Our Town: If Walls Could Talk

It seems only fitting that one of downtown Greer’s most historic structures now houses thousands of artifacts depicting the city’s history. From its terrazzo lobby floors to the original window shades, the old Greer post office—new home to the Greer Heritage Museum—has been a work in carefully planned preservation.

Seventy-five years ago, the structure was built as part of the Work Progress Administration—a New Deal agency that employed millions of workers to complete public projects, from buildings and roads to sculptures and paintings. Among the most enduring elements of this Depression-era program, however, were the post office murals that emerged inside the lobbies of these public buildings.

The Greer post office was no exception. Its mural, painted by Winfield R. Walkley in 1940 as part of the WPA Federal Art Project, still hangs in the front lobby. Titled Cotton and Peach Growing, the painting depicts life in the South, and the major crops of the era.

Although post office murals can be found all across the United States, many have been lost or damaged amid renovations in now-aging facilities—a tragedy given that these enduring images were designed to make art accessible to all people. Since post offices were located in virtually every community, these artworks emerged as one of the most democratic forms of creative expression.

Thanks to hundreds of volunteer hours and a state grant to help defray the cost of improvements, the museum was able to move into the historic building late last year, not only preserving the history of the structure itself, but also displaying more than 2,600 artifacts connected to the town’s history.
Best of all, the post office and the history it houses is open two days a week, which means its colorful history’s still accessible to everyone.