I just found the artical from Saturdays paper.
Saving a piece of the painted past
By RENA DELBRIDGE
Star-Tribune correspondent Saturday, April 21, 2007
DOUGLAS n They came by the hundreds, by ship then rail, to the unknown.
Prisoners of war captured by the Allied troops during World War II brought little with them to the internment camp here.
Three of them left a gift -- 16 large murals of western scenes, likely drawn from portrayals of movies and books about the Wild West.
Now, one small building is all that remains of what was once a small city across the North Platte River from this town. Inside the stucco-covered walls of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows building -- once the officers’ club of a World War II prisoner of war camp -- are 16 murals depicting Western scenes of legend n cowboys taking up arms at a frontier fort, outlaws shooting up a storm inside a saloon, buffalo grazing on golden meadows. Painted between 1943 and 1944 by Italian prisoners housed at the camp, the murals are among a few scattered historic treasures of that time. And without attention, they may not last for future generations.
While the murals are in fair condition following professional restoration work several years ago, the building they grace is in poor shape. Those who’ve made it a point to look after the murals are having the building assessed in hopes of preventing structural damage to the murals. That may help answer the question of how to offer greater public access to these historical treasures.
The Odd Fellows and the Rebekahs have maintained the building for years, using it for meetings. They've worked closely with the local historic preservation commissioner and the city to protect the murals and the building, which were listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The city recently hired Casper architect Randy Hein to assess the structure and craft a work plan for any necessary renovation, city administrator Bobbe Fitzhugh said.
The Douglas Rotary Club and other groups have had some discussions in the past few years about participating in the project. Without knowing the scope of renovations, few are prepared to commit.
“That’s the next decision,†Fitzhugh said. “Do we want, as a community, to try and make these improvements, and if so, what do we do with the building once it’s useful?â€
Former Douglas mayor Sherri Mullinnix leads tours for groups or individuals wanting a closer look at the World War II-era art. She hopes a consortium of civic organizations will form to manage the site and allow greater public access. So few people have seen the history first-hand, and not many even know it exists, she said.
The story started more than 60 years ago.
As the Allied nations’ prisoner counts grew, more space was needed outside of Europe to house the captives. Defense leaders turned to locations within the U.S. with enough acreage to build camps.
Douglas proved an ideal site, with nearly 700 acres of open land within a mile of the railroad depot. Nearly 500 workers arrived to start construction in February 1943, using the 4-H dorms at the fairgrounds for lodging during the 95-day job.
The three-compound camp was surrounded by rows of electrified wire fence, a 151-bed hospital, guard towers and a large outdoor recreation area.
The camp turned the small town on end, as the mayor encouraged citizens to open their guest rooms to camp officials and their families. Reaction from the locals was mixed. However, the lure of low-cost labor by the prisoners was seen as a sensible means to alleviate a manpower shortage in Wyoming during those war years.
In May 1942, Army officials arrived to manage the camp, opening the gates for one day to the public. That day, more than 2,000 people from 17 counties visited the site, according to the National Register of Historic Places application.
In August 1942, the first prisoners arrived by train -- 412 Italians who’d rode the rail from New York City. Inquisitive locals lined up to watch the prisoners make the mile trek from the tracks to the camp, marching in units of 50. By year’s end, the camp housed 1,900 Italian prisoners of war, including some of officer rank.
Three of those prisoners left their distinctive, imaginative mark on the walls of the officers’ club, now the Odd Fellows Hall. The men were known only from their signatures scrawled in the corners.
Most murals are about six feet tall; one is as long as 15 feet. All depict scenes imagined from experiences with story books and movies n certainly, they had never laid eyes on a wagon train rumbling past a river-broken valley, an Indian chief smoking a peace pipe, nor Old Faithful erupting before an audience of horseback cowboys.
Although prisoners at other World War II-era camps in the U.S. also painted murals, few survive and those that have are generally credited to German prisoners of war, the national register application states.
In 1944 the prisoners were shipped home as Italy surrendered. Deactivated in July, the camp was brought back to life a month later to accept more than 2,000 German POWs in October.
Of course, the location of the Douglas camp was incentive enough for most prisoners to stay put, surrounded as it was by an empty, rugged landscape stretching as far as the eye could see. And those who behaved had their time away from the fenced perimeter, working cropland in Clearmont, Wheatland, Basin and Lovell, and harvesting timber near Esterbrook and into the Snowy Mountains.
By November 1945, camp officials began releasing the prisoners before closing the facility in February 1946. Most of the buildings, including a hospital, were torn down. The International Order of Odd Fellows purchased the officers’ club building in 1963 for $5,000. The rest of the acreage now is home housing subdivisions and a school.
Wyoming Pioneer Memorial Museum Director Arlene Eklund-Earnst hopes funding will be located to preserve the murals and their home. She said the new Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund could be used for preservation, but likely not for a privately-owned structure.
People stop by the museum, located at the state fairgrounds, routinely to peruse a collection from the POW camp days. There are sketches lovesick prisoners penciled of lovely camp nurses, delicately carved wooden boxes and trinkets crafted by prisoners and given away as gifts. Many from the local historical groups hope the murals at the Odd Fellows hall will eventually be as open to the public, safe and sound for years to come.
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