2025 Postal Summary

Well, look at that—a year-end post posted during the actual year the summary summarizes! First time since 2022. Progress, I suppose. Welcome to the 16th annual year-end postal tabulation post! Let's get right down to math. This year I visited 302 new post offices (and photographed 371 in all; so, many revisits). My current grand total is 12,199 post offices across the U.S.

Meaning, of course, that I visited post office #12,000! That would be the gorgeous Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania post office, constructed in 1940 and home to a New Deal mural.



Let's show a map. Here's my Pennsylvania (+ New Jersey) map of post offices visited. Old school AAA map goodness. The highlighted areas are ones where I've been to all the post offices. I've been to more than 1,400 in the state in all, though there are still hundreds left to visit!



Now is as good a time to any to note that sometimes the math in these entries doesn't always quite add up. Last year my tally was 11,890 post offices. Add 302 and that should yield 12,192. So what happened? It turns out I forgot to catalog a set of post office visits in Staten Island over a decade ago, meaning I had to adjust my counts. It happens from time to time, though usually it's a smaller correction due to my realizing that I missed logging a single post office during a trip or that I counted the same post office twice (generally years apart and having forgotten I actually visited it the first time). Oops. Anyway, if you notice discrepancies in the math, that's the reason why. Fun times, eh?

This year's philatelic bounty came as part of two trips: one week-long trip to the Dakotas—86 new post offices, 2,280 miles driven and covering all post offices in roughly 1.5% of the area of the continental U.S., and one two-week trip (216 new post offices) encompassing the Post Mark Collectors Club (PMCC)'s annual convention, which was held at the National Postmark Museum in Bellevue, Ohio.



My post office counts include standard post offices as well as Contract Postal Units (CPUs), carrier annexes and mail processing facilities. I visited my first standalone S&DC (Sorting and Distribution Center) this year but I don't think I'll count it because as far as I'm aware they have no postmarking date stamp devices ... which is also my policy regarding Village Post offices (VPOs). If you work at an S&DC and have a postmarking device / date stamp with the place name on it, please get in touch; I'd love to collect it on a postcard!

As part of my Dakota explorations I visited all five CPUs in Bismarck, North Dakota. Four of them were shuttered at the end of September.

Bismarck, ND: Family Fare #3128 CPU, discontinued Sept. 30, 2025:


A postal clerk in the Youngstown area kindly informed me that the post office in Rogers, Ohio was losing its lease, and I was able to visit that P.O. on its last day of operations before suspension.

Rogers, Ohio (suspended Oct. 24, 2025), plus USPS's notice of suspension:




It took some time to locate the Community Post Office (CPO) located in the side of a couple's home in Willard, Montana, one Sunday afternoon. While there aren't many buildings in this middle of the prairie Google Maps was way off, and I had to contact a friend who'd found and photographed it 15 years prior. Regardless, when I showed up at their door Maxine and Robbie Rost were gracious with their time as they watched their nephew compete in a Montana state esports competition! (It was Rocket League.)





Sometimes (and it's is always suuuuper fun when this happens) USPS doesn't actually update the data on its website / Locator tools. I encountered one CPU that had actually closed months before I visited the husk of the store in which it resided: Indiana, Pennsylvania: Bi Lo North Plaza CPU, closed mid-2025 (and which doesn't count toward my totals). Actually, that photo is so boring I'm not going to show it here.

This said, I also visited, as always, a fair number of grand old former post office buildings. This one in East Liverpool, Ohio, bearing a 1908 cornerstone, is now the Museum of Ceramics.

By the Numbers

I visited as many as 35 post offices in one day—twice!—in 2025, and visited 30+ post offices six times this year. State by state—and territory by territory:

Pennsylvania: 152 new post offices (+16 re-visits)
Focus/Foci: Rural west/central Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh suburbs

Homer City, Pennsylvania post office, pre-Halloween. This mailman was feeling kind of blue!



