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| The
recent news of some 3,600 post office closing nationwide included a list of nearly
200 potential closings in Texas. It’s a cost-cutting
measure and there can be little doubt that the U.S. Postal Service is feeling
a big three-way pinch from e-mail, UPS and Federal Express, not to mention the
millions of people using other technology to communicate. |
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I’m not sure what
it was that happened in 1906 but it was drastic enough that they closed hundreds
of post offices in Texas.
It was too late for fallout from the famous “Panic of ’93” – and it evidently
wasn’t drastic enough to have its own name inscribed in history books. Was the
“Anxiety of ‘06” even considered?
These 1906 closures required an updated
map of post offices operating
in Texas so that postmasters could use their “return-to-sender”
rubber stamp. The map was published in 1907 and a copy is held (securely) in the
extensive map collection of the Texas General Land Office in Austin.
This recently restored map is frequently employed in the search for ghost
towns, for that’s what many of these towns became after the quadruple whammy
of WWI, the Great Depression, school
consolidations and the postwar exodus in search of better- paying jobs.
But the post office map was just that – a map for showing post offices. Many of
the towns that failed to appear on the 1907 map survived and made it to the (vastly
more popular) highway maps that were still a few years off (all the publishers
were waiting for were highways to be built).
To people familiar with the
names on the list that follows,
it may read like the table of contents for a ghost town book. Some communities
have been declared such for years. These are towns like Doole,
Langtry,
Mentone, Panna
Maria, Pontotoc, Pyote
and even Texas Escapes’ mascot ghost town of Toyah.
The list (as of late July 2011) isn’t firm, but things don’t look good for these
communities. In many cases, the post offices are the only building in town, although
in three cases (Lipscomb,
Mentone and Sarita)
the closures are in county seats.
Valentine,
Texas, where the post office has done a brisk business every February sending
out its postmark to lovers around the world, may have to end that long tradition.
Mentone, famous for having the
least of everything in Texas may now have even less. The post offices of Hye
and Hackberry are quaint
reminders of a period before architectural standardization of these once-essential
buildings.
None of the smaller post offices on the list contain murals
from the 30s, but the list also includes some big city closures of neighborhood
stations. One of those is the behemoth downtown post office in San
Antonio, which has one of the most elaborate historic murals in Texas. |
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Take
a look at the list and see
how many communities you recognize. There’s nothing to get excited about, unless
you happen to live in one of them. Even then, you might get cold comfort in knowing
that it may just be a matter of time before all the post
offices go the way of fix-it shops, TV repair stores and video rental stores.
Ask
someone under 30 when was the last time they went to a post office – or ask someone
under 20 if they have ever been in a post office. |
List of Post Offices
in Texas Being Considered For ClosingA:
Allison,
Adrian, Altair,
Aquilla, Austwell,
Art.
B:
Balch Springs, Bagwell, Barnhart,
Barstow, Benjamin,
Bledsoe, Berclair,
Bluegrove, Bluffton,
Brandon, Brookston,
Burkett, Briscoe,
Brookesmith, Burlington, Bynum,
C: Caddo, Calliham,
Camden, Campbellton,
Castell, Centralia, Chriesman,
Christine, Collegeport,
Concepcion, Concord,
Cotton Center, Coyanosa,
Cunningham, Cuney.
D: Dallardsville, Danciger,
Danevang, Davilla,
Deanville, Delmita, Desdemona,
Dodson, Donie, Doole,
Doss, Dougherty.
E: El Indio, Egypt,
Encino, Energy,
Enochs, Eola,
Estelline,
F:
Fannin, Farnsworth,
Forreston, Forsan,
Fowlerton, Fredonia,
G: Girard, Gober,
Goree, Grandfalls,
Greenwood, Guthrie,
H:
Hackberry, Harrold,
Harwood, Hedley,
Hext, Hobson, Hochheim,
Hye
IJK: Irene,
Jermyn, Jonesville,
Kamay, Kendleton,
Kildare, Klondike, Knott
L:
Lakeview, Langtry,
Lane City, Lazbuddie,
La Salle, La
Ward, Ledbetter,
Leona, Leesville,
Lingleville, Lipscomb,
Lissie, Lohn,
Loop, Lowake,
M: Malone,
Marietta, Maple,
Maryneal, McAdoo,
McCaulley, McFaddin,
Melvin, Megargel,
Meyersville, Mentone,
Mereta, Mertens, Midkiff,
Millersview, Mingus,
Mirando City,
Mound, Mumford,
Myra
N: Nolan,
Novice (79538)
O: Oilton,
Oklaunion, Old
Glory, Orla, Ovalo.
P: Pandora, Paluxy,
Panna Maria,
Pierce, Pecan
Gap, Penwell, Pendleton,
Penelope, Pep,
Petty, Placedo, Pontotoc,
Pyote,
Q: Quail,
R:
Realitos,
Ringgold, Rochester,
Rock Island, Rockwood,
Roosevelt, Rosston.
S: Sacul, Saliñeno,
Sanford, San
Perlita, Santa Elena, Saragosa,
Sarita, Satin,
South Plains, Sheffield,
Selman City, Sidney, Slidell,
Socorro, South
Bend, Spade, Staples,
Star, Sulphur Bluff,
Sylvester.
T:
Talpa, Tarzan,
Thicket, Tehuacana,
Tennyson, Thomaston,
Toyah, Tuleta.
UV: Umbarger, Valera,
Valley Spring,
Valentine
, Vancourt, Vanderpool,
Voca, Votaw,
W: Water Valley,
Weesatche,
Welch, Wellman, Westhoff,
Westbrook, Whitt, Whitharral,
Whitsett, Wiergate, Willow
City, Windom,
Winert, Woodlake. |
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"Bank
of Pandora" - Former Post Office tile work in Pandora
Photo
courtesy Jane Garza, 2010 |
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