Post Office Art: History and Industry of Honesdale, Pennsylvania

History and Industry of Honesdale, Pennsylvania

Information

Walter Gardner painted five murals for the Honesdale, Pennsylvania Post Office, each showing some aspect of local industry or local history.

  1. Clearing the Wilderness. The settlement of Dyberry Forks was established where Dyberry Creek joins the Lackawaxen River in Wayne County, Pennsylvania. In 1823 the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company (D&H) was chartered to operate canals to carry anthracite coal from mines at Carbondale, Pennsylvania to New York City by way of Kingston, New York. The village of Honesdale was created at the site of Dyberry Forks in 1826 for workers on the Delaware and Hudson Canal.

    Clearing the Wilderness
    Title: Clearing the Wilderness
    City: Honesdale, Pennsylvania
    Location: Post Office
    Artist: Walter Gardner
    Date: 1937
    Medium: Oil on Canvas
  2. Life on the D&H Canal. The D&H Canal carried coal from Honesdale to Kingston, New York, from where river barges carried this cargo downstream to New York City. Construction of the canal entailed a number of engineering challenges and stimulated the development of new technologies. Building and operation of the canal led to development along its entire length.

    Life on the D&H Canal
    Title: Life on the D&H Canal
    City: Honesdale, Pennsylvania
    Location: Post Office
    Artist: Walter Gardner
    Date: 1937
    Medium: Oil on Canvas
  3. Philip Hone and Washington Irving. Philip Hone was a Mayor of New York City and the president of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company. Hone was noted for his wealth and culture and was friends with leading cultural figues and politicans of the day. His diary provides one of the most complete accounts of life in this period of American history. This mural, which hangs above the postmaster's door, shows a meeting of Hone with his friend Washington Irving. The town of Honesdale is overlooked by a prominence now known as Irving Cliff, visible in the background of the mural. Washington Irving is one of many people who enjoyed the view of the Lackawaxen River and Dyberry Creek from the top of the cliff. Philip Hone named the cliff in his honor.

    Philip Hone and Washington Irving
    Title: Philip Hone and Washington Irving
    City: Honesdale, Pennsylvania
    Location: Post Office
    Artist: Walter Gardner
    Date: 1937
    Medium: Oil on Canvas
  4. Coal Mining and Gravity Railroad. Coal was carried by an innovative gravity railroad from the mines around Carbondale, Pennsylvania to Honesdale, where it was transfered to barges for carriage along a canal to Kingston, New York and then shipped on river barges to New York City.

    Coal Mining & Gravity Railroad
    Title: Coal Mining & Gravity Railroad
    City: Honesdale, Pennsylvania
    Location: Post Office
    Artist: Walter Gardner
    Date: 1937
    Medium: Oil on Canvas
  5. A Run of the Stourbridge Lion. John B. Jervis, the chief engineer at D&H, designed a series of rail links to transport the coal from Carbondale, and the company ordered locomotives from English manufacturers. The first commerical American locomotive run was on August 8, 1829 in Honesdale. The locomotive - called the Stourbridge Lion - was one of several ordered by D&H. It was actually too heavy for Jervis's track, so other locomotives came to be used for coal transport in the United States. The mural shows spectators on the D&H Canal watching a run of the Stourbridge Lion.

    A Run of the Stourbridge Lion
    Title: A Run of the Stourbridge Lion
    City: Honesdale, Pennsylvania
    Location: Post Office
    Artist: Walter Gardner
    Date: 1937
    Medium: Oil on Canvas

References

  1. [1] Jeanne Arnold, Rediscovering murals from the New Deal in PA post offices, Wayne Independent October 9 (2009).
  2. [2] Stourbridge Lion (Wikipedia).
  3. [3] Honesdale, Pennsylvania (Wikipedia).
  4. [4] Irving Cliff & Gibbons Memorial Park (The Wayne County Historical Society).
  5. [5] Philip Hone (Wikipedia).
  6. [6] Delaware and Hudson Canal (Wikipedia).
  7. [7] Delaware and Hudson Canal (D&H Canal Historical Society).