United States Post Office Coalgate

United States Post Office Coalgate
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	38 N. Main St., Coalgate, Oklahoma
Coordinates
Area	less than one acre
Built	1940 (1940)
Architectural style	Moderne
MPS	Oklahoma Post Offices with Section Art MPS
NRHP Reference #	09000214
Added to NRHP	April 17, 2009

The United States Post Office Coalgate is a post office in Coalgate, Oklahoma. It contains a mural, Women Making Pishafa, painted by artist Acee Blue Eagle. The post office is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

History

Coalgate's plans to build new post office were approved by the federal government in 1937. A New Deal program, the Treasury Department's Section of Painting and Sculpture, required that a portion of the money designated for the construction of federal buildings be used to pay for artists to decorate them. The post office was completed in 1940. A mural by Creek-Pawnee artist Acee Blue Eagle was commissioned, which he completed in 1942. The post office is one of only three in Oklahoma to have a mural painted directly onto its plaster wall. Blue Eagle was a significant Native American painter who helped to establish the style known as Traditional Indian Painting, which was the predominant style of Native American art in Oklahoma through the 20th century. The post office is significant because it is representative of historic New Deal politics, government, and art, and the post office and mural together show how a local New Deal project was realized. The post office was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.

Architecture

The post office's supervising architect was Louis A. Simon. The building is in the Art Moderne style with a flat roof and an asymmetrical front. The entrance to the building is centered, but the windows around it are not; there are four large windows, two to the left, one to the right, and one above the entrance. There is an additional smaller window on the far right side of the building. The name of the building is off-center; instead of being directly above the entrance, it is instead centered over the four large windows. The exterior is in buff-colored brick with occasional darker orange-shaded bricks. The entrance to the lobby is through a wood and glass enclosed vestibule. The lobby is I-shaped, with service bays on the wall opposite the entrance.

Women Making Pishafa

The mural is located above the door to the postmaster's office. Blue Eagle used tempra and acrylics to paint the mural. The painting is an example of the style known as Traditional Indian Painting. It is painted directly onto the plaster wall of the building. The mural is named Women Making Pishafa, and it depicts people preparing pah sho fah, a flint corn beverage that is made by Creek and other Southeastern tribes. A woman on the right side of the painting pounds corn into cornmeal. In the center, two women separate the corn husk from the corn pulp. A table behind them is set with bowls and a coffee pot, which shows that pishafa can be a soup or a beverage. While the women work, a boy plays with a toy horse, and a man on the left side of the painting shoots an arrow at a flock of birds overhead. During 1964 renovations to the post office interior, dust and dirt damaged the painting. Fred Beaver, a Creek artist, restored the mural.