ACL Train Station Mural Circa 1913

This painting was done in 1985. It is a single piece of canvas stretched 6 feet high and 26 six feet long.  It depicts the ACL Train Station that stood in downtown St. Petersburg until the 1960's. The time period for the piece is 1913. 

The train station itself was torn down but the building that was the warehouse for the train station was not. In the mid eighties that building was completely rebuilt brick by brick and is now a Bank and other businesses.  I used postcards from the Historical Museum for my reference material.

There is an interesting story about this painting. 

When I was asked to do this piece there was not enough time to finish it before the grand opening of the building.

The opening was a black tie affair that was also a fund raiser for a children's charity.
I suggested that I attend the opening and paint on the piece as part of the evening's entertainment. At that time the painting was about three quarters done.

So there I was at the opening painting on the canvas. I was working on one of cars when one of the guests asked me if I would paint his wife's birthday in the license plate as a tag number.
For once I was quick on my feet. "Sure", I said and quickly spotted an empty jar.
"For $100.00 charity contribution."

The couple laughed but ponied up the cash and I painted in her birth date as a tag number.
Well the word spread quickly and we raised over five hundred dollars on tag numbers alone. Some people threw money in the jar and I let them paint on the piece. Then the President of the then bank gave three hundred to have his wife's birth date on the train. All in all it was good idea.