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Schools

90 Years in 90 Days: The Murals in Oxford Elementary School

90 photos that define Cleveland Heights

Cleveland Heights officially became a city in 1921. Cleveland Heights Patch is by compiling 90 photos to create an album of the city's past and present. We'll run the feature for 90 days, one photo at a time.

Today's photo features one of the Depression-era murals at . The painting, which depicts the Pied Piper of Hamlin, is among several pieces of art created through the Works Progress Administration's Federal Arts Program. The WPA, a government-run work relief effort, was administered during the Great Depression by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. According to the Cleveland Heights Historical Society, the Cleveland branch of the FAP was extremely active in getting grants, so many local artists found work.

"The Cleveland Heights school district requested works pertaining to children’s themes and the American Scene during the late 1930s and 1940s. Oxford Elementary was allocated funding for two murals, two hydrocals (a type of extra-hard plaster) and thirty-five ceramics (although not all the ceramics were completed).

Early in 1937, two murals applied directly to the walls of the first floor corridor were executed at Oxford School by Gladys Carambella. These showed the stories of the Pied Piper of Hamlin and Cinderella in colorful detail." — Source: Cleveland Heights Historical Society

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