Williamsport Artist Rena Frakeberger & Her Murals

 

RENA FRANKEBERGER 1872-1945
Supervisor of art at the Williamsport schools from about 1909 to 1930

Rena Frankeberger was born June 16 1872, the daughter of Jacob & Rebecca Frankeberger, in Lewisberry, York County Pa. She died July 26rh 1945, aged 73, and is buried in Emanuel Cemetery in York, along with her parents and several of her siblings. Her obituary tells us she was a graduate of Pratt's Institute Of Art, that she taught at the Atlantic City Schools for three years and was supervisor of art in the Williamsport Schools for 13 years.

She earned a bachelors degree in education from Bucknell University in 1927, at the age of 55.  Two years later she was granted a masters degree from Columbia University Teachers College.

The Hiawatha Murals, according to the article by Mary Sieminski, were commissioned during the Depression, after Rena's retirement.  She had returned to Lewisberry, and worked on them there.  The school struggled to pay her.  

Rena Frankeberger died in 1945. She is buried in Emmanuel Cemetery, with her parents and several of her siblings.

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The Projects Of Rena Frankeberger

In Order By Year

(And Nowhere Near A Complete List)

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In 1909, Rena Frakenberger is listed on this collage of Williamsport Schools

Supervisor of Drawing

Public Schools of Williamsport, Pa.: A Collage. First row, left to right: *Curtin, Corner of Packer and Market Streets, A. L. Pepperman, Principal; *Stevens, 1121 Block of Memorial Avenue, -?- Williams, Principal; *High School, Southeast Corner Third and Walnut, P. M. Bullard, Principal; *Franklin, 400 Block of Mulberry, -?- McMurray, Principal; Webster, 1663 Memorial Avenue, J. W. Stout, Principal; Second row, left to right: **Transeau, 400(?) Block of Park Avenue, F. E. Stabler, Principal; **Jefferson, 726 Washington Boulevard at Grove Street, Charles E. Spotts, Principal; *Clay, 1100(?) West Third Street, J. W. Gilmore, Principal; Third row: **Lincoln, 2138 Lincoln Street, Newberry, R. Pepperman, Principal; Fourth row, left to right: *Emery, 520 Park Avenue, J. A. Stadden, Principal; *Penn, 900 Penn Street, F. A. Drick, Principal; *Washington, 201 West Third Street, D. A. R(?)eas, Principal; *Jackson, 2200 Block of Linn Street, Newberry, A. Lehman, Principal. (KEY: * : Buildings not now (2003) standing; ** : Buildings standing but not used as schools). Additional information included in collage: "John G. Reading, Esq., President; Willard M. Dietrick, Secretary; L. R. Cronkrite, Treasurer; -?- Hart, Supervisor of Penmanship; Jessie M. Kline, Supervisor of Music; Charles Lose, Superintendent; A. M. Hoagland, Solicitor; L. A. Sturner(?), F.(?) Prin. Com. Dept.; Rena Frankeberger, Supervisor of Drawing".

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1914 - The J. Wesley Little Mural

One of two mural paintings by J. Wesley Little, In the Franklin School.

Frankeberger was also responsible for the John Wesley Little Mural that was at the Franklin School. There are a few pages in the book about John Wesley Little, about that mural project. I think (I'm pretty certain) that at least part of these murals now hangs in the Taber Museum as well - Unless I am mistaking it for another work by him, that is at the museum.

Frankeberger wrote in a letter to Little in 1913: "I hope you have already planned something for our school building, as I am very anxious indeed that it materializes... I hope to wage an art campaign this winter."

