Lincolnton Post Office (1937)
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Turn right on Main Street. The Lincolnton Post Office sits on the left at 326 East Main Street.
Inside, on the west wall of the post office, Richard H. Jansen's "Threshing Grain" mural hangs in the same place it has been since 1938. Restored in 2005, the painting is fourteen feet wide and four feet, six inches high. Jansen painted the mural in his studio in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1938.
"Threshing Grain" Mural:
The mural has a total approximate area of 63 square feet. Jansen used the medium oil on canvas, and completed the mural in 232 calendar days. The mural was later transported on canvas to Lincolnton by train. The subject matter has a local theme. In a handwritten letter dated September 18, 1937, Jansen suggested an agricultural theme "...as I felt I couldn't go wrong, since the town is certainly bound up with the county around it." Although grain was and still is cultivated in Lincoln County, one must speculate the wheat grown in Wisconsin and the Great Plains influenced Jansen's creative process. Jansen received $610 for painting the Lincolnton mural. On June 9, 1938, Postmaster J.F. Seagle announced in the Lincoln County News the mural's placement in the west end of the building and its depiction of a rural Lincoln County scene. Thanks to contributions from the U.S.P.S. and individuals and businesses in Lincoln County.
