Panhandling in Oklahoma (or, Visiting Post Offices in Five States in One Day)

Using Albuquerque as a base, last January I was able to do something I hadn't even considered you could reasonably do outside the northeast United States: visit post offices in five states in one day, all while driving less than 200 miles. It's like the Four Corners on steroids! (Actually, the feat can be accomplished in less than 150 miles, but I went philatelically all-out.) Let me explain...

Cimarron County, Oklahoma is way out at the west end of the 166-mile-long, 34-mile-wide Oklahoma Panhandle. Just looking at the state I want to cook popcorn on the stove. Cimarron County makes up the western third of the region. With 1.3 people per square mile, and half the county's population residing in the seat, Boise City, the region is rather sparse.

Here is a typical landscape along Highway 325, west of Boise City.


Cimarron County is home to Oklahoma's highest point (Black Mesa) and the only community in Oklahoma that observes Mountain Time (Kenton). Google considers it so low-priority that the area hasn't been visited by Street View in nearly a decade; so if you're itching to see the latest developments—like the new interchange of U.S. 287 and U.S. 412 east of Boise City—at ground level, you're straight out of luck.

Most interesting for our purposes, however, is a bit of trivia that cannot be said for any of the 3,000+ other counties in the U.S.: Cimarron County, Oklahoma borders four other states. New Mexico lies to the west; Texas to the south; [more Oklahoma to the east;] and Colorado to the north—for 53 of the 54 miles of the county's northern border, anyway... For less than a mile the county also touches the very southwestern corner of Morton County, Kansas! Which means, it's rather possible to visit post offices in five states in a comparatively compact space, particularly out west. Here's a map of the situation:



For my drive last year I started the day in Sublette, Kansas, and ended in Raton, New Mexico. I took U.S. 56 down through Elkhart, Kansas; visited the post office in Keyes, Oklahoma; diverted north to Campo, Colorado; came back to Boise City; drove the 36 miles one way to Kenton; found my way to Felt, OK; visited the P.O. in Texline, Texas; and finally headed west through Clayton, New Mexico, toward Raton. This post will focus on the four POs in Cimarron County and the aforementioned other POs (Elkhart to Clayton).

Kansas

Elkhart: Elkhart is the seat of Morton County. This standard box of a post office has been in service since 1961.

Oklahoma: Cimarron County

Keyes: This 2,600-square-foot post office has been occupied since 1996.


Boise City: A standard design for this region of the country, in use since 1991.


Kenton: This trailer of a post office feels the most interesting because of its site-specific sign, and the wonderful background.


Felt: This cute 495-square-foot post office has been in service since 1977.

Colorado

Campo: This nicely lit post office was built in 1967.

Texas

Texline: Since 1991 the post office has been at this long'n'low structure (immediately below). Prior to that it had been at a building on E Market St., west of U.S. 87. Google Street View shows the building still had its flagpole as of 2012; as of my 2018 visit the building showed no signs of occupation.

New Mexico

Clayton: This mid-century 4,342-square-foot post office has been in service since 1965.


So, there you have it! Post offices in five (non-northeastern) states, in half a day. Hope you enjoyed!

New Canaan, Meet New Post Office

In our last story I noted the festivities surrounding the opening of the then-new grand downtown post office in Orlando, Florida. That brought me to thinking: could you imagine such a celebration for a new post office opening today?

In New Canaan, Connecticut, where the post office had not been located at a permanent facility for three years, the District Manager had to respond to claims that USPS had really desired to close its facility: "This goes on all over the place, not just in New Canaan ... We've been very successful in finding new Post Office residences in towns where, in some cases, it was very, very difficult to find the real estate, whether it's a lease, rental or actually built." Says the manager of the District that effectively closed the Tariffville and Yantic, CT post offices with no intention of replacement. In recent years the Connecticut Valley District has also purged historic postal facilities as if on ipecac, and took three years to re-open a post office in downtown population-120,000 Stamford. Can you really blame New Canaan for being a bit concerned?

