Who Knew?

There is a building at the corner of 3rd and Montgomery in downtown Mount Vernon. It is a very unassuming building; we’ve probably driven by it hundreds of times without as much as a glance. It is boxy and brick and somewhat plain except for a fancy white frame surrounding the skinny front doors. Currently it is the property of Skagit Valley College. But it turns out this building has a story. And oh how we love stories!

From 1935 until 1964 this building was Mount Vernon’s Post Office. It was a W.P.A. Project that employed contractors, construction workers and several skilled artisans. The project also included a commission for a special artist. Ambrose McCarthy Patterson was born in Australia, studied both there and in Paris, worked in Hawaii and San Francisco before making his way to Seattle. In 1919 he established the University of Washington School of Painting and Design. He created a mural at the head of the lobby that depicted rural farm land in the background and a milk processing and evaporating plant at work. At the time, milk processing was the major industry of the area.

And guess what? History survives! As soon as we read about this painting we were off to the old post office to see what remained. The lobby has been preserved with gorgeous wood paneling, an intricate tile floor and the mural:

Please forgive the quick, and somewhat grainy, cell phone picture. Now for another trail to follow—wouldn’t it be incredible to find a photograph of Patterson working on the mural back in the 30’s?