Mannington Post Office & “Landscape at Frogtown”

The Mannington Post Office was completed in 1939 and is highly typical of New Deal post offices in West Virginia. The simple brick exterior is largely unornamented, but the interior contains an oil on canvas mural by Richard Zoellner. Zoellner was a prolific Works Progress Administration artist who painted at least six post office murals. The work at the Mannington Post Office was completed in 1942 and titled “Landscape at Frogtown.” The work depicts a small town with a road on the left and a railway on the right. A few houses and large electric poles are scattered throughout the piece, which includes no human figures. The work might depict Frogtown, West Virginia, in southern Logan County, or Frogtown, Pennsylvania, in the central-western portion of the state. Both towns are candidates as inspiration for the work, as Zoellner grew up in Ohio and created works throughout West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Emerson, Jimmy. Mannington Post Office, New Deal Art Registry. Accessed July 2nd 2021. https://www.newdealartregistry.org/map/Mannington/WV/.

Gioulis, Michael. Mannington Historic District, National Register of Historic Places. June 30th 1995. Accessed July 2nd 2021. http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/pdf/marion/95001313.pdf.

Lorance, Nancy. New Deal/WPA Art in Mannington, West Virginia, WPA Murals. Accessed July 2nd 2021. http://wpamurals.org/manningt.htm.

Park, Marlene. Markowitz, Gerald E. Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Temple University Press, 1984.

Post Office - Mannington WV, The Living New Deal. Accessed July 2nd 2021. https://livingnewdeal.org/projects/post-office-mannington-wv/.

Post Office Mural - Mannington WV, The Living New Deal. Accessed July 2nd 2021. https://livingnewdeal.org/projects/post-office-mural-mannington-wv/.

Richard Zoellner, Smithsonian American Art Museum. Accessed July 2nd 2021. https://americanart.si.edu/artist/richard-zoellner-5563.