NRHP: Crawford United States Post Office
Contents
Crawford United States Post Office
NRHP Reference #: 92000477
NRHP Listing Date: 19920511
Location
144 Main, Crawford, Dawes County, Nebraska
View this property's location
View all NRHP properties on this map.
Summary
The Crawford United States Post Office, is a one-story, red brick building constructed in 1938-39 in the Modernistic style. While the building retains a high degree of integrity, its historical significance derives from the mural painted on an interior wall. Through New Deal programs such as the Public Works of Art Project and WPA Federal Art Project, thousand of artists were employed. In 1934 the Section of Painting and Sculpture (renamed the Section of Fine Arts in 1938) was organized under the auspices of the Treasury Department to provide murals and sculptures for the many federal buildings constructed during the New Deal era. Between 1938 and 1942 the Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts (generally known as "the Section") commissioned twelve murals for twelve newly constructed post offices in Nebraska. Crawford, along with the other eleven post office murals in Nebraska, represent the Section's goal of making art accessible to the general population by reserving one percent of new building construction budgets for art.
Further Information
Bibliography
About the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the country’s official list of historically significant properties. To be eligible for the NRHP a property must generally retain their historic appearance, be at least 50 years old, and have the potential to be documented as historically or architecturally significant at either the local, state, or national level. The National Register of Historic Places is a National Park Service program administered by the Nebraska State Historical Society for the state of Nebraska. Visit the Nebraska State Historical Society's website to learn more about the program.
