By: Alyssa Guidugli
Art is something that everyone is fond of, in one shape or another. Our historic little town is no exception to having fine artists as well. Let’s hop back to 1964 and meet Mrs. Peg Truman, a fine artist with a love of history. A versed woman in academics hailing from Corcoran Gallery School of Art in Washington, D.C., the Central Academy of Commercial Art in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the University of Kentucky, where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. After getting a degree in art, she settled down with a family and resided in Bowling Green.
Once she had settled into the city, she began her impressive feat as an artist. She worked mainly as a freelance artist with commission-based works. In 1976, Peg did a series of drawings that focused heavily on the bustle of economic downtown. Two highly featured are as such:
“Bowling Green Railroads Yards”
In 1882, the Bowling Green railroad yards were alive with steam locomotives with their flaring smokestacks and huge oil-burning headlights.
The yards were located near Clay Street and the Portage Railroad. Bowling Green, at the time, was the division point between Louisville and Nashville, and the terminal of the Memphis Line.
“Main Street, 1910”
Main Street, Bowling Green, Kentucky, looking northward from State Street, around 1910, when two-way traffic was the order around the “square,” and “jay-walkers” presented little hazard to vehicular traffic. From the vantage point of the curbstone seats in the shade of the Fountain Park tree, onlookers could watch the summer afternoon happenings of the business district of the city of 9,173 (1910).
Mule-drawn drays and streetcars, as illustrated, had an important place in the history of Bowling Green. All freight arrived by steamboat packet or trains at the turn of the century, and the dray provided a means of final movements of goods to the desired location. Streetcars were used in Bowling Green from 1889 to 1921.
It’s easy to see that Peg cared about her work based on the stunning craftsmanship and time put into the series. A true artist who loved her city and wanted to showcase her talent by bringing history to life. While Peg may have passed in 2020, her gorgeous art lives on in this great city with us.
