HOLY CITY OF THE WICHITAS – A restored rendering has returned to the Holy City of the Wichitas.
“A new wonder and national treasure of southwest Oklahoma is now back home,” said Ron Jarvis, a member of the Holy City Board of Directors.
Made possible via a $30,000 grant from the McMahon Foundation awarded in March 2022, the piece was first sent to Peggy Van Witt of Overland, Kansas, for refurbishing. FrameMaster art restoration and framing firm in Edmond was tasked with framing the near-60-year-old piece that was unveiled earlier this month.
Depicting Holy City’s earlier days, the piece was discovered in a puddle in the corner of a dank museum storage room in October 2017.
The artifact – a canvas tapestry depicting the Holy City of the Wichitas, painted in 1953 by Allen Fewel (1885-1968) – measures five feet in height by 20 feet wide.
“Once unrolled, the canvas was pinned to a wall in the Reception Hall of the Holy City Museum located in the Wichita Wildlife Refuge near Lawton to dry,” wrote Jarvis in an email to Southwest Ledger.
Intrigued by the discovery, Jarvis and other board members continue to research the tapestry and the history it portrayed. Some speculate it could have been produced in 1933, two decades before the artist’s recovered signature appears; however “No one on the board remembers seeing the mural on display,” said Paul Frable, board president for Holy City of the Wichitas.
“Some buildings and structures represented in other locations than the actual construction,” Jarvis echoed in his email. And “Mount Roosevelt is represented in the mural and the background is a close representation of the site today [which could] that the site had been located and shared with others prior to the WPA (Works Progress Administration) involvement.”
The WPA was part of an American New Deal created in 1935 by Democratic President Franklyn Delano Roosevelt to ramp up the country’s infrastructure and combat skyrocketing unemployment during the Great Depression. At its peak, it was estimated that roughly 3.3 million Americans took part in WPA projects across the country.
Rev. Wallock commissioned engineer and pageant supporter Myron Groseclose (1902-1955) and oversaw the rendering before the project was underway. Labor was provided by the WPA work relief program, Jarvis wrote.
A public grand reopening is in the works once the museum renovations are complete, said Frable.
“We have quite a bit of history out here,” he said. “We’d love to have visitors come out and see the progress. And we’re always looking for curious volunteers as well.”
Appreciating the generosity of the McMahon Foundation, on behalf of the board, Jarvis said we “would not be able to afford the restoration and refurbishment of this one of a kind art treasures. They have been very active in supporting the Holy City through these many years.”
Holy City of the Wichitas is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that relies on donations to fund day-to-day operations. Donations may be sent to The Holy City of the Wichitas, P.O. Box 465, Medicine Park, OK 73557. Donations are tax-deductible.
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