Groundhog Day in Danbury: Historic Post Office on the Chopping Block—Again

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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)

Historic Pass-a-Grille, FL, post office to close, believe it or not

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The Old Town of Pass-a-Grille is an officially designated historic district located in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida.  The district contains 97 buildings, and at its center is Eighth Avenue, a one-block stretch between the gulf and the bay.  In the 1940s, Ripley's Believe it or Not deemed Eighth Avenue the smallest main street in America. 

Pass-a-Grille has had a post office for over a century, and it’s been on Eighth Avenue since the 40s.  The post office was slated to be closed in 2009, but residents rallied and the post office was temporarily spared.  According to the St. Petersburg Times, residents learned a couple of weeks ago that it will be closing on June 17.

“Everyone picks up their mail there," said Nancy Shannon, a longtime Pass-a-Grille resident. "I've been living here for over 50 years. I came down as a bride-to-be from New York.  Ever since then, I've bought my packages and stamps there. It is a core community place. After 2009, we thought the issue had been laid to rest. We were lulled into thinking that everything was okay."

As the St. Pete Times describes it, the Pass-a-Grille post office is very small, with room for just a few customers at a time.  It's the kind of place where they keep gum drops on the counter for the kids and dog biscuits behind it.  The post office is a local magnet, said one resident, and "how we keep in touch with all the people that live out here." Another added, "It would be kind of crazy to think of this place without a post office."

(Photo credits: Eight Avenue;  protest; postcard)

UPDATE: June 17, 2011: The post office closed on Friday, June 17, 2011. The St. Petersburg Times has an beautiful piece by Leonora LaPeter Anton, "Tearful locals bid farewell to tiny, historic Pass-a-Grille post office."

Horror Story in Lakewood, NJ

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The post office in downtown Lakewood, New Jersey, was built by the WPA in 1938.  Located at the corner of Clifton Avenue & Main Street, it’s undergone a few changes over the years, like an addition on the north side and renovation of the interior, but for the most part it looks like it did back in 1938. 

The Asbury Park Press reports that the USPS announced this week that it would be closing this historic post office and selling the building.  Postal services for the community will be moved to a facility in the Lakewood Industrial Park on the outskirts of the town.  A real estate specialist for the Postal Service told Lakewood officials there would be a benefit for the town because the building, once sold, could be added to the town’s tax roll.  Town officials and local residents were not impressed with the argument, and they passed a resolution Thursday night making it known that it considers the move by the postal service to be "extremely inappropriate."

Lakewood was settled before the American Revolution, and it’s had mail service since the early 1800s, when a man was hired to deliver letters and other valuables to and from Freehold, a connecting point to New York and Philadelphia.  In 1880, citizens had an election to choose the village’s name, and on March 20 the Post Office officially recognized the village as "Lakewood.”  In the early 1900s, it became a vacation resort for the wealthy: the Rockefeller family estate is now Ocean County Park, and Jay Gould’s is now Georgian Court University (wikipedia).  With a population of over 92,000, Lakewood is the seventh largest community in New Jersey.

Though set on Long Island, The Amityville Horror was actually filmed partly in Lakewood.  The story of a haunted house where a mass murder had taken place, the film was a huge box office success, but it got some negative reviews, like one from Roger Ebert, who described it as "dreary and terminally depressing.”  The same goes for the closing of Lakewood’s New Deal post office.

(Photo credit: Postcard: Cardcow.com: Post office: Waymarking.com; Amityville)

It all just goes and comes around in Freehold

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Freehold, New Jersey, has had a post office since 1795, and it once had a New Deal post office.  Built in 1934 by the WPA, it boasted a historic mural of Revolutionary War hero Molly Pitcher, painted in 1936 by Gerald Foster of Westfield.  The mural now hangs in  the  Monmouth County  Library, and the post office building now houses the Sheriff’s office and the Department of Consumer Affairs.

In 1991, a new, larger post office was built a few miles away, and downtown Freehold came to be served by a satellite post office, first located in a pharmacy, then an office supply store, and, since 2002, by a trailer in a parking on Lafayette Street.  Humble though it may be, the “temporary” trailer post office has been a welcome presence in the community.  Back in 2009, when  the USPS announced it would be closing this post office, citizens and government officials united in protest, and the post office was “taken off the chopping block.”

