The 2019 Calendar of Post Offices and Places

Welcome, welcome, welcome! It's that time of the year again—time for a brand-new iteration of the Postlandia Calendar of Post Offices and Places [update, 2019: product no longer available; link removed]! I'm super-excited for the 2019 edition, which features 12 all-new images of wonderful post office buildings from across the country. I've taken most of these images during the course of my travels spanning all 50 states, and I'm delighted share them with you now.

The 2019 edition takes us thousands of miles: from Hawaii to New England, Utah to Appalachia, and the Northwest to the Heartland. We'll visit a dozen new post offices large and small, urban and remote, each with a distinctive story.

The images are printed in high-resolution on high-quality paper. The dates include not only U.S. holidays but dates significant to American postal history. And, yes, you can write on it! Your ink will not bleed through to next month's organic / fair trade / hand-crafted / barrel-aged post office photo.

Postlandia Calendar cover:


With Postlandia I've always brought you the stories behind the post offices and communities of America, and here you can explore another wide-ranging cross-section of the nation. These photos take you not just from time zone to time zone, but span history as you explore photos from two centuries (from more than 100 years ago to the present).

Where else can you find the post office with ten-minute parking—only for bicycles? Or the post office with a block-long light fixture? How about the 1870 Gothic P.O. that's now a restored event space? There's an archival image of a post office that Franklin D. Roosevelt had a hand in designing, as well as some New Deal artwork. There are also great images of some of the nation's smallest post offices! And more. As always, here you don't just get photos, you get the story behind what makes them unique.

Rhode Island: the post office with its own postage stamp


Kentucky: Lost Americana


Crossroads of America: Postal Gothic

Again, there's so much more where these came from. I hope you experience as much enjoyment with this calendar next year as I've enjoyed curating it. Remember—I've trekked to thousands of post offices so I can bring you some of the very best, anywhere.

Dozens of calendars have already been sold so far this year, and I thank everyone for their support! (It really does make a dent in my gas money bills!)

This is the perfect gift for the special USPS employee in your life; a perfect purchase for philatelist and stamp collectors; and generally speaking, just the perfect post office calendar. The calendar is available at the secure website of the high-quality printer Lulu. Everyone I know who's purchased either the 2017 or 2018 Postlandia post office calendar has loved it!

BONUS!!

Do you love those historic 1930s post offices, more than 1,000 of which house beautiful examples of New Deal artwork? This year I'm introducing a second Lulu calendar: New Deal Legacy! It starts with a bit of postal goodness from the FDR era, but goes way beyond to highlight some of the myriad of accomplishments put forth by various New Deal agencies across the country, including: the Works Progress Administration (WPA); Public Works Administration (PWA); and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

2019 New Deal Legacy Calendar cover:
The projects range from massive developments, to magnificent artwork, to minor local projects that have stood the test of time.

Michigan: Art Deco goodness


Utah: State Capitol grandeur:


The high-resolution images—which range from the 1930s to the present—include the stories that make each one image significant. They are printed on thick, high-quality paper and will hold up to all of your writing-on-your-calendar needs.

Thank you for your continued support!!
Evan

Postal Tour: Duluth, Minnesota

Duluth is so much more than an important city in Ticket to Ride. (Note: the board places Duluth where Minneapolis actually is. Let's have a look at a real map.)



Duluth hugs the shoreline of the very western edge of Lake Superior, which makes for wonderful dawn vistas because the city is largely built up the slope of a hill facing east. To wit: here's a 3-D rendering via Google Earth, and a photo from my stay's bedroom window.




The Minnesota Historical Society wrote in 1955 of the early establishment of the Duluth (and neighboring) post offices. Duluth's has been in operation since July 6, 1857. "Between May 13, 1856, and December 31, 1943, sixteen towns adjacent to Duluth maintained their own post-office establishments before they were discontinued and made either branches or stations of the Duluth post office." This is modest compared to the "hundred and sixty-five post offices have existed at one time or another in St. Louis County since it was established on March 3, 1855 ..."

That article presents the following as Duluth's first post office:



The GSA writes about the need for a permanent federal building: "Duluth's sawmills thrived by the end of the nineteenth century, and the city became the nation's fifth busiest seaport. In 1892, the city's first federal building—a post office, courthouse, and custom house—was constructed."

