io in McKinney in 1920 and established himself as an artist specializing in landscapes. He later moved to Dallas. The New Deal provided him the chance to paint the mural now in McKinney, when its current location was the Post Office. This mural was sponsored by the Public Works of Art Project (
PWAP), created by the New Deal in late 1933. It was the first Federal program designed to provide relief work for artists. It predated the
WPA, which would itself never fund art projects in Texas. Nonetheless, this mural is sometimes mistakenly characterized as a
WPA project, which it was not. The
PWAP existed for only a few months in 1933-1934 and was later succeeded by other federal programs designed to bring relief to artists and create high quality art for government buildings. The
PWAP paid artists weekly wages of $25.50 to $42.50, which were equivalent to those paid to skilled laborers. The artists so employed created art work for the decoration of buildings supported by federal, state or local taxes. When the
PWAP was announced for Texas, Frank
Klepper was able to secure support to create a mural for the Post Office in his home town of McKinney, and later for Prairie view College (Now Prairie view A&M).
Klepper visited the McKinney Post Office in late 1933 to check out the space and told the postmaster that he was hoping to get the job of painting a mural for it. Postmaster Wallace C. Wilson, who had hoped to benefit from this program, gladly gave his permission, proud that McKinney had one of the first government buildings to benefit from this program.
Klepper chose as his theme the transit of Ben McCullough’s casket through McKinney, a major local event during the Civil War. McCullough’s entourage, with his body being brought back to his home in Gonzales, passed through McKinney just as a unit of confederate soldiers was departing for the war. The central landmark seen in the mural is the Tucker Hotel on the northeast corner of the square. It burned down in 1875.
Klepper said that growing up he had heard the story of the event from his
grandmothe
r, who had witnessed it as a young girl. He based the painting on her recollections, and included her in the painting, facing the Tucker Hotel. The Dallas Morning News reported that “Mr.
Klepper, as a native of McKinney showed fine appreciation of his home in arranging to do his work for a building of this city and the choice of so familiar an event as subject seems to have been very happy.” The McKinney Art Club hosted the unveiling ceremony on the afternoon of February 28, 1934 before an overflow crowd at the post office. Mrs. T. E. Craig, president of the McKinney Art Club, the postmaster, mayor and several judges were among the speakers at the ceremony.
Klepper students, friends and fellow artists from Sherman and
Denison, Collin county and Dallas attended, including Texas artists E.G.
Eisenlohr, Allie
Tennant, and Jimmie
Swann. A bust of Frank
Klepper (shown above) by noted sculptor Allie V.
Tennant, formerly located at the North Texas History Center, was recently moved to McKinney's Heard-Craig Center for the Arts, where there also hangs a formal portrait of him.
Visitors to the North Texas History Center in McKinney, Texas (the town’s former Post Office building) have a rare treat in store when they see an important 1930s era mural painted by Frank Klepper (1890-1952.). Victoria Cummins, a Professor of History at Austin College and who is also my wife, has done extensive research on the life of Frank Klepper. She notes that he was born in Plano (then a small farm community) and grew up in McKinney. He attended the University of Dallas for a short time, but, like many artists of his generation, as a young man he left Texas and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, because there was little art training available in Texas. When the US entered World War I in 1917, he volunteered for the army and served in France painting camouflage for the 36th infantry division. After the war, he remained in Paris, France for a time, studying at the American Art Training Center. He opened an art stud
io in McKinney in 1920 and established himself as an artist specializing in landscapes. He later moved to Dallas. The New Deal provided him the chance to paint the mural now in McKinney, when its current location was the Post Office. This mural was sponsored by the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), created by the New Deal in late 1933. It was the first Federal program designed to provide relief work for artists. It predated the WPA, which would itself never fund art projects in Texas. Nonetheless, this mural is sometimes mistakenly characterized as a WPA project, which it was not. The PWAP existed for only a few months in 1933-1934 and was later succeeded by other federal programs designed to bring relief to artists and create high quality art for government buildings. The PWAP paid artists weekly wages of $25.50 to $42.50, which were equivalent to those paid to skilled laborers. The artists so employed created art work for the decoration of buildings supported by federal, state or local taxes. When the PWAP was announced for Texas, Frank Klepper was able to secure support to create a mural for the Post Office in his home town of McKinney, and later for Prairie view College (Now Prairie view A&M). Klepper visited the McKinney Post Office in late 1933 to check out the space and told the postmaster that he was hoping to get the job of painting a mural for it. Postmaster Wallace C. Wilson, who had hoped to benefit from this program, gladly gave his permission, proud that McKinney had one of the first government buildings to benefit from this program. Klepper chose as his theme the transit of Ben McCullough’s casket through McKinney, a major local event during the Civil War. McCullough’s entourage, with his body being brought back to his home in Gonzales, passed through McKinney just as a unit of confederate soldiers was departing for the war. The central landmark seen in the mural is the Tucker Hotel on the northeast corner of the square. It burned down in 1875. Klepper said that growing up he had heard the story of the event from his grandmothe
r, who had witnessed it as a young girl. He based the painting on her recollections, and included her in the painting, facing the Tucker Hotel. The Dallas Morning News reported that “Mr. Klepper, as a native of McKinney showed fine appreciation of his home in arranging to do his work for a building of this city and the choice of so familiar an event as subject seems to have been very happy.” The McKinney Art Club hosted the unveiling ceremony on the afternoon of February 28, 1934 before an overflow crowd at the post office. Mrs. T. E. Craig, president of the McKinney Art Club, the postmaster, mayor and several judges were among the speakers at the ceremony. Klepper students, friends and fellow artists from Sherman and Denison, Collin county and Dallas attended, including Texas artists E.G. Eisenlohr, Allie Tennant, and Jimmie Swann. A bust of Frank Klepper (shown above) by noted sculptor Allie V. Tennant, formerly located at the North Texas History Center, was recently moved to McKinney's Heard-Craig Center for the Arts, where there also hangs a formal portrait of him.
