Historical Murals around Fairfield, MT

Being a long time resident of Fairfield, Montana give me a real sense of home.

In 2018 a group of friends and neighbors decided to form The Fairfield Historical Society. We were fortunate to get our 501c3 that fall.

This was inspired by a one of the members finding an old filing cabinet of very old negatives in the old office of the irrigation district where she worked. This turns into a long story so I won't go there now. But she shared these with the local newspaper publisher and the project expands from there.

Fast forward to now.... here we are planning for the Centennial Celebration of the Greenfields Irrigation District in 2025. In that plan is the installation of murals on some of the buildings on Central Avenue in Fairfield. My art partner, Shelly Walker, and I are in the process of painting murals from the collection of the Author Rothstein photographs taken in the late 1930's. Rothstein was assigned by the Works Administration Program to come to Fairfield to document the homesteaders who were courageous enough to pack up their familes and belongings at start a new home here in the new irrigation district. Along with the Rothstein photographs, which are copyright free, are hundreds of photographs taken by the United States Reclamation Service also copyright free. These photos and drawings date back to the survey crews exploring the Sun River area for development of an irrigation system in the 1920's.

Here are a couple of the murals Shelly and I have finished. The first is Mr. Fred Schoensigle, the first publisher of the Fairfield Times. The lady at the water pump is Christine Seagle from the Greenfield area east of Fairfield.

February 24, 2024

Shelly and I have been working on two murals for the Fairfield Drugstore. We installed these last week.

Jack Goldberg moved to Fairfield in the early 1920’s with his family. He grew up learning to trick ride and trick rope. He entertained many rodeo audiences with his abilities and showmanship. These murals were based on a small collection of photos from the Fairfield Sun Times. Goldberg was inducted into the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2011.