It was located at W 5th Ave. and 1st St. The building has since been destroyed, but here's an image from around the time of its completion:



GSA:

"As the city continued to expand, officials decided to create a civic center and in 1907 invited prominent architect and planner Daniel H. Burnham to develop a plan that would include a new county courthouse, city hall, custom house, federal office building, and plaza. A pioneer in city planning, Burnham was responsible for the layout of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, as well as city plans for Chicago and San Francisco. His plans emphasized the relationship between buildings and their sites. Burnham's design for Duluth, which the city commissioners unanimously endorsed in 1908, incorporated components of the City Beautiful movement, which espoused the use of formal arrangements, axial streets, and monumental, classical public buildings in city planning.

The county courthouse and city hall were constructed first. In 1916, the federal government purchased a site within the civic center for the construction of the new federal building. The U.S. Post Office, Courthouse and Custom House was designed in 1928 by James A. Wetmore, acting supervising architect of the U.S. Treasury Department, after Congress approved a $1.2 million appropriation. Construction commenced the following year and was completed in 1930."

This image from the National Archives shows the Civic Center post office ca. 1930.



Most postal operations have moved to a new facility south of downtown, though a modest retail operation can be found on the first floor. You have to pass through security to visit it. Unfortunately no photos are allowed inside, but here's the Federal Building, and its cornerstone, as of last autumn.





The cornerstone is located around the side of the building [northeast corner]. Since the building is built on a slope, you have to look up to spot it. Its text reads: "A W MELLON / SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY // JAMES A WETMORE / ACTING SUPERVISING ARCHITECT // 1929".

Primary post office operations relocated from the Civic Center to a location about two miles south, in 1970. You can see the post office from I-35; it's just about right off the S 27th St. exit. The 133,000-square-foot facility was built to house retail, mail processing, and vehicle maintenance operations.

Duluth had been the processing hub for mail from metropolitan area, the Iron Range (north interior Minnesota), and the North Shore (along Lake Superior). However, mail processing operations were moved 160 miles down I-35 to St. Paul in 2015. In addition to slowing down local mail (which would have happened anyway, at least in part, due to a nationwide change in service standards), it caused mail collection times to get bumped up in the region. As Duluth News Tribune reported, "The last mailbox collection time in Duluth will be 3:15 p.m. ... Previously, the last collection time at that box — the latest in the area — was 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 7:45 p.m. on Saturdays." Community and other elected officials (including then-Senator Al Franken) were opposed to the change.

The following photo was taken by the author at a distance of one mile(!) along a hill road called Skyline Drive, which overlooks the city. The Duluth main post office is the red building in the exact center with vertical white stripes. I-35 can be seen behind it, and in the background are massive ship/rail transfer facilities, including two 2,500-foot-long rail piers.



In addition to the Civic Center Station, the Duluth post office oversees operations at several other post offices: Lakeside Station; Miller Hill Station; Mount Royal Station (a USPS-owned facility); West Duluth Station (located about four miles inland); and the Proctor Branch in the next city over. USPS also leases a modest amount of space (<100-square-foot) for P.O. Boxes at the Pine Lake Superamerica gas station, which also houses a Contract Postal Unit (CPU). Such an arrangement would not be allowed at new CPUs; this location is grandfathered in.

Photos of all the locations can, of course, be found at the PMCC's Online Post Office Photo Collection, which now features 29,000 photographs. I personally find Lakeside Station photogenic:



'Til next time,
Evan

The 2018 Calendar of Post Offices and Places

Please check the newest entries in this blog for the most current link to the most current Postlandia calendar! ---- It's that time of the year again—that time I somewhat shamelessly inform you of the amazing and fantastic new Postlandia Calendar of Post Offices and Places! This year's [the 2018] iteration features 12 all-new and unique images, from a dozen different states. And these are really good ones!


Cover snippet

With Postlandia I've always brought you the stories behind the post offices and communities of America, and here you can explore a wide-ranging cross-section of the nation. This year's offerings transport you across the United States: Alaska, the South, New England, the Upper Midwest, California, and the vast and empty West. These photos take you not just from time zone to time zone, but span history as you explore photos from two centuries (taken from 1900 to the present).

Where can you find a literal 'floating post office' that rises with the tides? How about a vintage Vermont general store (and post office, of course) that appears today just as it did 100 years ago? The calendar also features the 1910 New Ulm, Minnesota post office, which was so distinctive that its construction essentially forced the government to re-write its design standards. And then there's the post office on a ranch in the middle of nowhere, and I guarantee it will floor you. (This particular location took me an hour and a half to find as I drove through the high desert this summer; for you it will have definitely been worth the wait.) And there's more. Much more. As always, here you don't just get photos, you get the story behind what makes them unique.

All images in the calendar are full-page and high quality. And, with each photo, there's full text at the bottom that explains exactly what's going on. Here are peeks at just a few of the images (which have been cropped to show detail on your screen)!

