This mural was painted by Sunny Delipsey and was sponsored by The Terrell Heritage Society and a generous donor.
This mural is dedicated to the No. 1 British Flying Training School (BFTS) located here in Terrell. The flight training school was established in 1941 to train British flyers who, due to the Nazi blitz, could not train in England. The school operated until the end of WWII in 1945.
The first gasoline powered auto in Texas.
Terrell's Volunteer Fire Department had a long time relationship with the City of Terrell as the city’s only fire department for many years.
The mural pays homage to the beginnings of this building as a movie theatre.
Born in Georgia, Oscar Colquitt learned the printing trade, moved to Daingerfield, Texas, founded the Pittsburg, Texas Gazette and published the Terrell, Texas Times-Star.
During World War II thousands of British pilots learned to fly at six civilian training schools in the United States. One of these schools was located in Terrell, Texas. After the United States entered the war, American Aviation Cadets also trained at the school.
Terrell was a great circus town, and the railroads made it easy for the circus to come to town. At times, the population of the town would double on circus day.
The mural on the front of Firmin’s Office Products store is a depiction of the front of the old Lyric Theatre which was located in this building during the time when there were three movie theatres located in downtown Terrell.
The picture on the front is a re-creation of an actual photograph of the staff of the Lyric Theatre taken in 1948. Pictured are (from left to right): Woody Reeves, John Marshall, Minnie Mooser, Tommie Green, Peggy Landers, Thelma Jones, Eunice Wickham, Art Elliott, Reba Choate, Charles (Skipper) Ellis, Billy Shumpert, Cecil McDonald and Carl Rose.
The Terrell Mural Project is an on-going endeavor to portray the history of Terrell through art. Our goal is to bring Terrell's rich history to life through our murals.
We are grateful for the incredible talents of our artists:
Members of the Northeast Texas Fine Arts Alliance,
Sunny Delipsey and
Charlie Bullock,
and for the continued support of The City of Terrell.
The information for the BFTS mural was obtained from the No. 1 British Flying Training School Museum.
Historical information on the other murals was obtained largely from the book “Cap’n Terrell’s Town” written by Dr. Horace Flatt, and also from the Terrell Heritage Museum at 207 North Frances Street in Downtown Terrell. Dr. Flatt’s book may be purchased from the Terrell Heritage Museum or from Books and Crannies at 209 West Moore Avenue. All proceeds from the sale of the books go to the Terrell Heritage Museum.
For more information on the Terrell Mural Project, contact Gayle Harris at the address below.