For years, the West Virginia Building at WVU's Jackson's
Mill campus in Lewis County was permeated by mystery. Many people
believed that the West Virginia Building had been constructed
for the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago in 1933-34,
then brought back to West Virginia and reassembled. A few others
asserted that it was a replica of the building that housed the
West Virginia exhibit at the Century of Progress Exposition.
Perhaps even more intriguing were the six large murals inside
the building. Known to have been part of the West Virginia exhibit
at the Century of Progress Exposition, the paintings were brought
back to the Mountain State to be put on display at Jackson's
Mill. The artist, however, was unknown. Only a cryptic signature,
"A. Crawford," thought to be the name of someone who
cleaned the paintings in 1954, could be found on the pictures.
Now, however, both mysteries have been solved.
According to Bill Frye, the director of Jackson's Mill from 1988
to 1997, the West Virginia Building is indeed a different building
than the one that was at the Century of Progress Exposition.
Frye, who researched the matter in the late 1980s, reached his
conclusion after reading through correspondence from William
H. Kendrick, the director of Jackson's Mill in the 1930s.
"I wanted to know what Kendrick thought about the place
and what his plans had been," he said. Frye discovered proof
of the West Virginia Building's true origins in a March 22, 1935,
letter from Kendrick to the Morgan Lumber Co. of Beech Hill.
The letter notes that the Century of Progress exhibit has been
given to Jackson's Mill. However, notes Kendrick in the letter,
"We did not get the outside building in which the exhibit
was housed and have to build us one here at Jackson's Mill, which
will take about nine thousand dollars worth of materials."
Kendrick then makes a request to the lumber company for help.
"We are calling on our friends who can to furnish some material
with which to erect this building. The enclosed list is what
we have to have. If you will help a little we will be glad to
arrange for transportation so that you will have a part in making
the exhibit available to the boys and girls of the state."
The list of needed materials included windows, doors, floor joists,
and siding. Frye knew then that the West Virginia Building, although
it had originally been called the Century of Progress Building,
did not come to Jackson's Mill from the Century of Progress Exposition.
Frye shared Kendrick's correspondence with a local historian
who agreed that it proved a new building was erected at Jackson's
Mill. The historian, he said, shared the discovery during speeches
she made to audiences in the central part of the state.
"They got angry with her; they had been around during that
time, and they knew it came back from Chicago," Frye
recalled.
"The legend just got perpetuated," he said. "The
building was probably already up and at least under roof and
maybe mostly finished by the time the public saw it."
Although Kendrick's correspondence offered no clues to the origins
of the murals that hang high on the walls inside the West Virginia
Building, Gretchen Vanderhoof was quick to identify them as the
work of her father, the Cleveland, Ohio, artist William C. Grauer.
"Absolutely," said Vanderhoof after seeing photographs
of the murals, which measure nine feet high and nine to eighteen
feet wide. Contacted with the help of an historian at The Greenbrier,
the Florida resident provided newspaper clippings and other materials
identifying Grauer as the creator of the murals, which depict
West Virginia scenes.
"The Old White Art Colony established this summer at White
Sulphur Springs gained its first signal honors today, when William
C. Grauer of Cleveland, one of its directors and nationally known
mural painter, received a commission to paint the murals for
the West Virginia room at the World Fair, Chicago," reads
an article from the Charleston Daily Mail of June 5, 1933.
"The work will be in six panels depicting the history of
West Virginia, beginning with the Indian mounds of early days,
and participation of Indians in the early war, and continuing
with the coming of white settlers, the industrial development
of the state and its great hydraulic plants, dams and railroads.
One panel will show the state's agricultural features."
That William C. Grauer painted the murals is substantiated by
Who Was Who in American Art, which cites Grauer's work
for the Century of Progress Exposition. In addition, a West Virginia
state audit for 1933-34 lists various expenses for the exposition
in Chicago. According to the document, the state paid $1,488.79
for the creation and installation of the murals. In an apparent
misspelling, it lists the recipient of the funds as "Wm.
C. Graves."
Vanderhoof said the State of West Virginia commissioned her father
to do the murals because it was impressed with other murals he
had done for The Greenbrier. He painted murals of Greenbrier
history for the Virginia Room of the hotel and the President's
Cottage Museum on the resort grounds.