Ohio: 57 post offices (+20 re-visits)
Northeast Ohio to Steubenville; Put-in-Bay and Middle Bass Island in Lake Erie

Middle Bass Island, Ohio Community Post Office (CPO), located in the rear of a house; even with a blue box and sign under a tree the road, how in the heck are you supposed to find this place??





North Dakota: 43 post offices (+8 re-visits)
All SW N.D., from Bismarck south and west

South Dakota: 32 post offices (+15 re-visits)
All NW S.D., west of the Missouri River and north of Pierre / Black Hills

Ridgeview, South Dakota post office:

Montana: 11 post offices
Far eastern MT near Baker and Glendive

West Virginia: 7 post offices
Far northern panhandle; Weirton

New York: 9 revisits
Brooklyn and Queens

Minnesota: 1 revisit

St. Paul, Minnesota: Twin Cities Air Mail Facility, as photographed from the passenger terminal at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport, during a layover.



Counting Counties: I visited 25 new counties in 2024, for a total of 1,461 (~46.5% of U.S. counties / counties-equivalent).

Thank you to those who continue to visit and read this blog, threadbare though it's become in recent years! Have a happy and healthy 2026.
Evan

The 2026 Calendar of Post Offices and Places

Holy moley, this is the tenth iteration of Postlandia Calendar of Post Offices and Places! That makes 120 post offices featured, and like yours truly the calendar has indeed been to all 50 states. It's still the optimal present for the postal nerd in your life: fun to look at, fun-ctional, and informative. What more could one want?

The direct link to order the calendar is [no longer active. The product is no longer for sale.].


2026 Postlandia Calendar Cover:


Each month features a high-resolution image (unlike the compressed versions I post here) with a caption detailing what makes the post office building or place it serves unique. I vetted information about the buildings from over two dozen sources, including National Register of Historic Places nomination forms and newspapers dating back nearly a century—not to mention my personal experiences! I never know what I'm going to find conducting research about a post office building, and I hope you find the information and anecdotes worthwhile.

Shipping + Battleship:


My publisher of choice is Lulu, who prints all calendars to order. The quality has always been fantastic, and their customer service is even better. The pages have no issue holding up to any ink writing you can throw at it—pen or even Sharpie.

In addition to the holidays you'll find on other calendars, you'll find historic tidbits and postal trivia. Welcome to [what's almost certainly] the only calendar that notes the first U.S. Airmail flight of May 15, 1918.

Rock on, Cleveland:


As always, sales of these calendars help support my continued post office explorations, which this year have included trips to the Dakotas, Ohio and Pennsylvania (which have given me great ideas for the 2027 calendar!). Proceeds also support the time I continue to dedicate expanding the Post Mark Collectors Club (PMCC)'s Online Post Office Photo Collection, the accessible reference with more than 34,000 post office photos!

Maine Frame:


Again, the link to order the 2026 Postlandia calendar directly from our publisher, Lulu, is [link no longer active]; just remember to check above for current publisher discounts!

Thank you for your support for so many years!

Sincerely,
Evan (Postlandia)

The 2024 Calendar of Post Offices and Places

I've been visiting and documenting post offices for 15 years now. This means I'm a bit older than I used to be. Yet, it also means I still have ridiculous amounts of fun exploring various corners of the country and collecting stories along the way. I don't really share those stories on the blog anymore, but it's not to say these stories aren't worth sharing. These years I've just dedicated my time to distilling these experiences into a dozen really great photographs and captions. So now, without further ado, I present the eighth(!) annual Postlandia Calendar of Post Offices and Places.

[Edit: The calendar has been removed from public sale.] 2024 Postlandia Calendar Cover:


This year's calendar takes us from Hawaii to New England, features post offices large and small, presents some gorgeous Deco façades and details, and shares the history behind several [gorgeous] former post office sites. The photos, as always, are high-resolution (unlike the compressed versions I post here).

I spent weeks researching the stories, searching and reviewing old newspapers, checking historical society websites and National Register nomination forms, and even calling one P.O. to make sure the captions were accurate. It's hard work but it's super rewarding. Furthermore, as of this edition the Postlandia calendar has featured at least one post office from each of the 50 states! (Not to mention Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.) I might have made a color-coded map to keep track of all the featured post offices.

