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 2022 Calendar of Post Offices and Places

[Note: Direct purchase link: here.]

Well! I cannot believe this year is almost over. Postally speaking it hasn't been incredibly productive, though I still have plenty of stories to share. It has been tough to feel motivated since I've been unable to travel and experience many places first-hand; BUT, I have gotten a couple of posts out lately and I do hope that productivity continues. And perhaps most importantly, of course, there's the sixth annual Postlandia Calendar of Post Offices and Places!

Every month of the calendar features a photo and caption of a photogenic and/or historically significant post office. The P.O.s featured come in all manner of shapes, sizes, and—I kid you not—colors. It can take quite a bit of research (particularly old newspaper articles) to get to the bottom of some of their stories!

This year's calendar [← direct link to order] takes us from Appalachia to the Pacific Northwest, New England, California, and many places in between. We've got a post office surrounded with wagon wheels; a pink castle; and one of my absolute favorite post offices, in Pennsylvania (see below). We also visit what's known as the smallest post office in America: Ochopee, Florida, and I'll show it to you in a way you probably haven't seen it before.

Writing this as I usually do right around/during Thanksgiving, please allow me to publicly appreciate everyone who supports this crazy little endeavor of mine by purchasing a calendar. It both motivates to keep going and literally helps me keep going in the form of gas money! I might drive 2,000 miles over the course of a week as I visit 150 post offices on the road. It adds up!

2022 Postlandia Calendar Cover: Greenville, PA post office


I first wrote about Greenville eleven years ago, but have revisited the post office both physically (for better photos) and in terms of research. I even mentioned it on NPR back in 2011 as perhaps my favorite post office of all! I absolutely love this building and I hope you will too. More 2022 calendar highlights include:

California: The Castle


South Carolina: Take it for Granite


New York: Something Blue


In addition to (U.S.) holiday designations the calendar features notes about interesting dates in U.S. postal history. I've gotten feedback from several people saying they find that detail really cool.

Everyone I know who's gotten the Postlandia calendar in the past has enjoyed it. It's a fantastic gift for philatelists, people who love exploring off the beaten path, and current or former U.S. Postal Service employees! I've been using the printer Lulu for a long time and they always churn out consistent, high-quality calendars. The paper is thick, the colors come out great, the images are nice and high-resolution (far higher than I post online), and it easily holds up to writing in pen or Sharpie.

(For the sake of reference, here are the links to 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 calendar write-ups.)

One fun thing I like to do, when sending out orders from family or friends, is wallpaper the heck out of the envelope with loads of cool old stamps. You can find a handful of examples here, here, and here (← definitely worth the look)!

Again, here is the link to ordering the calendar online. Thank you everybody for reading, liking posts, commenting, sharing, and for your support. Here's hoping to a happy and healthful 2022! —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!

100+ Post Offices Celebrated the Eclipse with a Souvenir You Can Mail for

... And the Word from Wyoming

From Lincoln City, Oregon to McClellansville, South Carolina, post offices from—literally—coast to coast commemorated the eclipse of a lifetime last week with limited-time pictorial cancellation stamps for application to letters and postcards. Most of these post offices were in communities that experienced eclipse totality.

Post offices in more than 125 communities have special postmarks that are still available, for the 30 days beginning August 21. Idaho is best represented, with 29 post offices offering the cancellations, every single one of which was in the eclipse's path of totality (100% total eclipse by the moon). Oregon ranks second with 23 post offices, all but one of which experienced totality. (Union, Oregon, according to my sources, experienced a "mere" 99.4% sun coverage.) In Missouri and Wyoming 17 post offices have special cancels available, and Nebraska ranks next with 12. Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kansas, and Illinois are also represented among 'totality' post offices.



A handful of other post offices, dispersed around the country, experienced the eclipse more modestly but joined in the fun. Of these, a postmark available in San Diego represents the "least eclipsed" post office to make an offering. (To be fair, it is on behalf of a science center.) Among other outliers is Union Pier, Michigan, at 86%, among the closest to the eclipse in the state's far southwestern corner (a mere 283 miles from totality). In Mississippi a postmark representing Stennis Space Center (77%) can be had by mailing to the Postmaster in Jackson (84%). And this time around, what happens in Vegas (71%) doesn't have to stay there; mail your envelopes or postcards to: Postmaster, 1001 East Sunset Road, Las Vegas, NV 89199-9998 for their commemorative cancellation.

