The expansion and industrialization of America required iron and steel for railroads, bridges, skyscrapers, and tools. The mural shows work at the foundry of the Nashua, New Hampshire, Iron Company.
Left: Women leave their homes to work in a factory, symbolizing a change in American society brought about by industrialization.
Right: The cotton gin represents the replacement of hand labor by mechanization.
About the Cox Corridors Murals
The first floor of the U.S. Capitol's House wing is elaborately decorated with wall and ceiling murals by artist Allyn Cox. The central east-west corridor is referred to as the Great Experiment Hall because it chronicles in 16 murals the legislative milestones of three centuries, from the signing of the Mayflower Compact in 1629 to the enactment of women's suffrage in 1920.