In December 2019, artist Michelle Dubiskas and associate Glendon Jett came to the Museum with a proposal. She volunteered to reproduce Thomas Hart Benton’s “Boomtown” painting and donate it to the Museum at no cost. Her offer was hard to refuse!

While Benton was on a sketching tour of America in 1928, he stayed with friends in the Dilley Hotel in the newly-established City of Borger while traveling through the area. Benton made sketches from the window in his room and later, upon returning to his studio in New York, based his painting on his drawings.

Michelle painted the piece in February of 2020 in a heated indoor space provided by Woody’s Glass Shop in Borger. Friends of the Hutchinson County Historical Museum paid for the materials for the steel base the work is painted on and the structure it is mounted on as well as all the paint needed for the project. The steel surface was fabricated at no cost by the Hutchinson County Road and Bridge crew. Many thanks to all who made a contribution to this effort for the Museum!