The Postal Bulletin from Aug. 17, 2017 provides a list of [nearly all] operations offering the cancellations; link here. It includes instructions for submitting your items for cancellation as well.

About 70 post offices are offering a 'standard' pictorial cancellation of this design:



However, many different designs are available. Some of my favorites include maps, featuring the eclipse's geographic arc, that tie the event more to the place. For example, Dawson Springs, Kentucky; Herculaneum, Missouri; and Stapleton, Nebraska:



Others highlight local scenes or monuments, for example: Jefferson City, Missouri; Hyannis, Nebraska; St. Joseph, Missouri; and Gering, Nebraska:



[Note: Please excuse the image quality above. The images stem from the Postal Bulletin, which never offers a very good resolution for these.]

In Nebraska several offices opened temporary units in parallel with nature's festivities: In Beatrice the postmark was "available Aug. 21 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Temporary Post Office at Homestead National Monument of America." In Gering: "8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Temporary Post Office at Five Rocks Amphitheatre." Scottsbluff: "8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Temporary Post Office at Landers Soccer Complex." And Seward: "Aug. 21 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Temporary Post Office at Junto Event Center."

The Word from Wyoming

Perhaps my favorite set of cancellations comes from Wyoming, where many participating offices made a special effort to marry the celestial with the terrestrial by including their community's particular location on the planet by way of latitude and longitude coordinates, and time and duration of totality. Simple and to the point, many of these daters resemble a post office's "standard" four-bar cancellation device—literally, as illustrated below, a date stamp with four solid bars sticking out the right side for the purpose of cancelling a stamp. For these special postmarks, the bars are replaced with four lines of text featuring specific eclipse information for the community: the time of totality (in Mountain Daylight Time); the latitude; the longitude; and the duration of totality.

Here is an illustration of four-bar cancellations in regular use, and as interpreted by way of two of these eclipse postmarks, from Lander and Powder River, Wyoming:



Curious as to how this set of designs came to be, I checked in with Corporate Communications for USPS's Western Area and Colorado/Wyoming District, which did a nice job of promoting their impressive assortment of pictorials. Here are stories they posted re: Oregon, Idaho, Nebraska, Wyoming.

They referred me to Antoinett ("Toni") Benthusen, Postmaster of Powder River, Wyoming post office (a PTPO, for those who are into that kind of thing). Powder River, located 40 miles west of Casper, has a population of "approximately 17 (not counting the dogs and cats)." The community is located on U.S. 20/26, one major route for those traveling between the Black Hills of South Dakota and the Yellowstone / Jackson Hole area.

Here is the Powder River post office, photographed in 1997 by Postlandia friend John Gallagher. (We also have another photo, taken last year, by Jimmy Emerson.)



Toni provided some insights into the pictorial design process:

"I got the idea for my design from Julie Greer, Postmaster of Upton, WY. She suggested using the four-bar dater and replacing them with the Coordinates for Powder River..." Coordinates and other eclipse information came from eclipse2017.org.

One step in the pictorial creation process is copyright management, by way of artist's release: "When I went to fill out the paperwork there was an Artist Release form which either I needed to fill out as the Artist, or have the person who created the artwork fill it out. So, I called Julie and asked her if she would sign the form as the Artist. She said no, that I was the Artist; she only gave me the idea and then I ran with it, making me the Artist. WOW was I blown away, me an Artist?! I couldn't believe it!!!!!"