“Freehold Borough is a very pedestrian town,”  Mayor Michael Wilson said at the time. “People park their cars and walk around to run their errands. . . If people had had to travel to Freehold Township for their postal needs, it would mean more cars on the road, more traffic and fewer people taking advantage of our town’s wonderful business district.”

Freehold Director Barbara McMorrow added, “Monmouth County has an obligation to fight for our residents, and, in this case, we have done just that and won.  Access to a U.S. Post Office is something we promise our citizens, and if that post office can be reached without need of a car, which would only add to the traffic and pollution in our area, than the win is even sweeter. I thank the Postal Service officials who made the right judgment.”

This week the USPS announced it would be closing the "temporary" Freehold post office in July. “This is an abomination,” said Councilwoman Sharon Shutzer, an outspoken opponent of the plan. “This is the result of some empty suit sitting in Washington, D.C., looking at a map and seeing that there are two post offices in one ZIP code.”

Freehold is the birthplace of Bruce Springsteen, who wrote a song about growing up “In Freehold."  The song ends:

“Don't get me wrong, I ain't puttin' anybody down
In the end it all just goes and comes around
In my hometown back in Freehold.”

 

(Photo credits: postcard of the New Deal post office; temporary post office; mural; Springsteen poster)

Prelude to a Closure

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The North County Times reports that the Postal Service plans to shift 11 postal carriers’ home base from the Winchester, California, post office to a postal delivery center, and the news has prompted concern from some members of the community that this is the prelude to closing the post office completely.  Residents say a closure “would take away a key focal point for a rustic, rural community being pressed on all sides by suburban sprawl.”

It would also wipe out a prominent piece of Winchester’s past.  “It’s part of this valley’s history,” said Andy Domenigoni. “My great-grandfather started it.”  The Winchestor post office was established in 1880 as a stagecoach center and  a mail transport center.  A few years later it  moved to the the town’s general store, where it resided for over 80 years.  It’s been at the current location since 1985.

Done Deal: New Deal P.O. in Westport, CT, Sold

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The post office at 154 Post Road in Westport, Connecticut, was built in 1935 by the New Deal.  It was designed by Lansing Holden, a World War I flying ace, who won the Distinguished Service Cross.  Returning home from the war, he took up his father’s profession as an architect.  Holden continued to fly, and in 1938 he died in a crash trying to land in bad weather. 

As reported in the Westport Patch, the Postal Service decided back in December 2009 to sell the post office.  The explanation was that "the USPS is having financial problems, customers have trouble finding parking spaces by the building, and the building is larger than Westport postal workers need now that mail is sorted in Norwalk." The building was  appraised at $3.6 million, according to Westport tax records.

The Westport News reports that the post office was sold on May 18 for $2.35 million, to a real estate company named Ansley Westport Partners, based in Atlanta. The new owners of the building will seek a retailer or restaurant as a tenant.  "It's a unique and historic building. We appreciate the importance of the building to Westport," said Ansley Westport principal and Atlanta-based lawyer, Alon Panovka. "We would like to find a tenant that will enhance the downtown Westport area."

Westport will continue to have its own post office—it's relocating a few block away, to Playhouse Square.  Postal Service officials have not yet disclosed a relocation date.

As the Westport Patch reports, local merchants are bemoaning the closing of the post office. "It's terrible. Just a shame," said Joe Canicatti, owner of Joe's Pizza,which is just across the street from the post office. "We are going to lose a lot of foot traffic. Everybody's moving out. It's disappointing."

Westport, by the way, was the home of artist Robert Lamdin, who painted New Deal murals in the nearby Bridgeport post office and elsewhere in Connecticut.

UPDATE: The post office closed with the first of the year, Jan. 2012.

