Mt Ayr IA / Corn Parade WPA Mural Featured

There is lots of interest in the WPA (Works Progress Administration) murals that were funded by the government during the Depression. A surprising number have survived, and are often still on view in communities throughout the country. 

Of course there are some that are awful. But undoubtedly one of the finest still hangs in the US Post Office in Mount Ayr, Iowa. Created in 1941 by local artist Orr Cleveland Fisher, it is titled Corn Parade. 

It is one of the treasures included in a new book about aspects of Iowa history, a collection of twenty-five essays by design historian Roy R. Behrens, titled DREAMS OF FIELDS: Memory Traces of Iowa's Past (Ice Cube Press, 2025).

Orr Fisher, Corn Parade mural