At this point "other offices (7 in all) started calling me and asking if they could use my design." And they needed help by a bona fide artist. "Would I help them with the paperwork since I had already done mine, and gotten approval to use the design for my stamp? I was so honored that they wanted to use my design and that" Corporate Communications specialist "David Rupert thought enough of it to use on a release." [See links, above.] "He then asked me to create a flyer with all the [participating] offices in Wyoming, and their addresses," for distribution to their customers. Here's a snippet from the flyer featuring several of the unique designs representing the state:



Toni recounts her experience at the Powder River post office last Monday:

[W]e sat just a few feet north of the center of the path of totality. This gave us a crystal clear view of the Eclipse, and what a spectacular event it was! The 20 or so people who chose to park off the edge of the highway were ecstatic about their choice! Immediately after the event a lady from Italy, who is currently living in California, came in to mail a backpack full of extra things she didn’t want to haul along on her trip. When she saw that I was selling the Eclipse Stamps and sleeves and doing the Special Cancellation she went outside and spread the word to everyone out there who all came in and bought me out of sheets of stamps and sleeves, and then bought envelopes to collect and send. I did 160 special cancellations that one day, which for my office is Huge!

I have since restocked my office with Eclipse stamps and sleeves so anyone interested can still purchase them from me or any other offices who still have them in stock. And it’s not too late to get the special cancellation postmark until September 21, 2017. Just send your cards and/or envelopes bearing First-Class postage stamps inside another larger self-addressed stamped envelope to any Post Office who are doing the special postmark.

I was very impressed by how calm and nice everyone was during the days before and after the event! ... The business people in Casper and Riverton interviewed on TV said ... they were very pleased with the amount of customers they had. So...

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR MAKING THIS ONE OF THE FONDEST MEMORIES IN MY LIFE!

Finally, here are three photos from the day in Powder River, courtesy Postmaster Toni: getting ready for the big day, with glasses and special shirt for the occasion; viewers in from out of town, in front of the distinctively Wyoming cowboy-signed post office; and an image of the eclipse in progress, through a pinhole projected against the blue collection box.







See USPS eclipse photos at USPS Link. Data for the Postlandia map, top, from Vox.

Tennessee CPUs: University Edition

Usually I'd write something grand and poetic. But I've had a lot on my plate lately, so here's a bunch of Contract Postal Units (CPUs) serving colleges and universities in Tennessee. Most of these were visited July 2012.

The University of Tennessee in Knoxville lies just southwest of the city's downtown. When I visited it last summer there was no parking available anywhere due to massive construction projects. Like most college post offices / mail centers, this is located in the basement of the student center, here called the Carolyn P. Brown University Center. Fortunately I was in and out in three minutes, meaning my car didn't get towed from a reserved spot out back.

Knoxville, TN: University CPU




Tennessee Tech University lies in Cookeville, a town about 80 miles east of Nashville along I-80. The Contract Postal Unit lies in the basement of the Roaden University Center at the effective heart of the campus.

Cookeville, TN: Tennessee Tech CPU




Middle Tennessee State University possesses a CPU within the Keathley University Center, which also houses the Phillips Bookstore.

Murfreesboro, TN: MTSU CPU (Station A)




The elite Vanderbilt University in Nashville operates a CPU in the basement of Rand Hall, and was (at least when I visited it in 2009) one of the most packed operations I have witnessed to date.

Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University CPU (Station B)


Mail Services has uploaded a photo of its new station layout here.

Road Trip 2012, Chapter 4: Before and After, Part II

Howdy, folks. Joining you from the Dallas / Fort Worth Metroplex in Texas! It's been a while since my last entry, but I thought I'd continue with the theme of showing you some former, early 20th-century post offices along with their current counterparts. Here's the first part of this series in case you missed it.

Murfreesboro, TN post office


I wasn't able to get any information from any local clerks or police offices about where the invariable former post office might be, but the design of what was now the arts center screamed "old post office":


The cornerstone with "Secretary of the Treasury" confirmed this 1909 masterpiece as a P.O. I went inside and the folks allowed me to photograph. Here's the lobby:


When the post office moved out, the building became the town's main library. The children's reading room was in the basement, which I'm sure spooked them a bit. Now it's used as prop and other storage for the arts center. So ladies and gentlemen, something you've always wanted to see -- the basement of an old post office!


No one could figure out what the ladder leading to the basement from the Postmaster's office was for. Any ideas?


The 1913 former site of the Lebanon, Tennessee post office is now a county building:


The newer Lebanon post office is less glamorous.


They even have a carrier annex now:


Dickson, Tennessee has a 1936 facility that's no longer in use. (I'm not sure what its present purpose is, actually.)