In a 1914 article about the mural unveiling, it explains that the public was not invited because the space was not large enough. It tells us that Frankeberger's object was to have "similar decorations in all the schools" and that the murals at Franklin were the first " to have such a beautiful inspiring piece of art." "The paintings were made by J. Wesley Little of Picture Rocks, and they represent scenes in the Susquehanna Valley. One of the paintings hangs in the front of the main room, and the other in the back. the larger one while representing one scene is in separate panels and can be used alone." The cost of the murals in 1914 was $200 - The equivalent of nearly $6,700 today. The Grit reported that it was considered a low price for such wonderful work. The money for the art was raised by the PTA, and the teachers put on an operetta - Little Snow White - in which the teachers took leading roles, and the students took park. This production, held at Christ Church parish, raised $100.

While the newspapers were generous in their praise of the PTA and school children for their efforts, Little's daughter, in her book about her father, writes:

"Miss Frankeberger was still prodding the PTA - perhaps none too gently."  Reading about her in the book about Little, you get more of a feeling of Frankebergers tenacity, and a suspicion that she was a true force of nature.

In 1966 the murals were removed to the attic, showing extensive damage.   As I mentioned, I do believe that at least part of them are now at the Taber museum - as is the bust of Franklin from the same school building.  The Franklin School closed at the end of the 1980-81 school year.

For more about the mural project, see the facebook post with all of the articles and pages from the book, here - https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14nzboh7JTn/

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1912 - Block Print Calendar

Williamsport Grammar School

1912 Lecture at James V. Brown Library

On Art At The State Capitol

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1914 - Daniel Chester French

Facebook Post Here

Have You Seen A Bronze Bust Of Ralph Waldo Emerson, somewhere in Williamsport?

In 1914, when the new Williamsport High School was built, art director Rena Frankeberger wanted each room in the school to feature an artist. Room 17 was named the French room, for sculptor Daniel Chester French.

You may not know that name - but you certainly know his work. A few years after WHS was built, French completed the sculpture of Lincoln, for the monument in Washington D.C.

When the room at Williamsport High School was named for him, a letter was written to him requesting a photo of himself to add to the room. He was so flattered that he not only sent the autographed photo as requested, but also a life sized replica of his bust of Emerson, cast in bronze, and lantern slides of some of his other works.

"As a young sculptor in Concord, Daniel Chester French hoped to secure portrait commissions and advance his career. In 1879, he convinced Ralph Waldo Emerson to sit for him over thirty times throughout the year and the resulting bust is arguably the best portrait sculpture, and perhaps the best portrait overall, of the famous writer. After French completed the clay bust of Emerson, it was cast in plaster, the replicas of which sold for thirty dollars each. The bust was later carved in marble and cast in bronze."

That 1914 Williamsport High School Building is now part of Penn College. But whatever happened to the bust of Emerson?

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1915 Block Print Calendar

Williamsport Grammar School

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1916 Block Printing

School Arts Magazine, Volume 16, 1916

Rena Frankeberger, Williamsport PA

In a 1916 School Arts Magazine featuring a variety of block print projects, there is a column devoted to Cork Carpet Engraving, to make calendars, explained by Rena Frankeberger.  The calendars were made by Williamsport Grammar School Students.

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1918 - THE CHAUCER PANELS

Paintings from the Williamsport High School Frieze

1918, Rena Frankeberger

Williamsport High School

See more about these here:

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2026/08/1918-frankeberger-chaucer-frieze-in.html

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1932 - THE HIAWATHA MURALS

At Curtin Middle School

Rena Frankeberger took on this project in her retirement, after having moved back to her hometown of Lewisberry.

 With help from the art students at the time, the murals were painted from 1932 to 1935,  during the height of the Depression.  Painting was delayed because the banks were closed. Letters sent to Frankeberger show that she received payments such as $100 from an event they held and $100 from the cafeteria fund. 

From 1932 to 1985, the murals hung in  what used to be the cafeteria, on the 3rd floor of the school.

Over the years, the murals accumulated grease and grime, from hanging in the cafeteria.  They were cut in random places, to accommodate electrical outlets, and exit signs. In 1985, When the school was being renovated, the murals were taken down and put in storage.  There they remained, stacked on a floor for 15 years.