... I definitely made a map.

Hi, Hawaii!


Every calendar is printed to order. My publisher of choice is Lulu. They've proven reliable for as long as I've been making these calendars, and you should find that the printing and paper quality are top-notch. You can write on them with pen, Sharpie, whatever, and the pages hold up just fine.

In addition to the holidays you'll find on other calendars, you'll find historic tidbits and postal trivia. It's good stuff. It's even better for the loyal mail carrier or snail mail enthusiast in your life.

Nashvillage Square:


Sales of these calendars help support my ridiculous post office exploration endeavors, which included a 206-post office, two-week trip across three states in June and a 162-post office trip in September. Did I mention the 56 post offices I photographed this spring in Hawaii? Proceeds also support the time I continue to dedicate expanding the Post Mark Collectors Club (PMCC)'s Online Post Office Photo Collection, the freely available reference that recently surpassed 33,000 post office photos!

New England, old post office:


Thanks for checking this all out. I hope you give the calendar a shot if it's your first time encountering it, or, that you'll enjoy this year's edition if you're purchased other ones in the past.

Wishing you all a great and fulfilling holiday season!

Sincerely,
Evan (Postlandia)

The 2021 Calendar of Post Offices and Places

[Edit, March 2021: the calendar has been removed from public sale.]

Hello, everyone! It's looking more and more likely that there will be a 2021 next year. To help celebrate, I am pleased to introduce the fifth annual Postlandia Calendar of Post Offices and Places! When I first started creating these back in 2016, I'd just completed my goal of visiting all 50 states by the age of 30. Since then I've reached 10,000 post offices photographed across the country, and this Thanksgiving I'd like thank everyone who has followed my travels, viewed my photographs, read my stories, and supported my mission by purchasing these calendars #ThanksForTheGasMoney.

The Postlandia calendar once again takes you across thousands of miles, celebrating 12 new photogenic and historic post offices from all across America. This year's batch takes you from the Caribbean to New England, down to the heart of Texas, and out to the rural West. Some of the offices are ridiculously historic, and a few have been thoughtfully repurposed. There are a couple of Depression-era Deco beauties, and one post office that dates back to 1816.

Each office is captioned, beneath a high-resolution image (much greater than what I present here) printed on thick, lustrous 100-pound paper that can stand up to your pens and Sharpies with ease.

[Link removed, March 2021:] Here is the direct link to the calendar on Lulu, my trusty printer.

The dates feature not just U.S. and religious holidays, but dates significant to American postal history. Because, why not? Learning is cool! Ever wanted to know when the first U.S. Airmail flight took place, or when the National Postal Museum opened? Find those dates, and more, inside.

2021 Postlandia Calendar Cover:


The cover (and one of the months) features one of the coolest post offices in the country: Hinsdale, New Hampshire, which has been housed in this very building since 1816. I couldn't believe my luck upon my visit several years back, when the setting sun hit the building at just the right angle, perfectly amplifying the building's warm hues. Here's a bit more of what's in store:

North Carolina: Deco Classic


Connecticut: Dining in Style


Michigan: Drive-Up Only


If, like me, you've been largely stuck at home this year and missing the world beyond, I hope this brings you some vicarious joy from the open road.

I've always said that this is the perfect gift for the special USPS employee or snail mail enthusiast in your life; a wonderful purchase for philatelist and stamp collectors; and generally speaking, just the perfect post office calendar. Again, the calendar is available [link removed], at the secure website of the high-quality printer Lulu. Everyone I know who's purchased the 2017, 2018, 2019, and/or 2020 Postlandia calendar has enjoyed it.

Postlandia accepts no advertising, because I hate ads. Selling calendars is how I recover a modicum of money doing what I love to do. You can also reach out to me directly if you'd be interested in donating. And of coure, find Postlandia on Facebook and Instagram!

