WHEAT PASTE MURALS CELEBRATE LOCAL HISTORY, Grinnell, Iowa

Wheat Paste Mural, Grinnell, Iowa. Edith Renfrow and her Three Sisters, 1941. L-R: Evanel, Edith, Alice, Helen .

On a beautiful fall day, September 28, 2024, Grinnell College and the town of Grinnell, Iowa, celebrated the dedication of a new dormitory/community center, Renfrow Hall, named after Edith Renfrow Smith, who grew up in the town of Grinnell and, in 1937, was the first Black woman to graduate from Grinnell College.

Edith in cap and gown. Grinnell College graduate, 1937.

Posted around town are large wheat paste murals depicting Edith's early life and scenes from that period in the town's history. The murals, created by Iowa artist Isaac Campbell from historic photos, enlarged and printed on rolls of blueprint paper, were fastened to buildings with wheat paste. Volunteers were recruited to cut around the edges of the figures to make them into silhouettes. The murals will last about a year.

Bicyclists travel a rural road near Grinnell, ca 1990. 

Past and present become linked as one views the murals. The ten murals are found throughout the Grinnell community. We enjoyed discovering them as we did a walking tour of the downtown area. 

Gluing the photo to the wall.

We watched as the final photo installation took place on the front of the First Interstate bank building on Broad Street directly across from Renfrow Hall on the day before its dedication. The enormous size of the image required a machine to lift the artist and an assistant to the top of the wall. Working from top to bottom they pasted the paper to the wall, then coated it with more wheat paste to protect it from the weather. The photo depicts Edith and her sisters when they posed in front of the family house on First Avenue for a group photo on a trip to Grinnell in 1941. (See first photo for the complete image.)

Edith, two years old. Grinnell Arts Center building.

Other photos of Edith can be found on the Grinnell Arts Center building. Next to the front door she is wearing a cap and gown from her college graduation. Around the corner is a picture of her when she was two, wearing a big bow in her hair. (When Edith was growing up, the building was the town library.)

Anna Craig and her son William Goode, 1915.

Most of the murals are in the historic center of town. Photos were selected to show various aspects of town life during the time Edith was growing up. (After her graduation from Grinnell College she moved to Chicago, where she has lived ever since. But she has always considered Grinnell home.)

The business community is represented with a portrait of Edith’s Aunt, Anna Craig, who operated a ladies beauty shop from the late 1800s to the 1920s.

Spaulding cars were manufactured in Grinnell from 1910 to 1929.

Manufacturing in Grinnell is represented by a picture of a Spaulding car, pasted appropriately on the wall of a contemporary carwash business. 

Grinnell High School student Philip Palmer and friends pose with his sousaphone, 1937.

Music has always been part of a Grinnell High School education. This mural, on the side of historic building on Fourth Avenue, depicts a group of high school musicians.

These are just some of the murals in Grinnell. A map of the location of the ten murals can be found HERE. 

For more about Edith Renfrow Smith's visit to Grinnell for the Renfrow Hall dedication and the celebration of her family and Black history in the community, see my post on October  7, 2024.

UPDATE June 1, 2025

Photo of Edith and her sisters, June 2025

When I returned to Grinnell in June for the Alumni Reunion I was curious to see how the wheat paste murals had fared during the Iowa winter. Some did better than others. The mural of Edith and her three sisters on the bank building is still in fairly good shape while others, like the bicyclists and her high school graduation photo, had begun peeling off the walls. 

Bicyclist mural, 2025 

I also took the opportunity to go to the high school to see Edith's graduation portrait (which I had missed on my earlier trip.) 

The murals were never meant to be permanent. They will be removed as they deteriorate.

Edith's high school graduation photos, June 2025

EDITH RENFROW SMITH and the Celebration of Black History in Grinnell, Iowa

Grinnell, Iowa. Wheat paste murals depicting Edith Renfrow Smith's college graduation (1937) and as a two-year-old.

A week ago my husband Art and I were in Grinnell, Iowa celebrating the dedication of Renfrow Hall, a new Grinnell College dormitory and community center, named in honor of Edith Renfrow Smith, the oldest graduate (Class of 1937) and first Black woman to graduate from the college. After graduation she moved to Chicago, where she has lived ever since.

Edith Renfrow Smith at the dedication of Renfrow Hall, September 28, 2024.