(Photo credit: Westport News and Westport Now)

Postal Regulatory Commission Chair testifies to Senate on the closings

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The Postal Regulatory Commission is is an independent government agency charged with oversight of the Postal Service.  Ruth Y. Goldway is the chairman of the Commission, and she testified before the Senate yesterday (May 22, 2011).  A key part of her statement concerned the closings of post offices across the country.  She made two key points:  (1) the Postal Service has already gone too far in its closing process without first getting an Advisory Opinion from the Commission, and (2) the Postal Service is ignoring the public’s rights to notification and participation in the closing process.  Here’s an excerpt from her statement (here‘s the full statement):

“The Postal Service has said that it plans to request an Advisory Opinion within months related to the closing of a large number of post offices nationwide. It is apparent, however, from the volume of news reports and customer inquiries received by the Commission from around the country that the Postal Service is already taking substantial action to close post offices or evaluate them for closure. The Postal Service has not provided details of this activity to the Commission.

“I am concerned that the Postal Service should not be undertaking nationwide service changes without first requesting an Advisory Opinion. Their suggested timing of such a request may obfuscate the purpose and intent of Congress in requiring such Advisory Opinions.

“The Commission has provided comments to the Postal Service’s Federal Register filing regarding changes to the closings process, as well as in an Advisory Opinion on Station and Branch Closings. I am concerned the public’s rights to notification and participation in the closing process are now ignored. The Postal Service is a government monopoly with obligations to all its citizens, not only a delivery service for business mailers — as important as that may be to our nation’s economy.

“Effective regulatory oversight is especially vital when the entire mail system faces major changes. The Commission ensures transparency, accountability and adequate service levels and supports positive changes needed to keep the Postal Service vital and relevant.”

New Deal Post Office in Camas, WA: Going, going, gone

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The post office in downtown Camas, Washington, was built in 1939 under the New Deal, and it's been on the National Register of Historic Buildings since 1991. 

The Camas post office contains a mural, sponsored by the Section of Fine Arts, painted by Douglas Nicholson in 1941. Entitled "Beginning of a New World," it depicts Northwest settlers and a Native American woman as well as local industries of lumber, dairying, fruit and grain, and fishing.  (More on the history of this post office, here.)

The Postal Service announced back in late 2009 that the Camas post office would be closing, a decision decried by residents and city officials. “You’re taking a sound establishment from the core of downtown, which will have a detriment to the downtown businesses,” said Brent Erickson, executive director of the Camas-Washougal Chamber of Commerce. “With businesses that have moved out of the area or closed up shop, we’ll have that much less of a walking traffic down here.”  “It’s used by many, many, many people,” City Manager Lloyd Halverson said. “It’s got nice architecture to it. It would be a loss to the downtown area.”  Mayor Paul Dennis criticized the Postal Service for its decision and expressed his concerns, but the city was essentially “blown-off” by the Postal Service and said it was going to move forward with the consolidation.

The Columbian reported on April 13, 2011, that the Vancouver-based Last U.S. Bag Co., will be buying the building for the asking price of $430,000.  Last U.S. Bag Co. sells custom-sewn bags and cases, and it will use the post office as a showroom and office space.

Beginning in the fall of this year, citizens will need to use an annex on the outskirts of town for their retail services and post office boxes.

More about the community's response on its Facebook page, Save the Camas PO.

(Photo credit: exterior; mural; annex.)

Historic post office in Sheffield, AL: Rumors of closing

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The post office in Sheffield, Alabama, was built in 1930, and it's on the National Register of Historic Places.  It is rumored to be haunted by a former postal employee.  Sheffield is the birthplace of actor and senator Fred Thompson (born 1942), who, coincidentally, worked at a post office in Tennessee where he attended high school.  Sheffield is just a few miles from Florence, Alabama, home to one of the best examples of Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian style (1939-40).

The Times Daily is reporting that the Postal Service, starting July 16, will consolidate delivery services and move them from the Sheffield post office to a new facility out on the highway in nearby Tuscumbia.  USPS spokesman Joseph Breckinridge said  the change is a cost-saving measure that will not affect the retail operations of the downtown Sheffield post office. “We crunched the numbers and it comes out to the good,” Breckinridge said. “The Internet is chewing us up, and we're just trying to deliver the service and trying to think in new ways and cut costs.”  Apparently the consolidation has citizens worried, and the rumors are beginning that the Sheffield post office may eventually be closed completely. 

