“This beautiful painting by the artist Jose Aceves commemorates the pioneer founder of McLennan County, Neil McLennan, who first saw the Brazos River valley as a Texas Ranger. ‘Extraordinarily well pleased with the country,’ McLennan had surveyor George B. Erath ‘sketch off three or four surveys’ and returned with his family in 1845. Aceves’ painting is a wall mural in the Mart post office. Courtesy of Stanley Campbell.” (Photo and text from “Our Land Our Lives” (1986) by Patricia Ward Wallace.)

“Jose Aceves moved with his family to El Paso, Texas during the Mexican Revolution in 1910. Mostly self taught, although highly influenced by his friends, Audley Dean Nichols and Tom Lea, Aceves became a well-known Southwestern artist, muralist, sculptor, and designer. During World War II, he worked as an illustrator for the U.S. Navy and afterwards attended American Acadamy of Art in Chicago.” From fineart.ha.com