The new permanent post office finally opened in New Canaan, and customers are thrilled with the amenities, notably the fact that parking isn't terrible anymore. (I can attest to the awfulness at the temporary site. I pretty much had to park by... the new post office. I wish I were making that up.) Perks for local customers now include 24-hour lobby access for P.O. Box access and a self-service kiosk.

(The loss of USPS's lease at its non-permanent facility could not have been such a surprise internally. Just look at its listing in USPS's Leased Facilities Report.)



Fun fact 1: A former Postmaster discussed the issue of post office relocation from a perspective you won't usually hear. I found this essay enlightening and I think it's worth a read. Here is an excerpt:

Most post offices are downsized to a smaller operation than truly needed ... resulting in longer wait times. New Canaan currently has four retail transaction windows. The flawed data may result in the new office having as few as two transaction windows. Once those retail counters are gone, they are never coming back.

Fun fact 2: There was even a mobile postal van unit providing retail services across from the old post office during the transition period!

Without further ado, let's look at the three recent actual-building sites for the New Canaan post office.

1. 'Old' Post Office, 2 Pine St., open for 55 years, closed Jan. 18, 2014

(See the health food store now at the site of the old post office here.)

2. Temporary Post Office, 90 Main St., Jan. 21, 2014 to Dec. 2016

(Note the banner in lieu of a sign above the door!)

3. New post office: 18 Locust St., opened Dec. 30, 2016.

(Courtesy a Google Street View image, Oct. 2016. Hope to drop by and snag my own photo for here soon! Update: Done!)

I've gotta say I like the building housing the new facility. Bringing back that federal style! You can see more post offices of the interior here. 'Til next time.

DPO'd: Freehold, NJ Postal Trailer

I was a little struck by this USPS Local News announcement published a couple of months back: Freehold Lafayette Postal Trailer will be closing. Set to close next Friday, July 29, I had to head down to Jersey to check it out.

Fortunately, the author had to head from New York to Philadelphia earlier this week to check out some apartments, and so had an excuse to spend a couple of days racking up more New Jersey post office visits. I learned a lot and got a couple of fantastic stories, some of which will be set forth in future GP entries.

Freehold is a township of nearly 35,000. I first visited its main post office, pictured below. Its architecture was relatively interesting, considering its blandness. It's located in a large shopping area west of the center of town. The office had many clerk stations, but only two were open. Neither clerk knew philatelic regulations and she who I had to deal with had a notable and condescending attitude. Fortunately, the supervisor approved a standard postmark request and I was on my way to check out the postal trailer.

Freehold, NJ MPO:


The postal trailer is where a main post office should be: in the center of town. Unfortunately, the trip from this location to what will be the only Freehold post office requires crossing two major north-south arteries and makes for an obnoxiously long commute, considering it's "only" a 2.4-mile drive. I didn't quite know what to expect, but it's literally a large trailer, specially made for USPS, plopped in the middle of a parking lot. Interesting.

There are two ramps along either long side of the trailer -- one for employees and one for patrons and box-holders. Banners hung on those sides stated: "Freehold Boro Temporary Post Office" and "Welcome to the Temporary Post Office in Freehold Boro". The front states the hours of operations: M-F 8:30 to 4:30; Sat. 9:00 to 1:00. Here's the USPS listing.

That temporary operation, Lafayette Station (as it's located at 13 Lafayette Street), has been in place for 8 years. Previously, downtown Freehold postal operations were handled by a CPU (date of closure unknown to the Post Mark Collectors Club). I think a new CPU would be apt for this location, but who knows? Let's get to photos already!

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Freehold, NJ: 'Lafayette' Postal Trailer; customer entrance side

Inside, the experience was more pleasant than Freehold Main: the clerk was friendly and readily gave me a postmark. The dater used at the trailer is identical to the one used at the Main Post Office, so it wasn't so exciting; still, it's something. The trailer is a full-fledged post office: There are hundreds of PO Boxes and two window stations operating the standard USPS POS (Point of Sale) computer retail system. I was curious how the hard-wired machines were set up, so I bought $1 of stamps to get a receipt, which states "Freehold Downtown Station".

As in most instances, I find this closure to be disappointing. Three teenagers had just walked over to buy $60 of stamps for their mother, and there were two other people using the office while I was at the facility.