(Photo credit: jimmywayne, on flickr)

New Deal post office in Somerville: For Sale

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The Union Square post office on Washington Street in Somerville, Massachusetts, was built in 1935, under the New Deal. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. As the Somerville Patch reports, the USPS is planning to move most of the Union Square operations to another location, sell the historic building, and lease back some space in the Union Square area for a small retail post office.   The town of Someville is itself considering purchase of the building, and perhaps turning the building into a performing arts center.  The lobby contains an original  mural that is part of the Post Office’s “New Deal Art Collection”  entitled “A Skirmish between Bristish and Colonists” painted in 1939 by Ross. E. Moffett.

(Photos: Exterior: Someville Patch; mural: jimmywayne of flickr, used with permission of the USPS.)

It don’t look good, news is bad: New Deal P.O. in Ukiah, CA, to close

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The post office in Ukiah, California, was built in 1937 under the New Deal.  It may close in a few weeks.  On Feb. 23, the Postal Service announced its intention to close this downtown post office and move its services to an annex at the edge of the city.  A meeting was held on April 21, and more than 200 people turned out to protest.  More might have shown up, but postcards announcing the meeting mysterious arrived a week after the meeting.  (Watch a video of the meeting here.)

The post office contains some historic murals, like the one pictured here, "Resources of the Soil," by Ben Cunningham (1938).  (For more info, see the Facebook page local citizens are maintaining about their efforts to save the Ukiah Post Office.)

Ukiah is the birthplace is folksinger and protest activist Holly Near, whose song "Show Up" contains these lyrics:

It don’t look good, news is bad
You know I lost all hope that I thought I had
But what if good news is on the way
Wouldn't you hate to miss that day
You gotta show up get ready
See if you know how to rock steady

(photo credit: ukiahpostoffice.com).

UPDATE: June 21, 2011: Mercury News reports, "Historic post office in downtown Ukiah to close": "The Postal Service said Monday that it would shut down the downtown post office and relocate its services to another facility near Highway 101. . .  Postal officials have said the mural would be preserved if the building is sold."  Some 5,000 signatures had been gathered opposing the closing. 

Palm Beach Story

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In October of  2010, residents of Palm Beach, Florida, learned that their post office would be closing.  An historic structure built in 1936 by the New Deal, it's listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Residents had a few weeks to protest, and protest they did, but to no avail—the post office is closing, probably sometime in June. 

The post office has already been sold—to real estate mogul and former Democratic candidate for the Senate, Jeff Greene.  Greene says he plans to use the Mediterranean-style building to house the offices of his Palm Beach-based company, Florida Sunshine Investments, Inc.

“I’ve known that building since I was a little kid, and I didn’t want anything bad to happen to it,” said Greene.  As a teenager he used to pick up his father’s mail there.  “I have a sentimental attachment to the post office,” Greene said. “What a marvelous building.”

How Greene made his millions became an issue when he ran for the Senate in 2010.  In the Democratic primary, his opponent accused him of becoming a billionaire by trading the  credit default swaps that helped plunge the country into a recession. 

There was some truth to the accusation. As Forbes Magazine reported back in 2008 in a story entitled “The Reluctant Billionaire,” “Greene is one of those rare people who smelled trouble in housing when times were flush and made a contrarian bet that they wouldn't last.  He did so by creating his own virtual hedge fund and buying credit default swaps that rose in value as subprime mortgages fell.”  He earned a quick $800 million profit and a place on The Forbes 400 with a net worth of $1.4 billion.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission has approved Greene’s renovations plans, which involve maintaining the building’s main lobby (as required by preservation convenants) but adding a second floor to the back of the building and demolishing the central service counter to make room for a hallway.  The Commission is undecided for now on whether to keep the gold-painted sign above its entrance, “United States Post Office Palm Beach Florida.”

(Photos: Wikipedia: Post office entrance, mural, and interior.

UPDATE: June 23, 2011: The Palm Beach Daily News reports that a new post office has opened in the Royal Poinciana Plaza,a retail and office complex.  It's just a few blocks down from the now-closed main branch building.  “It’s great. But I like the other one better,” said customer Gaudi De Pedro.  "The other building was more of a traditional place. It was unique.  I always saw all my neighbors there."  The postal service has signed a 10-year lease for the space.  No ribbon-cutting ceremony was held for the new facility.