In 2002, fundraising began - about $45,000 in private funds was raised. Mickey Mapstone spent 7 summers restoring the work, which was dedicated in a public ceremony in 2014.  The murals now line the halls on the ground floor of the Curtin School - behind protective glass.

See more about the history of these murals here:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/189ruMtbyb/

See Photos of the Murals in 2026 here:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18HyYvJqZ3/

A Painting By Rena Frankeberger, gifted to John J. Swan as a thank you for his work on the Hiawatha Mural Project.  

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July 1945

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The Hiawatha Murals At Curtin - The History	Rena Frankeberger & Some Of Her Projects	Hiawatha Mural Photos 2026
The Chaucer Frieze, 1918	J. Wesley Little The artist From Picture Rocks	The 1930s Linoleum Book - Middle School Art Project

Tangled Tangents - Art Week At Williamsport High School, 1919

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2026/08/tangled-tangents-frankeberger-little.html

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Check the collection at Bucknell, I found a mention of Frankebergers art that leads me believe they may have at least one of her works there.

In 1937, the 9th grade class of Theodore Roosevelt Junior High School in Williamsport produced a book of linoleum block printing.

"While some members of the class made block prints of noteworthy scenes of Williamsport, others did extensive research into the history of the city and wrote the brief historical sketches which accompany the prints" This was after the time of Rena Frankeberger's tenure at Williamsport, but it is quite obviously a continuation of the block printing calendars she had began as early as 1912.

See photos from the book project here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1GjUjGKiDW/

The Stevens Murals

I do not yet know anything about these, but we do know that it was Frankebergers mission to have this sort of art in every school...

In 1917, she lived as a boarder in the home of Charles W. Sones, on Elmira Street.

Tangled Tangents - Frankeberger, Little, French & Dodge

Tangled Tangents - 

The "Lost" Canterbury Murals by Rena Frankeberger, Bronze Emerson Bust by the same sculptor that sculpted the Lincoln Monument in Washington D.C.,  And My Disappointment In Missing Out on An Event That Occurred in Williamsport in  1919, Featuring All Of Those Items And More.

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In January 1919, there was a "Brilliant Exhibits of Pictures" at the Williamsport High School.  I am extremely disappointed to have missed it.  

One of the Canterbury Murals from Frankebergers 1918 Project

The program included the Canterbury Frieze (If you have seen the Frankenberger murals at Curtin School in Williamsport, the Chaucer murals were one of her earlier projects, as art director in the Williamsport Schools). 

 Another room exhibited works by J. Wesley Little, where locals could view work that had recently "delighted connoisseurs who have viewed them at the Chicago Art Institute, and the Philadelphia Water Color Club."

Also available for viewing was the  new "French Room", which was named for sculptor Daniel Chester French exhibited not only photos of the sculptors work, but also an actual bronze bust of Emerson, gifted to the school by the artist.  One of the photos in the room was of the sculpture 

And there was also a display of local scenes painted by C. Reginald Thomson, who assisted with the Canterbury Murals as well.

Wouldn't this be the most amazing fundraiser, if it could somehow be re-assembled today? 

(Full Article At The Bottom Of the Page)

This research all started after my visit to the Curtin School to see Frankebergers Hiawatha Murals this week. Painted in the 1930s, the murals were packed away in 1985, in rather pitiful condition.  They had been displayed in the 3rd floor cafeteria, where years of grime had accumulated, and they had also been hacked away at for various outlets and signs to be added over the years.    The murals were restored over a 3 year period by Mickey Mapstone, and today they are on the first floor of the Cutin school, lining the halls, behind glass, and constantly on display.  This alone is pretty amazing.

But when I had first learned of these murals, I had also come across an article about her earlier work - the Canterbury Frieze (Murals).  So I set out to learn more about those , and that's when I came across this event in 1919, that I, missed out on because it occurred before my grandmother was born.  