Here's the more modern, early-'90s edition Dickson post office:


Pocahontas, Arkansas's old [1936] post office is now the local newspaper, the Star Herald:


Here's the interior:



The newer Pocahontas post office is more on the outskirts of town.


Until next time..!

Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Sometimes, it's unfortunate what the weather conditions are when you're on the road hunting down a nice four-bar cancellation in some obscure part of the country. So, here are some of my post office photos that have never seen the light of day, partly because the light of day was obscured under torrential downpours of rain at the time.

1. Counce and Pickwick Dam, TN:
I stayed the night at the Pickwick Dam State Park. I also remember leaving that hotel just after 09/09/09 09:09:09! The Pickwick Dam post office has tons of P.O. boxes and a new PMR who was wary of postmark collecting. Of course, it was his first week and he'll probably not see another collector for another 20 years. Fortunately, the Postmaster at Counce (just a mile away) helped out, and I got both postmarks. Let's have a look at those victorious photos.





It was really not possible to open that back window without enabling the backseat of my car to subsequently become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Later that day I visited plenty of nice Tennessee post offices, including Shiloh -- of the Shiloh Civil War battlefield.

2. Kissimmee, FL: Oak Street Station:
I spent the 15 minutes I spent in line at this office regretting walking outside in this mess. Among the worst rain I've seen. Which means I really had to protect my cancellation collection under my jacket. That's Florida for ya!



3. La Push, Washington:
Ah, this was a fun one. As with Neah Bay, Washington, the trek to this post office was 16 miles one way to the shoreline and post office, and 16 miles along the same route back to Forks. (If these names sound remotely familiar, think the popular tween Twilight series.) Only 16 miles? Sounds good to me!

When driving cross-country I had wanted to either set foot in the Pacific Ocean at Neah Bay (too dark) or here in La Push. Unfortunately the rain was completely horizontal and I couldn't open the car window a mere crack without getting drenched. Eventually, I found the post office (and lovely Postmaster) and snagged this photo.

Switching sides

Post offices come in two flavors: Classified, which refers to offices that are operated by post office personnel; and contract -- operated by contractors paid a fixed or percentage-of-revenue amount by USPS. Such are called CPUs -- Contract Postal Units.

Contract offices are convenient for locations that couldn't support the full-time salary and infrastructure cost of a full post office (like Broad Channel, Queens, NY); or as a supplemental location to a busy post office for the sale of stamps and the mailing of packages with basic services (such as in Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY, which effectively features two post office locations within 250 feet, and another two blocks down the road). Newer and rapidly growing cities frequently feature more contract units than actual post offices, since it costs less to operate one than to build and open a new classified office (see St. Augustine, FL, among dozens of cities in Florida). Still more have operated in the community for decades, and continue as the sole operations in a given community (as in Center Tuftonboro, NH, which operates in the general store which has been around since 1822).

The latter are a special type of CPU, known as a CPO (Community Post Office); before 1971, they were known as rural branches / stations. Such have been featured in previous posts on this blog -- namely An Actually Colorful Post Office [Hawi, Hawai'i] and Big Island, Small Office [Ninole, Hawai'i].

Generally speaking, there's a clear distinction between the two varieties of offices. However, I have come across a few post offices which have "switched flavors" while remaining in the same location. Like neutrinos, I suppose.

In this instance, the Post Office took over a contract operation, and now runs it with USPS personnel. Sometimes such a transition occurs due to fraudulent bookkeeping or other violations on the part of the contractor (though in this instance, I don't know the cause). Honolulu, Hawai'i's Uptown Station had a creative approach to saving material during the change:


The Bronx, New York's Bathgate Station was originally a classified post office and is close to the Tremont Station. Perhaps too close. Instead of closing the office, the facility is run as a service to the community under contract, and the contractors provide a few additional business services:


The Franklin, Tennessee Five Points Station looks and feels like a real post office, because it is one. Well, was one. See for yourself [in this Wikipedia photo]:


This facility, which dates to 1926, earned itself a spot on the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places 1991, by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. As the town had expanded, the post office needed more space to operate. It built a new facility on the outskirts of the town, but contracted out the downtown post office operations to keep the building functional. Other local cultural operations now make their home there.

[Here's the new Franklin, TN Main Post Office facility:]