Grauer founded the Old White Art Colony School and Gallery at
The Greenbrier with his wife, Natalie Eynon Grauer, an artist
also listed in Who Was Who in American Art. Classes at
the Colony were offered for students and resort guests in historic
cottages at The Greenbrier each summer until 1941. Vanderhoof
said the West Virginia Building's murals were painted at the
Colony.
"I had no idea where they were," said Vanderhoof. "The
entire family is delighted (that the murals have been located)."
Grauer also was commissioned to produce murals for a West Virginia
exhibit at the New York World's Fair, notes the May 1, 1939,
edition of Cleveland College Life. The publication also
notes that Grauer completed a "large, decorative map of
West Virginia which has since been reproduced and distributed
as a tourist's road map."
Vanderhoof described her father as a "phenomenal" person
who was well respected in the art community. She noted that one
of his paintings, Brick Kilns, circa 1927-29, is in the
Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American Art in
Washington, D.C. The painting was a gift from Vanderhoof to the
museum in 1986.
Robert Conte, the historian at The Greenbrier, said he talked
on the phone with Grauer, but never met him in person. He recalled
that, in March 1985, he was going to Cleveland for a class reunion
at Case Western Reserve University and wanted to meet Grauer,
so he called him up beforehand and made an appointment.
"Twenty-four hours before I got there he had a stroke,"
Conte said. "He was in the hospital when I got there. He
never came out of the coma. He was painting up to the last day.
What was amazing about this was he set things out to show me.
He was prepared to show me some things from his Greenbrier days.
What struck me particularly was the graciousness of his family,
especially his daughter, Gretchen."
"It was so sad," said Vanderhoof. "My father was
interested in meeting him."
"He seemed to think very fondly of those days at The Greenbrier,"
added Conte, noting that Grauer and his wife took part in many
art and social activities at The Greenbrier. "We have pictures
of him here where he would dress up for the costume balls and
the polo games."
He noted that Grauer brought artists from Cleveland to The Greenbrier.
"They would help him teach at the art school and exhibit
and sell their paintings in the hotel," he said.
Conte said his impression of Grauer was that he was a "very
competent painter. That was his mission in life, being a painter.
He painted these scenes of Greenbrier history that have been
telling the story (of The Greenbrier) for 70 years."
John Cuthbert, Ph.D., curator of the West Virginia and Regional
History Collection of the WVU Libraries and author of Early
Art and Artists in West Virginia, said Grauer was "well
known as both a painter and teacher among his circle during his
age. And he played a significant role in West Virginia's art
history as a teacher and promoter of art during a period that
witnessed considerable artistic activity in the state, including
the founding of several arts centers and museums."
According to Cuthbert, these murals were created during a "golden
age of mural painting in America." He explained that the
murals were done during the era of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's
Works Progress Administration (WPA), which financed the creation
of more than 2,500 murals in public buildings—including
post offices, schools, and hospitals— across the country
during the 1930s.
"The WPA coincided with a period in American art history
known as the American Scene movement," Cuthbert said. "The
American Scene, or regionalist, painters rejected many of the
principles of modern art, including abstraction, in favor of
straightforward depictions of small-town life across America
celebrating the ideals of community, democracy, and hard work.
Although the federal arts projects did not force artists to work
in one style, the American Scene became the unofficial style
of the WPA.
"This was especially true in the case of public works such
as murals," he continued. "Most project administrators
felt that it was fundamental to the goals of the WPA to create
works that were easily understood and uplifting to the average,
often impoverished people that the WPA was designed to assist.
Thus, the WPA-era murals were routinely based upon thematic material
reflecting the history, culture, and industry of the locales
for which they were created."
The Grauer murals in the West Virginia Building, Cuthbert pointed
out, are an excellent example of the WPA-era regionalist style.
"These murals represent a series of tableaux that depict
major themes in the history of our state: its beginnings during
the early settlement era, the Civil War which gave birth to the
state in 1863, and the development of the state's three foremost
industries—agriculture, natural resources extraction, and
tourism."
Cuthbert said that Grauer worked in several styles in addition
to that of the American Scene. "He also experimented in
abstraction and other trends in the contemporary art of his day,"
he said. "He was a very skilled and well-trained academic
painter of his age."