In my research, I came across a  1918 American Magazine of Art article that "Williamsport has named one of it's public schools after Mr. Daniel Chester French, which he claims is the greatest honor he has received" - I assumed it was a mistake.  To my knowledge there is no school named for French.  

Williamsport had just constructed a new High School in 1914.  Today this building still stands, part of Penn College.

The Magazine further stated that "In this school are photographs and casts of some of his chief works.  Thus, Williamsport, a small and far from famous city in Pennsylvania, has set a praiseworthy example of appreciation of art to older, larger, and more noted cities of America."

A bit more searching brought me to a 1918 article in the Williamsport Sun, explaining that it was the idea of Miss Frankenberger (Rena Frankenberger, art director at Williamsport) to decorate each of the rooms in the new school with the art of one artist. I had no doubt she would be the driving force behind this.  

Miss Braine was specifically interested in the work of Daniel Chester French, and chose to dedicate room 17  to him - The French Room.  The class of 1914, the last two graduate from the old school, left money for this endeavor.  

Miss Braine wrote to French, and received not only an autographed photo of the artist,  but the artist was so flattered to have a room named for him that he also sent a replica of his bust of  Emerson,  "which is life size in bronze...  and  lantern slides of some of his works."   

Sculptor Daniel Chester French is shown in his studio working on a bust of industrialist Ambrose Swaysey, with a model of French’s statue for the Lincoln Memorial in the background

If you don't believe you are familiar with French's works, I am certain you would at least recognize one - the statue of Lincoln, in the memorial at Washington D.C.  But he has quite a few others you may recognize as well.

Daniel Chester French 1850 - 1931 was inspired by Louisa May Alcott, and her sister Abigil May Alcott, who went by May, and who many  of us may recognize as Amy in, Louisa's  Little Women.   

 Others who lived in the same town with French  at that time included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and it Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  French was a relative of Daniel Webster. 

In both a neighborhood, and family, of over achievers following their passions, Daniel at age 19 was struggling to find his own path.  

 And then, at the age of 19, he sat under a tree and whittled a turnip, or so the story goes.  His parents immediately, and enthusiastically, praised his talent, in turnip whittling.  

After failing to find a school for sculptors, he returned home and was tutored by May Alcott (Louisa's sister) who had studied sculpture in Paris.  

"As a young sculptor in Concord, Daniel Chester French hoped to secure portrait commissions and advance his career. In 1879, he convinced Ralph Waldo Emerson to sit for him over thirty times throughout the year and the resulting bust is arguably the best portrait sculpture, and perhaps the best portrait overall, of the famous writer. After French completed the clay bust of Emerson, it was cast in plaster, the replicas of which sold for thirty dollars each. The bust was later carved in marble and cast in bronze."

The Gazette article, in 1919,  later describes the items at the school as "pictures of the following pieces" placed by the class of 1914 in the Art Room.  Personally I'm curious if Miss Baine and Miss Frankeberger was aware of the connection to the Princeton Sculpture, and Williamsport.

The Contents of the Williamsport High School Exhibit:

• Alma Mater
• The Alice Freeman Palmer Memorial
• The Princeton Student
• Death Staying The Hand Of The Sculptor

The Princeton Student was, according to decades later article in the  Williamsport Grit, "a representation of Princeton Student Earl Dodge who was prominent in athletics and in the religious life of this great school.  

His grandfather, William E. Dodge, was the founder and for many years the manger of Dodge Mills of Williamsport - at one time the very largest lumber mills in the world.  Those were in the days of prominence of Williamsport as the 'Lumber City' ".  

Dodge Mill, Newberry (Later the location of Sweets Steel)

The statue was displayed in front of, not coincidentally, Dodge Hall at Princeton, then moved around and leant out for awhile, before returning to Princeton.  One of the locations it was moved for temporary display was the Panama-Pacific International Exposition.