UPDATE: August, 2012: According to the Postal Service's new facilities list for leased properties, the annual rent on the new Palm Beach post office is $101,080.  

Historic Post Office in Athens, PA: Don’t Bet on It

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The rich heritage of post offices built during the New Deal is being dismantled by the Postal Service, piece by piece.  The post office in Athens, Pennsylvania, may be closing soon.  The Sayre, PA, Morning Times reports today, “According to the Postmaster (who is not a local), a truck will come in Memorial Day weekend to move the majority of the building out and on June 4, employees were informed to report the Sayre Post Office for work.  One clerk and one maintenance man will man the office in Athens until the final shutdown is scheduled.”

The Athens, PA, post office was built in 1939, and it features, like many of the New Deal buildings, a mural of historic interest. It’s entitled “General Sullivan at Tioga Point,” painted in 1941 by Allan D. Jones, Jr. xx

The “father of American music,” Stephen Foster, was born about 50 miles away, in Lawrenceville, and he attended school in Athens from 1839 to 1841. At the age of 14, he wrote his first composition, Tioga Waltz, and performed it during commencement exercises.  The site of his famous song “Camptown Races” is just 30 miles from Athens.  You can bet your money on de bob-tail nag, but don’t bet on the Athens New Deal post office coming out ahead.

UPDATE: August 20, 2015: Postal maven Evan Kalish is on the scene and reports that the historic Athens post office is still in use and intact!

(Photo credits: Athens post office; mural photo by jimmywayne, on flickr, with permission of USPS.)

Robbing Northfield, MN, of its New Deal Post Office

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The post office in Northfield, Minnesota was built by the New Deal  in 1936.  It is on the National Register of Historic Places, and it's  a cornerstone of the Northfield Downtown Historic District.  The Postal Service has announced it will close this historic downtown post office and consolidate services at an annex a few miles away.

KYMN radio reports today that the Northfield city council is sending a letter to the USPS District Area Manager requesting the postal service delay its decision to close the  post office.  A Save Our Post Office Task Force has gathered over 1,000 petition signatures, and local business people and government officials have been meeting with their Congressional representatives, urging the USPS to reconsider its decision.  The USPS made its announcement on April 5, which began a 60-day comment period, so there's still time for local residents to make their voices heard, and it will be several weeks more before a final decision is made.

Northfield is famous for the attempted robbery of the First National Bank by Jesse James and his gang in 1876.  The robbery went bad and several people were killed, including two of the gang.  Hence, one of Northfield's slogans is "Jesse James Slipped Here."  Looks like the USPS may be more successful in robbing the town.

UPDATE: "USPS: Solutions to Save Downtown Northfield Post Office"

UPDATE: August 18, 2011: "Northfield has been rebuffed in its attempt to buy the city's endangered post office and provide free space for the U.S. Postal Service to continue retail service in the historic building."  Read more.

UPDATE: Jan. 25, not good: http://northfield.patch.com/articles/post-office-could-be-put-up-for-sale-within-days

(Photo credits: exterior)

What Would Dizzie Do? New Deal P.O. in Cheraw, SC, to Close

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The downtown post office in Cheraw, South Carolina, was built in 1933 under the New Deal.  It's located in the middle of the Cheraw Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and it's surrounded by buildings that go back to the Civil War and even earlier.  Cheraw, by the way, is the birthplace of Dizzie Gillespie.

The post office almost closed back in 1996 and again in 2009, but preservationists and government officials were able to save it.  Now this historic post office is set to close again, and this time it looks like it's going to be tough to save.  Postal Service officials want to consolidate operations by moving postal services to an annex located  three miles from downtown.

Cheraw's mayor, Scott Hunter, said the post office would not go down without a fight, and he's enlisted the support of U.S. Congressman Mick Mulvaney.  But residents of the small town can see the writing on the wall.  As the Cheraw Chronicle reports, there are already rumors going around that potential buyers are making inquiries, and preservationists are hoping that the building might be turned into a museum or something that preserves the historic integrity of the building. 

UPDATE, JUNE 8, 2011: "Residents riled up over closure of Post Office"

UPDATE, FEB. 12, 2012: USPS says, "how about a modular unit?"

(Photo credits: 1940's postcard; post office exterior)