Idaho History: The old Ada courthouse and its murals are part of our heritage

The most controversial mural in the 1938 Ada County courthouse is the one pictured with this morning’s column. It depicts an Indian about to be lynched by two men armed with rifles. Since the theme assigned the artist was to illustrate Ada County history, the first question raised by the painting is, “Did this ever happen?”

The source of California artist Ivan Bartlett’s subject is unknown, but only one hanging of a Native American in early Ada County has been recorded. His name was Tambiago, a Bannock who was tried for murder and convicted. On June 28, 1878, he was hanged at the Territorial Penitentiary in Boise. Lest racism be considered a factor in Tambiago’s case, it should be noted that the first white man hanged for murder in Southern Idaho was Anthony McBride, convicted of killing a Chinese man. He was executed in Idaho City on June 1, 1868.

Several men were lynched in Ada County in the 1860s, but they were white men lynched by white vigilantes. This was reported by newspapers of the time and was the subject of my Statesman columns of June 28 and July 5.

In today’s age of greater sensitivity to racism than Idaho probably had in 1940, some have found the apparent lynching of a Native American offensive. District Judge Gerald F. Schroeder, who served from 1975 until 1995 and was later chief justice of the Idaho Supreme Court, had an American flag hung over the image. When it was recommended in 2008 that the panel be painted over and something less offensive be painted in its place, State Historian Keith Peterson reminded us that representatives of Idaho’s five Indian tribes have recommended that the murals be preserved just as they are.

When the University of Idaho Law School holds its grand opening event in the old courthouse in September, the current plan is to keep two murals considered offensive covered. Preservation Idaho, the state’s leading nonprofit historic preservation organization, has asked the university not to cover them for that occasion. Most people, and certainly all historians, would agree that much of human history is cruel, violent and unpleasant to contemplate, but that it should not be censored or covered up. How can we humans learn from our mistakes if we deny that they existed? Examples from many eras in our history that should never be forgotten or covered up include the enslavement of black people, the Spanish Inquisition and the Holocaust.

Fletcher Martin’s original plan for the murals was to have a label attached to each panel explaining the episode in county history that it portrayed. Martin suggested that a sign painter be hired to add them to Bartlett’s work, but it was never done.

On the lighter side, part of the fun viewers have had with the murals is pointing out oddities, such as a woman on the third floor of the courthouse with two right arms, and Indian warriors who are supposed to be charging an emigrant wagon train but are charging a steam locomotive instead.

There were also defenders of the artistic merits of the murals from the beginning, notably Conan Matthews, head of the Boise Junior College art department and art critic for the Idaho Statesman. Matthews felt an obligation to educate the public on the qualities unique to the best mural art through the ages, especially its essential flatness in harmony with the wall. In that Bartlett succeeded, and it must be conceded that his panels are well composed.

Good, bad or neutral, the courthouse murals are part of our cultural heritage and must be preserved. Like the courthouse itself, they have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places because they symbolize the era of the Great Depression and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs — programs that put millions back to work on much-needed projects, from schools, post offices and courthouses to roads, bridges and dams. In Idaho alone, seven county courthouses still in use today were built with WPA funds.

Arthur Hart writes this column on Idaho history for the Idaho Statesman each Sunday. Email histnart@gmail.com.