Thank you!
Evan

Z is for Zanesville

Ohio is great for alphabet enthusiasts. It has communities (read: post offices) beginning with all four of the rarest letters of the English language: J [Jackson, Jackson Center, Jacksontown, Jacksonville, etc.], Q [Quaker City, Quincy], X [Xenia], and Z [Zaleski, Zanesfield, Zanesville, Zoar]. (How do you know they're the four rarest letters in the English language? Look at the values of their Scrabble tiles.) Here we look at the post offices of Zanesville, which was named after Ebenezer Zane, "who had blazed Zane's Trace, a pioneer trail from Wheeling, Virginia (now in West Virginia) to Maysville, Kentucky through present-day Ohio." (Zanesfield, for the record, is named after Ebenezer's brother, Isaac.) Zanesville is located along I-70, about 55 miles east of downtown Columbus, and has a population of about 25,000.

Zanesville is roughly trisected by two rivers: the Muskingum and Licking. Where the rivers meet is an interesting structure called Y-Bridge: literally, it's... well, here's a satellite view. The Muskingum River is the wider one, flowing from north to south. The Licking River comes in from the west. Downtown Zanesville is located east of the Muskingum River.



As Exploring the Ycity puts it, "This bridge is allegedly the only bridge in which you can cross and still be on the same side of the river."

The Zanesville post office was established in 1801, at which time "enough people settled in Zanesville that the Postmaster in Washington, Ohio wanted a post office to be placed in Zanesville. At the time, McIntire had dubbed the town Westbourne, however the Postmaster saw that the town intersected the Zane Trace and that Ebenezer Zane had originally owned the land, so it official became Zanesville, Ohio and the name has stuck ever since."

Downtown, at the northwest corner of South St. and S 5th St., stands a stoic a building. Stone eagles stand watch over the entrance. Its pillars are wrapped with vines, as is one of the domed lighting fixtures out front. The historic United States Post Office and Federal Building was built in 1904; while the Beaux Arts-style building is presently listed on the National Register of Historic Places, its NRHP file does not appear to have been digitized, making additional information (beyond the rudimentary) difficult to come by. In any case, the building presently serves no discernible function, appearing largely abandoned, possibly since 1965, when the current Zanesville main post office was occupied.





The 36,000-square-foot main post office, at 900 McIntire Ave., is located north of the Licking River and I-70. It's a standard-issue '60s design and effectively functions as a carrier annex—retail functions have since relocated.



Main retail operations have been located at 1035 Zane Street, a 7,800-square-foot facility by the eastern edge of the Muskingum River, since 1998. The facility alternatively goes by "Zane [Street] Station" or "Finance Station."

Finally, three miles north of the MPO is a mall post office, located inside the front entrance at Colony Square Mall. I found the clerk (and the Postmaster, who dropped by) to be very friendly. Bought a bunch of stamps from them!





'Til next time!

2017 Postal Summary

Wow, I've been at this a while now. This blog has been around since 2010, and every year I've posted a year-end summary of all the post offices I've visited that year. So, welcome to our eighth annual summary!

(As always, my prior summaries can be found at these links: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. Okay, down to business!)

2017 was my most productive year in quite some time. I visited a hearty 1,261 new, active postal operations this year, the most of any year save 2012 (wherein I took a 17,000-mile, 1,400+ P.O. road trip that spanned 3.5 months). My grand total is now 8,722 post offices.

This year's travels included a two-week venture into New Hampshire, Vermont, and far Upstate New York; a 3,200-mile trek from the Bay Area to remote communities in the high Nevada desert; and a 6,000-mile, 641-post office road trip through the Upper Midwest, featuring Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

This year I had the pleasure of teaming up with Postlandia friend John Gallagher for a weekend of trekking through the northern Nevada desert, home to many of the most remote post offices in the mainland U.S. (For one thing, it pays to split the fuel costs out there!) I nabbed a couple of relaxing ferry rides to island post offices in the Great Lakes: La Pointe, Wisconsin, and Mackinac Island, Michigan.

