Building a Community

Year

2001

Artist

Edwin W. Yip

Brenda Brunderman

Location

Extra Space Storage
902 Taylor Street

Size

11’ h x 115’ w

Mural Creation Sponsors

Brad Baldwin

The Desguin Family

About the mural

This mural captures the turn of the century lumber and building industry history of Punta Gorda and is based on historic photos. It is our largest mural at 1265 square feet.

Frank Rigell, known as “Big Hank”, came to Punta Gorda in 1925 to manage the West Coast Lumber & Supply Company sawmill located on Taylor Road. When the Great Depression hit and the land boom ended, the lumber yard went into bankruptcy. Rigell bought the building and the remaining stock, renaming it the Rigell Lumber and Supply Company. At that time the railroad owned the land and rented it out.

During World War II, Rigell’s two daughters, Peggy (later Mrs. Victor Desguin) and Jean, worked at the lumber yard while Frank was off to war. Rigell Lumber & Supply Co. also operated the first concrete cement and block plant in the county. The raw materials of sacks of cement and sand had to be unloaded from train gondola cars by hand. A lot of building materials were shipped by barge from the Punta Gorda docks to the islands in Charlotte Harbor for new homes.

Frank sold the business to A.C. Frizzell in 1957 and it became the Charlotte Lumber Company.

The mural was sponsored by Brad Baldwin (owner of the building at the time), and the Desguin Family (grandchildren of the late Frank Rigell) as a reminder of the contributions Rigell made to the local economy as owner of the Rigell Lumber & Supply Company.

The six panels depict: 1. construction of a church; 2. harvesting trees; 3. a sawmill; 4. unloading building materials by hand from a railroad siding; 5. women working during WWII; and 6. delivery of materials by train.

The mural was dedicated on September 12, 2001.

By 2015, the mural was showing its age with major sections beginning to peel away from the wall. Artist Brenda Brunderman volunteered her free time to restore this mural. Over the next two years, she painstakingly repaired and repainted major sections of this mural. The Society was very grateful for the donation of her time and talents to save this large mural.