Cuthbert said it is good to rediscover who painted the West Virginia
Building murals. "It always enhances the value and understanding
of something when you know about its history and creator,"
he said.
"Too often, artists are not identified in connection with
their work," Cuthbert said. "It's unfortunate that
the creators of works like these are so often overlooked. There
should be a plaque in the West Virginia Building that credits
the artist."
Cuthbert also said that offering brochures describing the murals,
as well as the portrait of Confederate General Thomas J. "Stonewall"
Jackson that hangs with them in the West Virginia Building, would
be appropriate. In addition, conservation steps should be taken
to stabilize and secure the murals.
William C. Grauer, 1895-1985
Born in Philadelphia on December 2, 1895, William C. Grauer was
formally educated at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial
Art, where he received his diploma. He did post-graduate work
on a four-year City of Philadelphia scholarship, and then worked
as a designer at the Decorative Stained Glass Co. in Philadelphia
before enlisting in the army in May 1918 during World War I.
Following his wartime service in France, he opened a studio in
Akron, Ohio, in 1919 with his future brother-in-law, the architect
George Evans Mitchell. The Rorimer-Brooks decorating and furniture
design company, and the Sterling Welch and Halle Bros. department
stores, soon realized the extent of Grauer's talent and employed
him. His work included doing architectural renderings for Shaker
Square, Moreland Courts, and other projects commissioned by Cleveland
architects. Grauer also was a master designer of stained glass
windows.
In demand, Grauer received a commission in 1921 to paint murals
for the French Grill Room of the Kansas City Club. Later, he
did work for the Cleveland Builders Exchange.
He had a studio in the 1920s in the Old Fine Arts Building in
Cleveland, where he met his future wife, Natalie Eynon Grauer.
Grauer also was affiliated with Cleveland College, one of the
component colleges of Western Reserve University, which later
became Case Western Reserve University.
According to Jill Tatem, assistant university archivist with
Case Western Reserve University, Grauer was a lecturer in art
at Cleveland College from 1934 to 1948, associate professor of
art from 1948 to 1966, and then an associate professor emeritus.
Grauer's paintings have been displayed in the Laird Memorial
Collection in Montgomery, W.Va.; the Norton Galleries in West
Palm Beach, Fla.; the Springfield Museum of Art in Springfield,
Mass.; the Melbourne Museum of Art in Melbourne, Australia; and
the Cleveland Museum of Art. His painting Brick Kilns is in the
Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American Art. He
received numerous awards and prizes for his work. Grauer died
in 1985.
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Expanding a Treasured Resource
The West Virginia Building is just one
facet of the rich heritage at Jackson's Mill. In 1921, Jackson's
Mill became the state 4-H camp—the nation's first—and
was placed under the care of the WVU Extension Service. Counties
raised money, designed cottages, and brought in volunteers for
construction.
And there is an even deeper historical significance: General
Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson grew up on the land.
The Mill's importance is not lost on the WVU Extension Service,
which is focusing on the site for a capital campaign. WVU Extension
is committed to preserving, developing, and improving this precious
place and its resources.
"It's a wonderful place to calm down, take a breath, and
be reflective," said Lawrence S. Cote, the associate provost
for WVU Extension. He calls the facility a "wonderful, rare
historical site" in a "beautiful, classic West Virginia
setting."
In addition to recognizing the Mill's importance as a youth development
center and an historical site, Cote envisions Jackson's Mill
as a regional campus for WVU—a special campus that promotes
lifelong learning.
Plans for the next six years include adding 78 new rooms and
renovating the 22 existing rooms at the Jackson Lodge, and constructing
a 5,000-seat multipurpose facility to replace the livestock arena,
a gazebo-style addition to the Mount Vernon Dining Hall, and
a firefighting school comprising 13 buildings. In addition, the
cottages on the property, built by volunteers from various counties,
will be renovated.
The project will require up to $15 million in state funding for
the new fire academy and multipurpose facility, about $12 million
in industrial revenue bonds, and about $3.5 million in private
contributions. WVU Extension also will pursue federal funding
and county government funding.
A new group called The Friends of Jackson's Mill includes individuals
and organizations who want to help preserve the Mill's past and
be part of its future. To join The Friends of Jackson's Mill,
call (304) 269-5100 or 1-800-287-8206. 