Today, July 8, is Valley Falls's last day. The post office was the only one in Rhode Island that kept its name on the SBOC Consolidation 'Hit List'.
For perspective, here is a map of Valley Falls with respect to Pawtucket, RI and Providence:
View Larger Map
Valley Falls shares a ZIP code with larger Cumberland (post office: 3 miles north); but I was disappointed to see that the signage on the building itself actually does say Cumberland on it, as opposed to Valley Falls:
USPS has a lease on the building for two more years... so of course they're shutting it down now.
The Valley Falls building says "Cumberland" on it because it was the Cumberland branch at one time.
ReplyDeleteThe post office in the village of Valley Falls was Valley Falls from 1846 to 1908. Then it was Valley Falls branch of Pawtucket from 1908 until 1942, when it absorbed the former Lonsdale branch of Pawtucket, and became Valley Falls-Lonsdale branch of Pawtucket. In 1958, the name was changed to Cumberland.
It was Cumberland from 1958 until about 1987. At that time, the former Ashton branch closed, and was replaced by a new building, located a mile east of Ashton and three miles north of Valley Falls. This location was, and still is, called "Cumberland". The old Cumberland then changed its name to Valley Falls.
Meanwhile, further north was a completely different place called Cumberland Hill. It opened in about 1955 as a contract branch of Manville, then changed to contract branch of Pawtucket about ten years later, and closed ten years after that.