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If you stand facing North with your back to this particular black and white mural, you will have pretty much the exact same view of the bridge that is depicted in this new artwork. The 9-by-18-foot mural took about six weeks to complete. The notable artist who designed it explained that it took four men to piece it together because it was constructed on multiple parts of plywood. This icy creation is a visual time machine: it illustrates the many booming businesses that flourished right here on the Poughkeepsie waterfront in 1888 underneath what was then the Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge — and is now the world-famous Walkway Over the Hudson.
From the 1600s to the 1800s, the docks on the waterfront were filled with merchants searching for many goods, including machinery, textiles, lumber, and more. During the frigid winter months, one particularly flourishing industry was ice harvesting: removing large chunks of ice from the river to be delivered to areas all around the world. The Poughkeepsie docks pictured in this mural were involved in storing ice as it was transported up and down the Hudson River. During this time period, New York City was purchasing 285,000 tons of ice a year. With the invention of manufactured ice, the natural ice industry in the region declined during the pre-World War I era.
Do you know where this historic mural is located? (Extra credit if you name the artist who created this masterpiece.) Submit your answer in the form below; the first reader with the correct response wins a prize. Good luck!