Once in a while a collection of post office photos truly astounds me. This was the case when Postlandia friend John Gallagher—45-year postal tourist of 35,000+ post offices—sent me photos from one day in rural, Appalachian Kentucky in the 1970s. The vast majority of the photos were taken in population-13,000 Magoffin County.
When John and Alan Patera visited the area in May 1978, Magoffin County was home to a whopping 36 post offices. Today it has two. Mash Fork, Wonnie, Fritz, Gypsy, and Lickburg are just a handful of the many unincorporated rural communities that housed post offices, since discontinued. Several were in rundown shacks that could compete for title of Smallest U.S. Post Office. Many stood proud with rustic, unique, and utterly stunning hand-painted signs; others were barely identified at all. All contribute to this snapshot of a piece of Appalachia since lost.
Here are a handful of images to whet your appetite:
The images are randomly sorted. Dates of discontinuation are included with the images, as known. The two post office still operating—Salyersville and Falcon—have since relocated. The PMCC's online post office photo collection has the images of the present sites as well.
The first thing you'll notice about Nanwalek? Landing in Nanwalek is fun. Their runway is not exactly linear.
Welcome to our third installment of Postlandia visits Alaska. In our first post we discussed just how large Alaska is compared to the rest of the United States; took a postal tour of Alaska's largest city, Anchorage; and explored Alaska's unique Bypass Mail network. Next we headed down to the Kenai Peninsula; saw a couple of nice "log cabin" post offices; and took off from Homer to the villages of Seldovia and Port Graham. Now we take our third flight of the Alaskan October morning to Nanwalek. To review, here's a map of the flights we're taking in this corner of the Last Frontier.
Google Earth satellite imagery for Nanwalek is presently disappointing, so we won't have an annotated aerial view as we did with Port Graham. Nanwalek is the furthest community west on the Kenai Peninsula, and is only accessible by local boat or by airplane. It's a fraction of a square mile in size, built largely on top of a hillside (think: protection from tsunamis) overlooking the airport. The airport lies between a lagoon and the outer reaches of Kachemak Bay and Cook Inlet (the body of water stretching from the northern Pacific Ocean inland to Anchorage. The gravel runway is 1,500 feet long, 50 feet wide, and, as we've seen, not perfectly straight. But it serves the community's needs.
Here I am at the modest airport terminal, getting greeted and inspected by a friendly local.
Here goes my ride! It's heading back to Homer, and another Smokey Bay Air plane will meet me in an hour.
I'm greeted by a local, Mackey, who's tasked with bringing the mail to the Community Post Office (CPO) from the airport. Mail is flown in three days a week from Homer, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday—weather and regional volcanoes permitting. The CPO is open 11 am to 2 pm those days. The post office is located inside the building also housing the local tribal administrative office. I'll show you the outside in just a little bit; first let's see the sign.
This might strike you as modest. Did anyone else notice the red, 'white', and blue outlines? I love it. Below, here I am at the entrance. I also love the hanging sign with the standard stamp rate [remember, this was back in October], and the packaging with the active rates on them. It's always great seeing when people let loose that creativity.
Aside from this the interior is comparatively standard; you can see a bank of current-generation P.O. Boxes behind me there.
Now let's go outside. You might expect the sign to say good ol' Nanwalek, which is actually the local native term for "place by the lagoon." (Remember, the airport lies between the bay and a lagoon?) However, the sign says English Bay. This is no accident; the town was known as English Bay until 1991. Nanwalek is one of a number of Alaska place name changes in recent decades, part of a trend toward reclaiming indigenous names over arbitrary modern English monikers. (One larger example of this in action is Barrow, originally Utqiaġvik and officially, again, Utqiaġvik as of 2016. The name Barrow still appears on maps and on their post office.) Anyway, here's the sign designating (as well as yours truly):
Postlandia friend John Gallagher visited Nanwalek 25 years ago, and snagged a photo of the [now former site of the] operation in 1992. Look closely at that sign! Why fix what ain't broke?
