Below is an excerpt of Jean Spang's article published
in the Summer 2012 Crow's Nest newsletter.

Visitors to the Ferndale City Hall, for almost 40 years,
were greeted at the top of the foyer stairs by a
6’6” x 13’9” mural depicting George Washington
with his Farewell Address in hand and Valley Forge
behind him. Featured in the lower left-hand corner
of the mural was Washington’s famous quote:

"You have in a common cause fought and
triumphed together. The independence and
liberty you possess are the work of joint
efforts, of common dangers,
sufferings and successes."

George Washington at the top of the Ferndale City Hall stairs. 1976-2010

 

In 1975, in anticipation of the nation’s
Bicentennial in 1976 and with the approval
of City officials, the local Kiwanis Club
and artist Vincent A. Lipovsky,
as a gift to the residents of Ferndale, donated the
Washington mural, to be placed in City Hall
as a lasting reminder of the Bicentennial—the
largest and longest patriotic event that the nation
and Ferndale would ever have.

 

 

Vincent A. Lipovsky (Artist) March 1909-July 1988

Vincent Lipovsky (1907-1988), the painter of the
Washington mural, had a studio in Royal Oak
and was known for his murals in the local Federal
Department Store (Woodward at Nine Mile) and other
area venues. In 2010, after some forty
years of its display in Ferndale’s City Hall,
his Washington mural disappeared.

 

The Ferndale City Hall was remodeled in 2010;
the mural was removed while renovations were in progress.
By 2011, members of the Ferndale Historical Society
began to inquire as to George Washington’s whereabouts,
only to be told repeatedly by city officials that “he”
was “in storage.” Finally, in early 2010, after more
inquiries to various city departments, it was
revealed that the city had deemed that the mural no
longer “fit” and had been “given” to the Dailey
Company in Lake Orion, the construction company
responsible for city renovations. More phone calls
led to Dailey Company officials graciously offering to
return the landmark mural to its rightful
owners—the residents of Ferndale.

 

 

George Washington Prominently Displayed at the Museum

 

On Tuesday, June 19th, 2012, thanks to the Ferndale
Department of Public Works personnel, a large truck
on loan from the Ferndale Public Schools, invaluable
help from the Dailey Company, and heavy lifting by
Roger Schmidt (Historical Society President) and Garry
Andrews (Historical Society Vice-President), the
Washington mural was brought back to Ferndale,
where it was immediately hung in the Ferndale
Historical Museum.

 

Today George Washington, with his Farewell
Address in hand and Valley Forge behind him,
looks across the room at another mural rescued
from Ferndale’s past: the Abraham Lincoln
mural (see the Lincoln mural page of our website).

 

 

Related story in Oakland County Times / 115 HERE

 

 

Unauthorized use or duplication of this material without expressed
and written consent from the Ferndale Historical Society is prohibited.

Revised: April 19, 2021