Time Machine: Federal courtroom murals

A new federal building opened in March 1933 on First Street SE in Cedar Rapids. The post office occupied the basement and main floors. A variety of offices, including the Army recruiting station, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Prohibition Bureau and the Internal Revenue Service, were on the second floor. On the third floor was a U.S. District Court chamber.

At the height of the Depression in 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt's Treasury Relief Art Project left its mark on the Federal Building. Part of the Works Progress Administration, TRAP was a lifeline for struggling artists.

In October 1935, Francis Robert White, director of Cedar Rapids' Little Gallery, was named master artist to design murals for the Cedar Rapids WPA Federal Courthouse Project.

A team of four artists, headed by White, began work on what was described in July 1936 as the largest Treasury Department art project in the country.

'Scaffolding has been erected and the walls lined with paper where the artists are sketching in charcoal the outlines for the decorations which carry out the theme of the parallel progress of law and culture,” a July 1936 Gazette story said. 'When the sketches have been completed canvas will be glued on the walls and primed with a casein white preparation to which the outline drawings will be transferred ready for the actual painting with egg yolks and dry color.”

The artists working under White, according to the article, were Don Glasell of Dubuque, Harry Jones of Des Moines and Everett Jeffrey of Cedar Rapids.

The paintings were titled 'Development of the West,” 'Community Service,” 'Archaeological Research” and 'Superstition and Science.”

Murals covered

On May 2, 1956, The Gazette reported, 'The murals in Cedar Rapids' federal courtroom, which always have been considered somewhat unique, were a thing of the past Wednesday (May 2).”

A contractor began covering them with a base coat of paint.

Lawyers and judges had voiced objections to portions of the murals, considering them 'inappropriate for a courtroom,” said Federal District Judge Henry Graven, who told The Gazette he knew little about the paintings' origins because they already were in place when he began holding court in Cedar Rapids in 1944.

Of his objections to the murals, he said, 'Among other things, the jury sits facing a mural portraying a lynching in realistic detail.”

Photos of the murals were sent to the chief judge of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals and the director of the U.S. courts administrative office. Both authorized removal.

Judge Graven ordered the art to be removed and sent to the regional office of the General Services Administration in Kansas City. That was not possible, so they were painted over.

Brief Reappearance

Seven years later, on May 22, 1963, The Gazette reported, 'The murals in Cedar Rapids' federal courtroom briefly saw the light of day again this week.”

In the process of preparing the room for a redecorating project, workers who washing the walls saw faces start to show through. Court officials then decided to see whether the murals should be restored.

Several area artists were called in for their opinions, and they agreed on two things: So much of the paint from the murals came off with the covering that it would be expensive - and perhaps impossible - to restore them, and they had no artistic value.

The General Services Administration in Kansas City approved the decision to cover them again, this time with permanent paint.

Artwork Restored

In 2011, when the City Council claimed the old federal courtroom as its new chambers, the north wall-length mural had been uncovered and restored with a federal grant of $60,000.

The restored mural, 'Opening of the Midwest,” consists of five scenes that represent history and politics. Arthur Page of Page Conservation Inc. in Washington, D.C., restored the mural.

The mural on the south wall was revealed in June 2013.