Both names Nanwalek and English Bay belie an important part of the community's history, that of a Russian fur/pelt trading post starting in 1786. The community was then designated Alexandrovski. Alaska was Russian until the United States (remember "Seward's folly"?) purchased the entire territory in 1867. How English Bay got its name is unusual. According to Nanwalek's website, "The two villages [Nanwalek and Port Graham] share not only family relations but also many customs and traditions. Interestingly, the English names of the two villages were switched by a cartographer in the late 1800s. Thus, English Bay sits out on the tip of the peninsula, while Port Graham is located further in the bay." So English Bay shouldn't have been English Bay to begin with! It gets better still. I should note that our English Bay-née-Alexandrovski should not be confused with English Bay, a body of water out in the Aleutian Islands, whose name pertains to its exploration by Captain Cook.
All good? Great. Nanwalek's Russian heritage bears heavily on the town to this day, particularly in terms of its religious life. By the post office is the community's Russian Orthodox church, a structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building is beautiful and I was honored that Mackey (seen later on) gave me a tour of the inside of the church. Isn't it lovely?
Here's the church's classic "onion dome"!
The Russian Orthodox have some beautiful traditions. I recommend visiting this KBBI story about Orthodox Christmas, which is celebrated on January 7. Here's a snippet, discussing the representation of the journey of the Three Wise Men:
Each region in Alaska that practices this style of caroling, what we call Slavic, they all have variations. But generally they follow a star, a wooden frame that’s decorated with the icon of nativity in the center and that star guides the carolers house to house.
The rituals are a blend of Native traditions, the community's Russian past, and Western influences alike. It's a rather unique combination.
The Russian Orthodox cemetery, located behind the church, is also beautiful. Male and female graves are marked distinctively: "The graves in this cemetery are marked with Russian Orthodox crosses. The crosses for females have a wooden "cap" signifying the caps women wear in church." Can you see the difference?
Here's my gracious tour guide, Mackey, on his ATV (perhaps the most common vehicle around town). The church is in the background.
Nanwalek, as one would expect, has a general store. It's bright and inviting inside, if rather nondescript outside.
Has anyone here tried Sailor Boy Pilot Bread?
I'll leave you now with a few closing views from Nanwalek. First up, the elementary-through-high school, a larger school with a more substantive playground than we saw over in Port Graham.
Here's a restful look at the Nanwalek lagoon, taken at the periphery of the airport.
Finally, a view of the Nanwalek airport/runway from the Russian Orthodox cemetery.
Flying back to Homer we get a view of the wonderful turquoise sea.
Finally, we return over four-mile-long Homer Spit. Here we see the harbor/marina, from which we'll depart for our final post office of the day.
Once again, thank you to Smokey Bay Air for working with me and making this trip possible!
In our next installment we take the mail boat to Halibut Cove, and after a long day we'll relax in the bar with 80 gajillion dollar bills on the wall, which can be found back at the end of the Alaskan road. We'll also explore one unique Alaska city, Whittier, which is accessible by a three-mile, one lane tunnel through the mountains.
Luckenbach is a fun find. Located in the heart of Texas Hill Country, this once-thriving German community is 13 miles from its county seat and a few miles south from U.S. 290. The community is roughly between Fredericksburg and Johnson City (think: L.B.J.-family Johnson), and there are a handful of photogenic post office buildings in the area. Luckenbach's own post office operated between 1850 and 1971. Though it's been closed for 35 years, the remnants of the town's general store and post office (not to mention Luckenbach itself) continue to draw tourists from all around.
Here's the general store and old P.O. outside:
In addition to the commemorative signage outside, the building still houses its old post office sign inside, as well as its general delivery boxes and even the old safe. For those who ask they even have a commemorative "postmark" that you can stamp items with.
The general delivery window with sign in the background:
The old safe:
Looking toward the front:
One interesting thing that's easy to overlook is a strip of tape on the floor of the building. It served as the dividing line between postal property and the rest of the general floor facility. Patrons had to be sure not to bring any alcohol across the line onto the postal side. This gentleman is on the general store side of the tape.
Visit the official Luckenbach website here! It's a nice place with friendly folks. And a fun postal find.
