There was never a time when art was not a fascination of mine. Our family moved to Elwood in the early 1940s and there were trains (steam engines in the early days), great looking automobiles (especially the 1949 Buick Roadmasters), comic books, Sunday newspaper comic strips, the Douglas Skyrocket and then Space Patrol on TV. Drawing was always a talent of mine and hours were spent drawing from those sources into high school and beyond.

With no formal training over those years, painting came much later and in 1983, the Elwood Glass Festival Art Show & Contest offered a chance to exhibit a few of the paintings. Few people knew of my artwork, but the only painting entered in the Art Contest (it had to contain glass) won top prize. Before the weekend was over, the five additional paintings for sale were sold.

The 1983 Glass Festival winner was my last oil painting. Acrylics appealed to me and it’s the only medium I’ve used since. Because of my strong interest in Elwood’s rail history, the paintings have been related to dates, names and places as they occurred.

Tom Stone was instrumental in the paintings becoming an integral part of Elwood’s rail history. Although Tom and I never met, we talked on the phone a couple of times before he passed away. It was then that I contacted the Elwood Public Library, talked to Jamie Scott a few times and from that moment on, she became the agent for most all of what’s happened since.

My paintings can be found in homes between all four corners of the United States and in Canada. Several years ago, the paintings became the basis for a New Year’s card and my card list is now quite extensive. Future cards will use some of the paintings from this collection.

Marvin E. Crim

WLWHS 1957

November 2024