In 1937, for Art Week, a series of programs were scheduled each morning to call attention to the "noteworthy paintings in the public school buildings".  The program was given each morning at the Roosevelt School, and repeated on the radio in the afternoon.  The program subjects included:

• The J. Wesley Little frieze in the franklin school
• The Hiawatha Murals in the Curtin School
• The Paintings at the Roosevelt School
• the Works of Daniel Chester French in the Senior High Building 
• The Friezes in the Williamsport High School Building, "including Caterbury tales, Holy Grail, and the Founding of The State Of Spiritual Liberty".

So we know Frankebergers Chaucer murals were still on display in 1937....

But where are they now? And where is the bust of Emerson? I call them "Lost", but for all I know, they are still in one of the Williamsport Schools, or possibly even at the Taber Museum?

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Dodge Mills, Princeton, Daniel Chester French

In 1914, when the new Williamsport High School was built, art director Rena Frankeberger wanted each room in the school to feature an artist.  Room 17 was named the French room, for sculptor Daniel Chester French.  One of the photos of French's work, to be displayed in room 17, was The Princeton Student.  Was Miss Braine aware that that work was modeled on a descendent of Williamsport's Dodge Lumber Mill?

The Princeton Student was, according an  article in the  Williamsport Grit, "a representation of Princeton Student Earl Dodge who was prominent in athletics and in the religious life of this great school.  His grandfather, William E. Dodge, was the founder and for many years the manger of Dodge Mills of Williamsport - at one time the very largest lumber mills in the world.  Those were in the days of prominence of Williamsport as the 'Lumber City' ".  

The connection is admittedly somewhat tenuous - although William Earl Dodge bought land along Pine Creek and founded the Dodge Mill, it was merely one of several businesses he owned, and he did not reside in Pennsylvania.  William Earl Dodge 1805-1883 married Melissa Phelphs, the daughter of a metal merchant.  Dodge and his father in law founded the mining firm Phelps, Dodge and Company.

Statue Of William Earl Dodge 1805-1883

"Dodge also helped start the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), and staunchly supported the Prohibition Movement, serving as President of the National Temperance Society from 1865 to 1883. A statue honoring his good work was commissioned by John Quincy Adams Ward (1830–1910), which stands today at the northeast corner of Bryant Park [In New York City]."

Dodge Mills was located in Newberry - the site was later occupied by Sweets Steel.  It was a very large operation - Dodge Row was company homes for the workers, and The Second Baptist Newberry Church on Third and Depot streets was built by those workers, using Dodge Mill lumber.

 “The Princeton Student,” by Daniel Chester French was a bronze statue originally erected as a monument to the establishment of the Union of Christian Students at Princeton. It was located near Dodge Hall and the University Chapel. The granite base was inscribed with the dedication: "To mark the birthplace of the world-wide Union of Christian Students in work for Christ."

William Earl Dodge III (1858-1884)

Cleveland Dodge, grandson of William Earl Dodge (1805-1883),  commissioned a bronze sculpture of his brother, William Earl Dodge III (1858-1884) by the artist Daniel Chester French.  The statue was  unveiled in 1913, the year before the new high school was completed in Williamsport.

 The seven foot, six-inch figure of "The Princeton Student", a young man in a football uniform was modeled from a photograph of Dodge III. 

William Earl Dodge III attended Princeton from 1876-1878.  He was captain of the National Champion Princeton Tigers Football Team in 1877.  He was also good friends with fellow classmate, and future president, Woodrow Wilson.

Dodge III married Emmeline Harriman, and they had two children, before Dodge II died, age 26,  on September 14th 1884- just a year after his grandfather's death.   

The Princeton statue was displayed in front of, not coincidentally, Dodge Hall at Princeton, then moved around and leant out for awhile, before returning to Princeton.  

The object of many student pranks, it was taken off-view in 1931 and later, loaned to the Daniel Chester French Foundation. Today, it can be seen in the lobby of Jadwin Gymnasium.

 One of the locations it was moved for temporary display was the Panama-Pacific International Exposition.

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