Post Office Mural Finds New Home in Independence Hall

Sullivan Independence Hall is the new home of the mural that once hung on the outside wall of the Postmaster’s Office at the former downtown Post Office.

The mural -- commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts and Sculpture in 1937 and is one of hundreds painted for federal buildings and courthouses -- is part of the Postal Fine Arts Collectioned owned by the USPS.

The artist Alice Flint painted the oil-on-canvas wall mural titled “Tempora Mutanto et Nos Mutamor in Illis” which translates to “Times Change and We Change With Them,” according to a press release from the First Selectman's Office. Its dimensions are 44-in-by-168-in-by 1¼-in.

The USPS and Fairfield have entered into an “Agreement for Loan of Artwork from the Postal Fine Arts Collection by the USPS to the Town of Fairfield." According to the Agreement, when art from the Postal Fine Arts Collection cannot be housed in local or regional postal retail space, it is the goal of the USPS to identify an organization or institution that has the interest and demonstrates the ability to properly showcase the art locally and to maintain public access to the art.

The USPS will loan the mural to the town and the town agrees to borrow the mural from the USPS for the purpose of exhibiting the mural at Independence Hall for a term of 25 years with subsequent five year extensions of that term, according to the release.

The USPS has also invested $25,500 to restore the mural.

The mural was unveiled on Thursday in its new location on the second floor of Independence Hall by First Selectman Michael Tetreau and the newly formed Fairfield Arts Advisory Committee (FAAC).

The members of the FAAC are: co-chairs Alan Neigher and Sherri Steeneck and members Lou Baur Heumann, Denise DiGrigoli Amuso, Fred Favata, Mark Graham, Robert Greenberger, Enid Hatton, Michael Jehle, Peter Penczer, Ellen Phillips, Barbara Pollock, and Lisa Winjum.

The FAAC is charged with recommending a list of actions and activities to the First Selectman and enlisting the town’s support and facilitation. These activities will include, but not be limited to, First Night, Fairfield Theatre Company’s new cinema program in conjunction with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Restaurant Week, the downtown banner program, Connecticut Main Street Center and assistance with the Town’s 375th Birthday Celebration Committee.