{"id":96,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:32:46","latitude":30.0592410000000000991349224932491779327392578125,"longitude":-94.8014028999999709412804804742336273193359375,"title":"The Liberty Post Office and Its New Deal Mural","subtitle":"","fullsize":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/60aca382903cc259b900ecaea734f1d9.jpg","address":"","all_locations":[],"zoom":5,"creator":["Matt Carmichael"],"description":"Located along the Trinity River, Liberty, Texas, is one of the oldest towns in the Lone Star State. Initially settled by Anglo-American squatters in 1818, the town became a key trading center by the time of the Texas Revolution. In 1837, local leaders incorporated the site, and it became the seat of Liberty County.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nThroughout the nineteenth century, Liberty served as an important shipping port for agricultural and timber products. Liberty&#039;s location, roughly forty miles from Trinity Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, made it an ideal spot for transporting goods throughout East Texas.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nDespite the early prominence that Liberty enjoyed, the city’s population grew slowly. By 1900, only 865 residents lived at the site, while other cities in the region eclipsed it. When oil was discovered at the Batson-Old oilfield in neighboring Hardin County, however, Liberty began to grow more quickly. By 1940, the population had risen to 3,087 and new residents looked forward to a promising future.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nAs a result of the city’s growth, County Judge R.E. Biggs requested an $800,000 federal loan in 1934 so that Liberty County could construct a series of new federal buildings. By 1939, the landscape in the small Texas town had changed, as a new post office, city-hall building, high school gymnasium, and electrical power plant opened to the public. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nTo beautify Liberty’s new post office, federal official included it on a list of other sites that were being considered for an ongoing New Deal public works project administered by the Treasury Department’s Section of Painting and Sculpture (later known as The Section of Fine Arts). This program supported national artists who decorated more than 65 post offices in Texas with nearly 100 murals depicting scenes of local history, culture, and industry. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nArtist Howard Fisher, a San Antonio native, was selected for the Liberty post office job. In fact, Fisher had previously been commissioned to paint a mural at the nearby Baytown post office, but that project had been canceled as a result of a federal accounting error. Now, Fisher received the opportunity to take one of his sketches, “The Story of the Big Fish,” and enlarge it for the walls of a new federal building. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nFisher completed his painting for the Liberty post office in 1939. “The Story of the Big Fish” features seven men and two small fishing vessels; the men in the foreground are engaged in discussion, while the others tie down sails and nets. The painting provides a fascinating glimpse into the history of Liberty&#039;s local fishing culture, and it helped to make the new post office building a welcoming and enjoyable site.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nWhen a new Liberty post office building was constructed in recent times, Fisher’s mural was taken down and carefully transported to the site. It hangs there now a poignant symbol of the New Deal and its impact on East Texas.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":["Christopher Long, \"Liberty Texas,\" Texas State Historical Association, http//www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hf103.","Patricia Raynor, \"New Deal Post Office Murals,\" Enroute, http://www.wpamurals.com/texas.htm","Marlene Park and Gerald E. Markowitz, Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1984.","Philip Parisi, The Texas Post Office Murals: Art for the People. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2004."],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/60aca382903cc259b900ecaea734f1d9.jpg":{"id":1578,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"The Liberty Post Office","description":"This photograph shows the U.S. Post Office in Liberty, Texas, as it appeared in 1939 at the time Howard Fisher painted his mural. | Nixon Wheat","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/60aca382903cc259b900ecaea734f1d9.jpg"},"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/7883f096a1dad53b50daac1653004150.jpg":{"id":1575,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"A Street Scene in Liberty","description":"This turn of the century photograph showcases the train station and businesses in Liberty Texas. | Nixon Wheat","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/7883f096a1dad53b50daac1653004150.jpg"},"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/bf271cc9ff868bd90c0cfe39e53adadf.jpg":{"id":1580,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Mural Approved","description":"This March 22, 1939 article from the Liberty Vindicator announces that the mural for the post office has been approved and that Howard Fisher would be the artist in charge of the project. | Liberty Vindicator","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/bf271cc9ff868bd90c0cfe39e53adadf.jpg"},"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/84b34793af0570024971434713dba9aa.jpg":{"id":897,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Liberty Post Office Mural","description":"&quot;Story of the Big Fish&quot; painted by Howard Fisher in 1939.  | Jeffrey L Littlejohn","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/84b34793af0570024971434713dba9aa.jpg"},"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/66036d125e29bf1d7a1d58b670067e36.jpg":{"id":1579,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Mural Remembered","description":"This September 17, 1964 article from the Liberty Vindicator discusses the painting of the post office mural and its history. | Liberty Vindicator ","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/66036d125e29bf1d7a1d58b670067e36.jpg"},"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/2bc7c8961527381fd7354286e36250ff.jpg":{"id":879,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Liberty Post Office","description":"Exterior shot of the old Liberty Post Office in Liberty, Texas.  | Seth Gaines","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/2bc7c8961527381fd7354286e36250ff.jpg"},"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/66daf460b893ef850194aa0334500dfe.jpg":{"id":1581,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Liberty Texas Post Office","description":"Jeffrey L. Littlejohn","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/66daf460b893ef850194aa0334500dfe.jpg"}}}