At the geographical center of Danbury, Connecticut, is the Main Street Historic District.  It has 97 buildings of historic and architectural significance, and two of them are post offices—the Old Post Office (1876) at 258 Main Street, now home to a financial group, and the current post office at 265 Main Street.  A two-story brick Georgian Revival building with a limestone marble and stained oak interior, it was designed in 1916 by Oscar Wenderoth, director of the Office of the Supervising Architect, an agency of the United States Treasury Department that designed federal government buildings.  The four wards of Danbury met at a point in the middle of the street directly in front of the post office, so it was literally at the center of town.

As Danbury’s Main Street blog told the story back in 2008, all mail processing operations moved to another facility in 2007, thus reducing the Main St post office to a retail operation.  So it came as no surprise that the USPS was considering closing the post office completely.  The proposal met with fierce opposition, and residents succeeded in killing the closing.

“It's like Groundhog Day all over again,” now writes the Hat City Blog.  The location on Main Street is back on the chopping block, and residents are speaking out in opposition again.

As the Danbury Patch reported on May 5, “About 80 people harangued U.S. Postal Service decision-makers in Danbury City Hall Wednesday in an effort to save the Main Street Post Office.”  Local politicians have also weighed in their support for keeping the post office open.  But the future of this historic post office doesn't look good.  After all, there's another place to do your post office business a few blocks away, at the One-Stop Gift Shop.

Photo credits: Post office exterior; Main Street; gift shop)