Barbara Carney
Special to the Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE —
Placed throughout the Vigo County Historical Museum are four recently acquired pen-and-ink renderings that should be noted by visitors when the museum reopens Feb. 5. All done in beautiful detail by talented artist Melinda Richeson Wall, the renderings include the Vigo County Historical Museum, Vigo County Courthouse, Big Four Depot and a grouping of six Terre Haute places of worship.
Wall has a varied background and career in the area of art. After studying art, with an interest in architecture, at Principia College in Illinois, she became popular doing watercolors of individuals’ homes. Always fascinated with architecture, she began looking around Terre Haute at some of its distinguished structures and thus started her meticulous pen-and-ink renderings. Wall retired from teaching art after 32 years in Vigo County and is now focusing on digital photography.
Featured today is a 1982 Wall rendering of the Big Four Depot, which was built in 1888 and stood at Seventh and Tippecanoe streets. After years of service to passengers in and out of Terre Haute, the station closed when railroad travel waned. When efforts to renovate the closed building failed, the depot was demolished in 1986.
The pen-and-ink rendering is displayed on the lower floor of the Historical Museum.