Born in 1914, Edith grew up in Grinnell, the fifth child in one of just a few Black families in town. Now, at the sprightly age of 110, she was the star of the show.

Parade welcoming Edith to Grinnell. Edith rode in a red convertible and waved to the crowd.

We joined friends, family, college and townspeople as Edith was welcomed with a parade led by the high school band, a gala dinner followed by a party in the park, and numerous other events and exhibitions.

Wheat paste mural depicting Edith and her sisters. Edith is second from left. They had two brothers. All six graduated from college, although Edith was the only one to attend Grinnell College.

Posted around town were large wheat paste murals depicting Edith's early life and scenes from that period in the town's history. The murals, created by Iowa artist Isaac Campbell from historic photos, enlarged and printed on rolls of blueprint paper, were then fastened to buildings with wheat paste. They will last about a year.

No One is Better Than You is available at the Pioneer Book Store in Grinnell, and on Amazon.

Both Art and I had a chance to chat with Edith. I was especially eager to meet Edith after advising on the wonderful children's book about her life, No One is Better Than You, written by Monique Shore. During the weekend, Monique gave a reading of her book at the Drake Community Library in Grinnell. After the reading, tours were given of the Hazelwood Cemetery, highlighting areas connected to Renfrow family history.

Fourth Avenue in downtown Grinnell has not changed much in the last 100 plus years. Most of the buildings are on the National Historic Register. The store with the striped awning was once Arnold's Shoes.

The whole trip to Grinnell felt like a trip back in time as Art and I recalled our own years as students on campus in the 1960s and as we visited places connected to Arnold family history from earlier generations. Art's great great grandparents first came to Grinnell in the late 1800s. Art's father grew up in Grinnell. Art was delighted to learn that Edith recalled his Uncle Don (a classmate) and the Arnold shoe store on 4th Avenue.

Art chatting with Edith before the dedication ceremony.

Renfrow Hall, under construction.

Renfrow Hall, located off-campus in downtown Grinnell, will be both a dormitory for students at the college and a place for community activities. It is scheduled to open in 2025.

Edith paved the way for more Black women students at Grinnell College. Delabian Rice Thurston, my roommate in college, was honored with a banner at the dedication of Renfrow Hall for her work with Parents United in Washington, DC.

Delabian with her banner at the dedication.

It was a thrill to meet Edith and to be part of the celebration of her remarkable life and of the role she and her family have played in the Grinnell community.

The house on First Avenue in Grinnell where Edith was born.

This building was the Grinnell High School and Junior High attended both by Edith and her siblings and by Art's father and his siblings. It has now been converted to a hotel and this is where we stayed during our visit for the Renfrow Hall dedication.

HOMAGE TO SUNDIALS: Eight Year Anniversary of The Intrepid Tourist

Giant wall Sundial at Redlands University, Redlands, CA

Eight years ago I launched The Intrepid Tourist as an outlet for my travel writing. Since then I have posted a new article once a week, accumulating a whopping total of more than 500 posts--some about far away places, others much closer to home. Most are about my own travel experiences, but others are about the trips made by family and friends. I thank all my guest posters who have contributed reports of their adventures on The Intrepid Tourist and shared their personal views of the world.

Berkeley Botanical Garden, Berkeley, CA

In many of my travels, I have come across sundials and been fascinated by both their beauty and technology. In celebration of the beginning of a new year of The Intrepid Tourist I an sharing a few of my sundial photos. 

Sundial Bridge, Redding, CA

Ranging in size from the giant sundial bridge at Turtle Bay in Redding, California, to a small garden decoration sundial at the Clark Library in Los Angeles, each one has its own special character.

Sundial by Eric Gill, UCLA Clark Library garden, Los Angeles, CA

The oldest known sundial was found in Egypt found in the Valley of the Kings (c. 1500 BC). I have never been to Egypt, but in Rajasthan, India, there is a collection of nineteen architectural astronomical instruments built by the Rajput king Sawai Jai Singh II, and completed in 1734. It features the world's largest stone sundial. I visited this amazing UNESCO world Heritage site when I was in India in 2000.

Stone sun dial at Jantar Mantar, Rajasthan, India

The marker, or gnomen, at the center of the sundial casts its shadow as the sun moves across the sky and indicates the time of day. Importantly, its angle must be equivalent to the Earth's latitude at that point.

Sundial at the Santa Barbara Zoo, California at 4:00 p.m.

