Public Art in the Queen City: Cincinnati’s Labor Murals
Lawrence Smoot | Published on 1/17/2025

When the Cincinnati city government decided in 1930 to build a large new rail station, they chose German immigrant artist Winold Reiss (1886-1953) to decorate parts of the interior with sixteen large 20’ x 20’ mosaics—murals, really– depicting the principal industries of the area. Not only did Reiss accomplish this with real artistry, but he depicted workers at labor in each mosaic. The mosaics depict myriad area industries, including pork processing, piano building, paint manufacture, soap, machine tools, aircraft, drugs and aircraft manufacture. Two of the murals are based on the artistic pottery of Rookwood, a woman-owned business that employed many craftswomen. The mosaic-murals have since been moved and as of early 2025, only five are on display. They can be found in the public areas of the Cincinnati airport, across the river in northern Kentucky. The remaining murals depicting the bygone world of working-class Cincinnati are expected to be installed in the downtown Duke Convention Center when the building’s reconstruction is completed in 2026.
Thurman Wenzl; click here to read the rest of his post on the LAWCHA (Labor and Working-Class History Association) blog