New Broadway Post Office Still Rough Around the Edges
Don Glickstein from Seattle provides an account of the relocation of Seattle's Broadway Station post office. Broadway Station is located in the city's Capitol Hill neighborhood, which has come under increasing pressure by developers in booming Seattle. Much like Silicon Valley, Seattle has benefited from the influx of tens of thousands of Amazon and other well-paid tech workers. Gentrification abounds and the progressive city continues to develop. Seattle recently expanded its Link light rail system to connect downtown with the University of Washington starting in March. One of the new stations is located in Capitol Hill across the street from the old post office. Ironically, reports Don, throughout the wealthy, young people's neighborhood is an influx of homeless citizens.
Broadway Station was the first post office yours truly visited in Seattle, during a two-week respite during my first road trip back in 2008. The former location closed Jan. 30, 2016; here are photos as it looked during my visit in 2008 and at the beginning of this year. Note: all the recent photos are Don's.
Seattle, WA: (now-former) Broadway Station post office (2008):
Seattle, WA: (now-former) Broadway Station post office (2016):
The photos suggest that the Postal Service and its landlord had not been heartily maintaining the building: The letters on the awning were peeling and the building had long been tagged with graffiti. According to Don these signs of physical deterioration occurred long before the landlord announced that the facility would demolished to make way for a more profitable mixed-use building.
The building had housed the Broadway post office since 1952. USPS's Leased Facility Report says that the 6,047-square foot facility had been leased for $135,000 per year under the terms of the most recent contract. The Leased Facility Report has not been updated recently enough to reflect information for the new location.
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The relocated post office opened a couple of blocks away at what had been an OfficeMax location. Capitol Hill Seattle reports:
With more than 5,000 square feet of retail area, the former OfficeMax space is small by box store standards but was likely too large for many independent retailers. USPS says it plans to occupy about 4,200 square feet of the space, leaving the potential for another small retailer to move in.
The smaller retail space reflects multiple changes that have been proposed to local mail service in this Seattle neighborhood. Consolidations would affect carriers, nearby P.O. Box customers, and the community at large; but they have not always been implemented. In 2013 CHS reported that "Broadway-based mail carriers — and their vehicles — would be moved to a new 'consolidated' facility at 4th and Lander." Furthermore, USPS "announced a plan to move the Central District's retail location at 23rd and Union to "a smaller, more cost-effective location" ... [T]he PO boxes from 23rd/Union are destined for a new home on Capitol Hill with customers being transitioned to the Broadway at Denny post office." While carriers have been consolidated, USPS maintains its presence at the latter location.
Don photographed the new Broadway post office on its opening day. While it was providing the usual postal services, the post office itself was still a work in progress: The old OfficeMax sign was still outside the building; there was no identification of the facility as a post office, even with standard stencil lettering on the door; and many of the rental boxes did not yet have locks on them. Furthermore, there was no blue collection box in front of the post office.
Below: the new Broadway Station post office on February 1, opening day (top), and in early May (center, bottom). The facility has since received its new signage and stencil lettering on the door.
There is nothing physically notable about the facility. It bears standard Retail Standardization, minimalist signage. The interior appears to bear some differences from the same modern blue-and-wood motifs that have been implemented at new facilities over the past few years. Capitol Hill Seattle features more photos here.
Unfortunately, the post office still hosts no exterior collection box. This violates the Postal Operation Manual, section 315.32: "Provide a regulation collection box at all ... classified stations and branches."
Broadway Station is open six days a week in this busy, urban retail and residential neighborhood. Operating hours, according to USPS's Locations tool, are: Monday to Friday: 9:00am - 5:30pm; Saturday: 8:30am - 3:00pm. No lunch hour closures are scheduled. (This was apparently an issue at one point.)
Thanks again to Dan for the information and photos; and to Capitol Hill Seattle for its great reporting.
Save the Post Office is a fantastic website that details all you could ever want to know with regard to keeping your local post office open. This entry discusses the ways in which I've determined I would like to "save" post offices -- that is, preserve their memories through physical items you can actually obtain from your local post office before it closes. I'll share why it matters to me and how you too can get involved.
If you'd like to contribute your own postmarks / stories / signage, allow me to recommend getting in contact with (or joining!) the non-profit Post Mark Collectors Club (PMCC), a group for which I've volunteered for a couple of years now. It maintains a fantastic philatelic museum in Ohio, featuring at least two million postmarks. (That's where the signs and my printed-out photographs go!) Or, get in touch with me and I'll think of something. This is not intended as a shameless plug, I swear.