Minnesota: there's no place like New Ulm


Montana: last looks at a ghost town P.O.


Vintage Vermont


Again, there's so much more where these came from. I hope you experience as much enjoyment with this calendar next year as I enjoyed piecing it all together this summer. Remember, I've trekked to thousands of post offices—across all 50 states—to document as many post offices as I can, so I bring you some of the very best, anywhere.

I really do believe this is the perfect calendar for USPS employees, a great gift for the mail carrier in your life, a perfect purchase for philatelist and stamp collectors, and generally speaking, just the perfect post office calendar. The calendar is available [Nov. 2018 edit: link removed], at the website of a high-quality printer called Lulu. The calendar even has the honor of being on the printer's Holiday Gift Guide! Again, you can find it here, and everyone I know who's purchased either the 2017 or 2018 Postlandia post office calendar has loved it.

Thanks, Lulu!

Postal Tour: Mankato, Minnesota

Mankato is a little city with a rich history, located in south central Minnesota about 75 miles southwest of the Twin Cities. It lies along the Minnesota River, a tributary of the Mississippi that merges with said by Saint Paul. The river serves as a county border and separates Mankato (population 40,000) from North Mankato (13,000). This situation inspired Mankato's motto: "A Little Twin Cities, A Lot Minnesota." The river propelled much of Mankato's early development, and the City of Mankato's website notes that "by 1854, U.S. mail was delivered regularly to Mankato due to the efforts of General Store owner George Marsh."

Local sources claim that the town's name was originally Mahkato, meaning "greenish blue earth to [the area's] first inhabitants, the Dakota Indians". Indeed, Mankato is the county seat of Blue Earth County. According to a currently unavailable link referenced by Wikipedia, "a typographical error by a clerk established the name as Mankato" instead of Mahkato.

Here's a local post office map that shows the sites discussed in this story:


At the end of the 19th century Mankato was among the largest cities in Minnesota, and the city needed a post office that met its stature. That building still serves as the Mankato main post office today, and an analysis of USPS's Owned Facilities Report reveals that this is among the oldest post office buildings anywhere in the country that is still in operation today. The City of Mankato has published a thorough walking tour of the city and states the following about the post office: "This building was built in 1895 and remodeled in 1933 to the structure seen today. It is constructed of Mankato Kasota stone. Since it blends seamlessly, you can’t tell the difference between additions. The second floor was used for Federal offices and courts. Those who served our country during the last great wars left from here."

The Federal Judicial Center has made available an image from the National Archives taken in 1900. I've edited the photo and made it available on the PMCC's Minnesota Post Office Photos page as well as here.



The building was and is still stunning. The local stone is a modest yet distinct orange, and though the clock tower (a common sight for 19th-century federal buildings) was removed during the building's extension to the south (toward where the photographer stood with respect to the above image), the grandeur of the building is evident. The chimney remains and the setbacks above the main building entrances are unique. The signage winds perfectly above the arched doorways. The length of the building doubled during its extension, but the consistency of the architecture makes the front of the building appear seamless.

112 years after the above photograph was taken, I stood at roughly the same spot and snapped this view of the post office as it now stands:


According to USPS documents the "Mankato MPO is a USPS-owned 69,839 square-foot facility that houses 42 [carrier] routes, Postmaster and staff, the Area-2 Manager of Post Office Operations and staff, retail and post office box operations."

Across the river North Mankato possesses a more modest post office, albeit one with part of the local art walking tour in front of it:


According to the most recent USPS Leased Facilities Report available, the North Mankato post office lease calls for a mere 667 square feet of leased space at $6,160 per year. (That particular contract expired in July; the current cost isn't available.) The post office is a finance unit, housing retail operations and PO Boxes but no carriers.

Mankato's Processing and Distribution Facility (P&DF) was the mail processing hub for southwest Minnesota until implementation of USPS's Area Mail Processing plan took (or will soon take) those operations to Minneapolis. According to USPS documents posted prior to consolidation, "the existing 78,734 square-foot facility on an 8.0 acre site was originally occupied in 1992. The Mankato [P&DF] currently processes all originating and destinating letters and flats, and incoming Priority/FCM parcels for the 560 and 561 offices. In addition to processing operations, the facility houses a Business Mail Entry Unit (BMEU)."

