5,000 Post Offices

As of 1:00 PM, April 2, 2013, I have been to 5,000 distinct postal facilities. This milestone came in the form of Staten Island's Stapleton Station post office. I might have wished for a post office in Alaska or Supai, Arizona, but what can you do? Fortunately, this office was not devoid of character.

Staten Island, NY: Stapleton Station:


My father and I made the rounds to visit several locations in northern Staten Island. As a result, I was able to do my holding-up-the-appropriate-number-of-fingers-representing-the-thousands-of-POs-visited pose:


Staten Island, or as some New Yorkers consider it, the Forgotten Borough, houses some beautiful architecture and communities that have not lost their old-town feel. There's also some great pizza; my father and I ate at Denino's. Based on what a local firefighting company and families had ordered, the half-sausage pizza seemed to be the way to go. The crust was thin but crispy. The mozzarella is made fresh each day and the sausage possessed a fantastic note of fennel.



But I digress.

Staten Island's Saint George neighborhood is what one might call the island's "downtown". It's home to Borough Hall and municipal courthouses; one terminus of the Staten Island Ferry; the ballpark for the Staten Island Yankees; and, of course, the federal building housing the former Staten Island Main Post Office, built 1931.





The old Staten Island MPO still houses the Saint George Station post office, in addition to a recruiting station for all branches of the U.S. military. The post office houses classic Depression-era interior, with marble columns and Corinthian tops. Saint George Station was renamed Sgt. Angel Mendez Post Office by act of Congress, named after a soldier who died in Vietnam, and the post office's cancellation reflects this name change.

The building, at 45 Bay Street, also houses the Staten Island Postmaster's office, though the Staten Island General Post Office (and formerly Staten Island P&DF) lies inland.

A few hundred feet away lies another post office! The Ferry Terminal Station post office lies within the mall on the second floor of the terminal at 3 Ferry Terminal Dr.

Staten Island, NY: Ferry Terminal Station post office:


Thanks for reading! Hope you're still following at 10k.
-- Evan