The former United States Post Office and Courthouse was designed as a civil defense fallout shelter. The original building was constructed in 1911, which consisted of one-story and a basement made of steel and concrete. In 1936, a second floor and two two-story wings were added. The old post office has 16-foot ceilings. The door facings, wainscoting and stairs are made of Georgia marble. The facility was in use until the Postal Service constructed a new facility and moved in 1975. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. In recent years, the building housed an antique market and was also used as an event venue. The former courthouse was sold to developer in 2019. After sitting abandoned for three years, the building is currently undergoing a renovation.
Your article on the abandoned U.S. Post Office Courthouse didn’t list where it is located.
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The locations are often not listed to discourage people visiting and disturbing the site.
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Where is this post office located?
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Great article and photos.
I wonder if this post office has a small almost hidden staircase and a hidden passageway.
The former post office in LaSalle, Illinois was occupied by a cellular phone company where my sister worked. She showed me a barely visible door in a back part of the building. The door led to a staircase and a passageway which was used by postal inspectors. It was their practice to enter the building undetected and follow the passageway where viewing places were located. The postal employees never knew when their activities were being viewed by the inspectors overhead.
I wonder if all post offices constructed during that time period had places for postal inspectors to view employees and wonder if the one you photographed has the passages.
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Oh wow, that’s really interesting. I didn’t see anything like that while I was there. I found a diagram online of the building so I will double check.
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