Mankato, MN P&DF:


The facility held more than 100 jobs until what will be the consolidation of both originating (incoming, to-be-cancelled) and destinating (processed, to-be-delivered) mail operations; the facility continues to be used for a handful of postal operations. Originally slated to occur in 2014, cancelling operations were moved to Minneapolis on June 1. An April 11 article in The Mankato Free Press states: "The facility's larger operation is the sorting of mail coming in from other processing centers around the country and sending it on to the proper post offices in a region that stretches from Hills (just east of the South Dakota line) to Albert Lea to Waseca to Belle Plaine. That work is anticipated to be transferred to Minneapolis in just under a year." Local APWU president Paul Rodgers said he expected those consolidations to occur this coming February. Finally, the massive Minneapolis/St. Paul Network Distribution Center (NDC) will absorb a few other operations from Mankato.

Like the North Mankato branch post office, Mankato's Madison East Station is a non-carrier finance facility with retail operations and PO Boxes. Located in the back of a sizable shopping plaza, the 1,326-square-foot facility is leased until 2017 for $16,170 per year.

Mankato, MN: Madison East Station post office:
Finally, there Mankato's Hy-Vee supermarket has a Contract Postal Unit at the customer service counter in the front of the store.

Mankato, MN: Hy-Vee CPU

CPU Adventures, I: Small Stories

The Postal Station, also known as the Hollywood CPU in Portland, Oregon, is located on the first floor of an indoor mall in eastern Portland and has been around for ages. Its clashy interior setting is one of the most photogenic the author has seen.

Portland, OR: Hollywood CPU:




The operation also offers shipping supplies and copying services. The woman at the counter was very pleasant to this postal tourist.

The Community Post Office in the southern Minnesota town of Searles is as authentic as they get. The community of Searles is located a few miles south of historic New Ulm. If you didn't think the sun could bleach the the signage in such a northern setting, look no further than Searles. The interior is cramped with a handful of P.O. Boxes and a friendly contractor who serves the community for two hours each morning. Searles's population was 171 as of the 2010 Census.

Searles, MN CPO:


Ahh, El Paso. The destination of a long journey down I-20 or I-10 at the very western tip of Texas. It's the 19th-largest and of the most isolated large cities in America; Albuquerque lies a full 270 miles north, Tuscon 310 miles west, and San Antonio 550 miles southeast. Texarkana, at the other tip of Texas? 810 miles. (El Paso is keeping its mail processing operations, in case you were wondering.)

Nestled between hills and among El Paso proper is the U.S. Army's Fort Bliss installation. A security checkpoint upon entry is a given. If you include the reserved testing grounds to the northeast, Fort Bliss occupies 1,700 square miles. The populated region of Fort Bliss occupies much less than that. The population of the facility, according to 2010 Census, exceeds 8,000.

The centennial of Fort Bliss was commemorated with a three-cent stamp in 1948.

Image source.

Fort Bliss possesses a classified [USPS-staffed; not top-secret] post office operation in Fort Bliss 'proper'. East Fort Bliss sprawls northeast, and there is one primary transportation corridor connecting the two parts of the base. While the eastern portion of the base has been expanding, it only made sense to expand postal operations there as well, which USPS did in the form of the East Fort Bliss CPU. The operation opened less than one month before I arrived in El Paso -- August 2012.

Here is a map of the situation:



Here is the 'main' Fort Bliss post office:


The CPU is located in the back of the FirstLight Federal Credit Union -- a good match. The CPU features its own staffer and a fully immersive modern wooden CARS / POS layout. It looks great.

El Paso, TX: East Fort Bliss CPU:

Consolidating in Saint Paul

Sometimes you just know: this downtown ain't big enough for the two of us. At least according to USPS.

It's been known for some time that the Postal Service is eager to sell its huge Main Post Office in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota. This implies a relocation somewhere nearby. So mapping my postal tourism options while in the area for a wedding last fall, I knew I had to see that as well as Saint Paul's Uptown Station post office, "just" 0.7 miles away.

A week ago it was reported that the Main Post Office is to relocate mid-February to a site about exactly halfway between the old Main Post Office and the Uptown Station. That reeked of consolidation plans to me, and indeed today it was announced that the Uptown Station post office will close March 23.

Here's a map of the situation:


It's a discontinuance that USPS will not count as such. What can you do? Here are some pictures:

Saint Paul's [present] Main Post Office was constructed during the Great Depression (1934) and housed Saint Paul's P&DC, whose operations are currently conducted at a site in outlying Eagan. What more can one say, but look at it:


The Uptown Station post office is located in the Hamm Building, an astounding 1915 work of architecture for which a picture really is worth a thousand words:


The lobby is exquisite:


To the left on the first floor, the U.S. Postal Service has paid a mere $25,900 a year to provide retail access at a second site in a growing urban core:


I'm glad I got to visit these sites as active post offices while I could. At least downtown Saint Paul's still big enough for the two of these guys, right?: