Arissa Viering | 07/03/2020 | Goodday Mineral Wells | Wishing Well of Mineral Wells
Brick by brick, the city of Mineral Wells is seeing a revitalization. The famous Baker Hotel and Crazy Water Hotel are being restored. The downtown area is bustling with beautiful shops and restaurants that cook some amazing cuisines. The music scene grants a comforting nostalgia as families gather for their weekend meals. The people are kind and warm….
…and the bricks are painted with some beautiful colors.
Thanks to a group of talented muralists, the bricks of Mineral Wells are showing off some colorful creativity. Each with their own unique story, the murals give a glowing happiness to the downtown streets. While this city has so much history within its remote pocket of the world, it continues to inspire many visiting artists.
Joelle Bolt, one of many local muralists of Mineral Wells, usually paints her original creations. However, her current creation is a historical replica. With ten years of experience and a group of cheerful helpers, Joelle has taken on the task of painting a large-scale replica of Curt Otto Teich’s historical “Greetings from Mineral Wells, TX” postcard.
The history behind the creator of this postcard is an elegant and inspiring one. Curt Otto Teich (1877 – 1974) originated from Germany before traveling to the U.S. He came from a family with many generations of printers and his father was a “printer, newspaper publisher, and book salesman.” In 1905, Teich “boarded a train from Chicago to St. Petersburg, Florida and then, from there, traveled another 2,500 miles by rail to the West Coast.” Along the way, he collected photos of many cities, towns, and streets. These photos would soon be utilized for the creation of numerous postcards. All of which, would only be the beginning of Teich’s success story.
Curt Teich & Company produced postcards for over 100 countries for over eighty years. The majority of postcards created by Teich’s company depicted America’s small towns, diners, boutiques, hotels, and many more shining aspects of each city.
“While Teich returned to Germany in order to research new lithography and printing methods, perhaps the burgeoning tourist postcard industry and specifically the “Grüße aus…” (“Greetings from”) postcard phenomenon, which originated in Germany in the early 1890s, inspired him.”
The creation of the “Greetings from Mineral Wells, TX” postcard was ultimately based upon this phenomenon in combination with the scenery of Mineral Wells.
“Alongside of and intimately connected to this flourishing industry, America’s cultural, social, and physical landscape changed dramatically. With the introduction of the automobile, a national highway network, and a growing middle class, mass tourism emerged. As a result, small towns became destinations. The postcard industry encouraged this development and at the same time was a byproduct of it.”
Since the creation of this postcard in the 1930’s – 1940’s, many historical changes have occurred throughout Mineral Wells. The Mineral Wells we see today is one that is being rebuilt and will continue to flourish as a tourism destination. While postcards once promoted many small towns across America, we see that it is only fitting that Teich’s postcard be painted upon the bricks of this city to promote a former Mineral Wells – granting us the opportunity to appreciate our town’s history as we look towards the future.
As Joelle continues to complete her mural, we hope that you will stop by downtown Mineral Wells to take a look at the progress. We know that this mural will be a beautiful, yet historical, one!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/shookphotos/8876721171/
https://immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=245
https://www.cardcow.com/717304/mineral-wells-texas-greetings-from/
Former Co-Founder | June 2020-Nov 2020 | Graduate of Texas Christian University with a background in medical anthropology, psychology, and creative writing. Passionate about writing novels. Loved the Mineral Wells community and all that it had offered her and her family.