A simple way of telling time by the sun is with your own shadow. At the Santa Barbara Zoo, in Santa Barbara, California, is a sundial that is read by standing in the center and casting your own shadow.

Alpha and Omega Sundial in memory of Harriet M. Gale, Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa. Paul T. Granlund, Sculptor

At Grinnell College a sundial in the center of campus honors the wife of a retired physics professor. At the University of North Carolina, the Morehead Sundial is on a plaza near the center of campus and has an accompanying plaque that tells us exactly where we are on Earth. I love sundials. They are beautiful and functional and as long as the sun is shining, will always tell the time.
Happy 8th Anniversary to The Intrepid Tourist!

Morehead Sundial Plaque, UNC Campus, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Grinnell, Iowa: A Small Midwestern Town with Roots in the Past

Grinnell, Iowa, 4th and Main
Grinnell’s downtown, a block of mostly two-story brick storefronts,
 is on the National Register of Historic Places

In early June, Art and I spent five days in Grinnell, Iowa, for both a family and college reunion.  The roots of the Arnold family are in Grinnell and both Art and I are graduates of Grinnell College.  But even if you don’t have a personal connection to Grinnell, it can be a rewarding visit.  For architectural buffs, Grinnell has numerous fine examples of 19th century architecture as well as more modern buildings on the Grinnell College campus.  The most famous building in Grinnell is the Brenton-National Bank of Poweshiek County, originally the Merchant’s National Bank of Grinnell, which was built in 1914 and designed by Chicago architect Louis Sullivan, renowned as the “father of modernism”.  In our student days, it was where we had our checking accounts. Today it houses the Chamber of Commerce. 

Merchant's National Bank, known as the "Jewel Box" Bank, designed by Louis Sullivan

J.B. Grinnell's desk, displayed in the Historical Museum

The town of Grinnell, (current population 9,064) was founded in 1854 by Josiah Bushnell Grinnell, allegedly after he was advised by Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, to “Go West young man, Go West.” (No evidence exists that Greeley actually said this to Grinnell, but Greeley was well-known for promoting expansion of the Western states.)  In any case, Grinnell, who was originally from Vermont, moved to Iowa and established himself as one of its upstanding citizens.  In 1859, he was instrumental in moving Iowa College, a small college in Davenport, Iowa, founded in 1846, to the town of Grinnell, where it became Grinnell College. (It was the first college west of the Mississippi to give Bachelor’s degrees.) Both Art and I were students at Grinnell in the 1960's, as were Art’s parents in the 1930's, his grandfather before that, and many other relatives through the years.

Grinnell College Campus, Fine Arts Building

Grinnell is a typical small midwestern town that developed in the late nineteeth and early the twentieth centuries.  It is in the middle of the state on U.S. Route 6, midway between Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. It developed around the intersection of two railroad lines.  When Art and I were students you could still ride the Rock Island Line from Grinnell to Chicago or Denver.  It no longer operates passenger trains; what was the train depot in Grinnell has been turned into a restaurant.  However, the north/south freight line (the M and St. L) still runs through town, bisecting the college campus.  During our visit (we stayed in the college dorms) I was awakened one night by the whistle of a train rolling through.  When we were students, we had to be careful not to get stranded on the wrong side of the tracks when going to class.

Grinnell Historical Museum, 1125 Broad Street

A highlight of our visit to Grinnell was a visit to the Grinnell Historical Museum, located in a late-Victorian 10-room residence known as the McMurray house. Thousands of items––among them an organ, a Duncan Phyfe sofa, J.B. Grinnell’s Wooten desk from 1877, and the desk from the Monroe  Hotel––arranged throughout the house by Museum volunteers, recreate an authentic atmosphere of Victorian family living. Our tour through the house, expertly led by one of the museum volunteers, was like taking a trip back through time, and we were delighted to find items with connections to the Arnold family, who lived in the town since the early twentieth century.  For hours and more information about the history of the museum go to the website of the Grinnell Historical Museum .

Grinnell Historical Museum, View from the sitting room into the dining room

If you are in Grinnell, you can go to the West Side Diner on Route 6 where some fascinating family and town photos, some taken with a large-format panoramic camera, are displayed on the walls of the cafe and reveal more of the town's history.  We went there for a hearty and delicious breakfast one morning during our visit.
Update, May 3, 2013:  If you would like to know more about J.B. Grinnell you can listen to this interview with Grinnell students who researched his life on Iowa Public Radio.