1. Local Postmarks
Above: Postmark from the discontinued River Street Station, Paterson, NJ. Obtained while driving from NYC to Ohio.
Why postmarks? They're really small pieces of history. This mail-piece was in X place on Y date, and the postmark proves it. My father's been collecting them since 1960 and I've more than doubled our collection over the past three years. We now have 8,500 overall, from every corner of the country. Of special interest are last-day postmarks, from the final day of operation for a post office that is discontinued or suspended. The difficult part has been to find out about postal closures in advance; while the [old] Post Office Department used to announce them in advance, it is now exceedingly difficult to obtain a national list with such information. Since it's public information anyway, this development is disappointing.
So if you'd like to help either my father's-and-my collection or a real-life museum, please let me or the PMCC know of impending closures / suspensions or actually forward us an item with a last-day postmark on it! I might inaugurate a PO Box for this purpose.
Last-day cancellation from Spot, NC. Courtesy the PMCC.
Every post office has a hand-cancellation device [that is not always, but should be] unique to its facility.
1b. Postmaster Autographs
Postal employees are allowed to accept or decline requests for autographs at will, so long as they do not discriminate to whom they give it, and so long as they do not accept anything of monetary value in return. My father and I now have autographs from about 1,500 Postmasters / OICs / PMRs alongside their appropriate postmarks. (Generally, I draw the line for autograph eligibility at "presently at the helm of an independent post office" -- though I have been known to obtain signatures from an especially memorable clerk on occasion.)
Once an especially cool Postmaster signed the card for our collection along with her clerk and rural carrier. I've also gotten autographs from [Postmasters] James Bond and Marge Simpson!
2. Photographs
Don't let the rumors scare you. It is not true that "it is illegal to take a photograph of a federal building." You can take a photo of whatever you darn well please so long as you're on public grounds, and you can see anything using Google Street View anyway. Snap away! (If you're out on a street anyone has the right to ask you what you're doing, but no right to impede your photography or confiscate your film. When I visit POs I always go in and get my postmarks first so Postmasters know my story.) Taking photos inside is a different story -- let's not go there right now.
Below: The Massey, Maryland post office is in danger of closing.
The PMCC Museum has what I believe is the world's largest collection of post office views (old postcards, etc.) and printed photographs: more than 50,000 in all. It's quite astounding! You can submit your own photographs to myself or the other webmaster at postmarks.org; we've got a two-year backlog but will definitely get to them all eventually.
3. Stories
See if you can learn about the history of your local post office. In small towns, Postmasters often know a lot about it, or can direct you to someone who can. Feel free to share the information with me, and I'll do my best to both preserve the memories or even feature your stories here! My efforts have yielded a couple hundred fascinating name origins and stories from all corners of the nation.
4. Physical postal signage
There are certain items that you can never legally get your hands on, like blue USPS collection boxes. (It's in a postal manual that they must all be impounded and recycled or sold for scrap metal.) However, some other non-sensitive items from discontinued facilities can be sold off. Items like site-specific postal signage (along the lines of "U.S. Post Office // Wonderful, Wyoming") are semi-restricted; they will usually be destroyed, but can be donated to recognized non-profits under certain conditions! The organization I volunteer for, the Post Mark Collectors Club, qualifies, and I've been able to get two post office signs donated to the group's museum for preservation.
I was going to write about the exact procedure, but let's just say it's in USPS's handbook AS-701: Materials Management. Essentially, you need a formal written letter from an officer of the non-profit stating the item and intent, and permission needs to be granted by an appropriate local official as well as the USPS Postal Historian.
Here I am holding the sign from the discontinued Malone, WA post office -- the first post office to be replaced by a VPO. The sign currently resides in the PMCC Museum. Again, it's a piece of history.
A second sign, from the Wissinoming post office in Philadelphia, took me several months to obtain. It will be brought to the PMCC Museum as soon as I finish having it examined at the UPenn School of Design preservation department. I knew it had to be preserved as soon as I saw the post office last December:
My thanks to the wonderful people at the Seattle District, Philadelphia post office, and at the Historian's office in D.C. for allowing these signs to be preserved at our museum!
Which sign would you like to see preserved, were it to close?