And here's a quick note to the dozens of people who purchased the 2018 Postlandia calendar, and/or postcards! Your support is always greatly appreciated. This has always been a passion project, and I don't get paid a dime to do any of this.

Postlandia also has a new Instagram feed!

As always, the counts in this post include active 'standard' post offices, Contract Postal Units (CPUs), carrier annexes, and mail processing plants. They do not include former sites (e.g. historic post office buildings), places I've previously been to but revisited (say, to take a better photo), or previously discontinued operations.

San Francisco Network Distribution Center [NDC] in Richmond, CA


I visited a bewildering 40 Meijer [CPU] locations, across four Upper Midwestern states, including:


Springfield, IL: former post office


Fridley, MN: Carrier Annex


Earlier this year I documented the first-day WPA Posters stamp ceremony in Hyde Park, New York, and met Megan Brennan (again, though for the first time as Postmaster General):

2017 By the Numbers

I visited as many as 34 post offices in one day this year. State by state:

New York: 212 post offices
Focus/Foci: Far northern tier; northeast New York; Seneca Falls region; I-81 southeast of Syracuse

Michigan: 177 post offices
Most of the Upper Peninsula; Traverse City to Lansing; Battle Creek

California: 134 post offices
San Francisco; Oakland and East Bay; I-80 corridor to Lake Tahoe

Indiana: 101 post offices
Indianapolis area up to Lafayette region; Fort Wayne to South Bend

Vermont: 91 post offices
Northeast Kingdom; Montpelier region; Burlington region

Pennsylvania: 72 post offices
Southwest PA (Washington region); northwest PA (south of Erie)

Ohio: 72 post offices
I-70 corridor, including Columbus and Dayton; Cleveland area

Minnesota: 62 post offices
Eastern tiers: Mississippi north to the Twin Cities, and MSP area to Duluth

Massachusetts: 60 post offices
Plymouth County; NW Boston suburbs

Wisconsin: 57 post offices
Southwest WI, La Crosse area; far northern WI

Nevada: 56 post offices
Most of the northern half of Nevada, including Reno/Sparks

Illinois: 55 post offices
Champaign-Urbana, Springfield, Decatur areas

Maine: 40 post offices
Southwest Maine, NW of Portland

New Hampshire: 24 post offices
Northern New Hampshire

Connecticut: 21 post offices
All remaining post offices, primarily NW of Hartford

Iowa: 14 post offices
Quad Cities area; Dubuque

Rhode Island: 7 post offices
All remaining [publicly accessible] post offices -- Newport area

West Virginia: 6 post offices
Wheeling

Here's the Elm Grove Station in Wheeling:

Milestones

8,000th post office: Hayward, CA: Bradford Station

This spring I finished visiting all publicly accessible post offices in the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island...

Goshen, CT:


Tiverton, RI:


Early this year I visited my 1,000th post office in New York State:

Actually completing Connecticut:

Earlier this month WNPR's Colin McEnroe Show (listen to the full episode here) invited me to speak about some post offices across Connecticut and the U.S., and I mentioned for the sake of accuracy that I'd visited all *publicly accessible* post offices in Connecticut, although I had not been able to visit the operation located on the Naval Submarine Base New London, in Groton. Thanks to a very generous listener, and U.S. Navy officers and officials at base, this week I was given a tour of the facility and allowed to complete my Connecticut postal collection. (The experience is worthy of a post unto itself.) Thank you all!!!

Here I am with the U.S. Post Office and military post office staff, in front of the post office:



Counting Counties:
I visited 95 new counties in 2017. They are shown in brown on this travel map:



Dear readers, thank you for your continued support! I'm looking forward to a great year of new post office photos and stories to share with you in 2018.

From Plate Blocks to Plain Ol' Plates: Old Post Offices You Can Eat At Now

Over the years I've visited hundreds of former post office locations. A surprising number of them have been converted into restaurants, eateries, and cafés. In 2013 we toured The Old Post Office Restaurant, near the water in Edisto Island, South Carolina. But there are many other instances of this trend at work (and in fact, too many for one post; there will be more to come). Let's review a few finds from recent years.

One additional note before we begin: in our 2012 annual postal summary a recently discontinued post office in Brook Park, Ohio was noted as becoming the Post Office Cafe. That business is since reported closed.

Vacaville, California: Lyon's Restaurant

My most recent nudge for this post was a recent visit to Vacaville, California, where the 1937 former New Deal post office now serves as the downtown location for Lyon's Restaurant. According to Yelp the location is under new management and recently renovated as of 2016.







Random postal detail: a bank of P.O. Boxes at the front in the back of the former postal lobby by a waiter work station.



The original tile work is still extant. Here's another image of the mural, with dining tables alongside original tiles.

Washington, DC: Taqueria Nacional

This location I actually have eaten at! Washington, DC's T Street post office was replaced by what is now called 14th Street Station several years back. Discussed in the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Preservation magazine last year:

When co-owners Ann Cashion and John Fulchino signed their lease on the former T Street post office in Washington, D.C., the building had already been reduced to storage space for a secondhand furniture store.

“It was just filled from floor to ceiling with junk,” says Cashion. Influenced by the original facade, she and Fulchino outfitted the interior like an old post office in Mexico or the Caribbean, adding concrete floors and brightly colored tiles.

With “U.S. Post Office” etched into the preserved limestone exterior and mailbox replicas serving as trash and tray stations, the restaurant’s details have lured more than one customer into trying to mail a package or buy stamps. “I think we succeeded in our illusion,” says Cashion.The carnitas taco is a popular choice, and vegetarian options include the refried bean or egg and green chile tacos.

The building is lovely and I did enjoy the food. Three years later I recall that the triangular-cross section yucca fries were distinctive. Here's my taco order:



Random postal touch: a decommissioned olive mailbox.

Jonesboro, Arkansas: Sue's Kitchen

The historic 1911 former main post office in Jonesboro, Arkansas, is long closed but is still stately. The building is now home to a restaurant and catering hall called Sue;'s Kitchen. Their website discusses the family's origin story in great depth, though does not make any reference to the fact that they reside in an old government building. I visited in 2012, though this first image is from the post office's heyday, a 1934 image from the National Archives.







The website Tie Dye Travels acknowledges the building's postal past and reviews the interior in more depth: "The cavernous main floor of the building is mostly open, with dainty tables and large windows. The menu is very much teahouse meets burger joint, with a nice selection of sandwiches, specials and salads. And on Saturday, there's a brunch."

Fairfield, Connecticut: Plan B Burger Bar

A few months ago we followed up on our 2013 report about the sale of historic post office buildings in Fairfield County, Connecticut. Post 154, a high-end restaurant that opened in the upscale community of Westport had already closed (and been replaced by an interior design showroom). I revisited former Fairfield post office as well, now home to the upscale Plan B Burger Bar.

In Fairfield extensive landscaping and building modifications have been made to the old post office grounds. Compare the below photos of the post office in operation with a new image of Plan B Burger Bar. You can see that a building extension at the left side of the building has been removed, replaced with an outdoor patio. The front handicapped ramp is gone. Fortunately the cornerstone was left visible and intact during the laying of cement old and new.







Remember, the New Deal artwork that had been housed in the lobby has since been relocated elsewhere in the community. But here is a photo from inside the Burger Bar for good measure.

---

That National Trust for Historic Preservation article, "Place Setting: Restaurants in Historic Post Offices," presents three post offices-turned-restaurants: McAdoo’s Seafood Company in New Braunfels, Texas; Willimantic Brewing Company in Willimantic, Connecticut; in addition to Taqueria Nacional. A followup story features three more: Post Office Cafe (now Johnny Granata's) in East Greenwich, Rhode Island; Post Office Pies in Birmingham, Alabama; and Postmasters Grill in Camden, Arkansas. I have photos from additional locations (including Willimantic Brewing Company) for a future post.

Cheers!