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U.S. Post Office (Poughkeepsie, New York)
Encyclopedia
The main U.S. Post Office, Poughkeepsie, New York, USA, is located at the junction of Market and Mill (westbound US 44
/NY 55
) streets downtown, (its actual address is 55 Mansion Street). The Post Office
serves the 12601 ZIP Code
, which covers the city of Poughkeepsie
, New York
and those portions of the Town of Poughkeepsie
adjacent to the city. It employs a hundred people and handles 300,000 pieces of mail a day and 10 million a year.
built during the New Deal
by the Works Progress Administration
. It was the first for which President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
, a native of Hyde Park
, took a close personal interest in the design. He had written in 1928 of his desire to preserve
the stone buildings in the Hudson Valley
built by early Dutch settlers
of the region, including his ancestors, which he feared was disappearing. The simple and modest style of the stone houses built by all those early settlers regardless of wealth was, to him, an example that should be followed by everyone.
Earlier in the decade, nearby Beacon
had gotten a new post office
in local fieldstone designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood
. When Poughkeepsie's turn came, Treasury Secretary
Henry Morgenthau
demanded that it be made of irregular fieldstone
in the Dutch style, modeled after a demolished county courthouse that had been built in 1809. Architect
Eric Kebbon followed the design but originally turned in a building that was to use granite
. Roosevelt personally ordered him to redesign it to his specifications and would not let construction proceed until it was.
Roosevelt laid the cornerstone
himself at a dedication
ceremony during celebrations of the 250th anniversary of Poughkeepsie's settlement on October 13, 1937. Five hundred workers would spend the next two years building the 63,000-square foot (5,670 m²) structure.
The final building included a lobby with mural
s painted by WPA artists depicting six scenes in local and state history, including the ratification
of the United States Constitution
by New York
. The success of its design inspired Roosevelt to push for similar stone post office buildings in other Dutchess County towns along the river, and it influenced the similar design of new offices
built nearby for the Poughkeepsie Journal
newspaper. The Smithsonian Institution
chose it as one of ten New York post offices among the five hundred most beautiful in the country. It has been on the National Register of Historic Places
since 1989.
On October 22, 2008, the cupola
, undergoing renovation at the time, was damaged by a fire
, causing the building to be closed for a few days. The rest of the building remained undamaged. City fire investigators
said the likely cause was accidental, from heat gun
s used by the painter
s working on it.
U.S. Route 44
U.S. Route 44 is an east–west United States highway that runs for 237 miles through four states in the Northeastern region of the United States. The western terminus is at U.S. Route 209 and New York State Route 55 in Kerhonkson, a hamlet in the Hudson Valley region of New York...
/NY 55
New York State Route 55
New York State Route 55 is a state highway in southern New York, running from the Pennsylvania state line at the Delaware River in Barryville to the Connecticut state line at Wingdale...
) streets downtown, (its actual address is 55 Mansion Street). The Post Office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
serves the 12601 ZIP Code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
, which covers the city of Poughkeepsie
Poughkeepsie (city), New York
Poughkeepsie is a city in the state of New York, United States, which serves as the county seat of Dutchess County. Poughkeepsie is located in the Hudson River Valley midway between New York City and Albany...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and those portions of the Town of Poughkeepsie
Poughkeepsie (town), New York
Poughkeepsie is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 42,777 at the 2000 census. The name is derived from the native term, "Uppu-qui-ipis-in," which means "reed-covered hut by the water."...
adjacent to the city. It employs a hundred people and handles 300,000 pieces of mail a day and 10 million a year.
History
The building was the second of five post offices in Dutchess CountyDutchess County, New York
Dutchess County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, in the state's Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley. The 2010 census lists the population as 297,488...
built during the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
by the Works Progress Administration
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
. It was the first for which President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
, a native of Hyde Park
Hyde Park, New York
Hyde Park is a town located in the northwest part of Dutchess County, New York, United States, just north of the city of Poughkeepsie. The town is most famous for being the hometown of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt....
, took a close personal interest in the design. He had written in 1928 of his desire to preserve
Historic preservation
Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...
the stone buildings in the Hudson Valley
Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in New York State, United States, from northern Westchester County northward to the cities of Albany and Troy.-History:...
built by early Dutch settlers
Dutch colonization of the Americas
Dutch trading posts and plantations in the Americas precede the much wider known colonization activities of the Dutch in Asia. Whereas the first Dutch fort in Asia was built in 1600 , the first forts and settlements on the Essequibo river in Guyana and on the Amazon date from the 1590s...
of the region, including his ancestors, which he feared was disappearing. The simple and modest style of the stone houses built by all those early settlers regardless of wealth was, to him, an example that should be followed by everyone.
Earlier in the decade, nearby Beacon
Beacon, New York
Beacon is a city located in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The 2010 census placed the city total population at 15,541. Beacon is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York–Newark–Bridgeport,...
had gotten a new post office
U.S. Post Office (Beacon, New York)
The U.S. Post Office in Beacon, New York is located at 369 Main Street in the Dutchess County city. It serves the ZIP Code 12508, covering the entire city of Beacon and some of the neighboring areas of the Town of Fishkill....
in local fieldstone designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood
Gilbert Stanley Underwood
Gilbert Stanley Underwood was an American architect best known for his National Park lodges. Born in 1890, Underwood received his B.A. from Yale in 1920 and a M.A. from Harvard in 1923. After opening an office in Los Angeles that year, he became associated with Daniel Ray Hull of the National...
. When Poughkeepsie's turn came, Treasury Secretary
United States Secretary of the Treasury
The Secretary of the Treasury of the United States is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, which is concerned with financial and monetary matters, and, until 2003, also with some issues of national security and defense. This position in the Federal Government of the United...
Henry Morgenthau
Henry Morgenthau
Henry Morgenthau may refer to:* Henry Morgenthau, Sr. , United States diplomat* Henry Morgenthau, Jr. , United States Secretary of the Treasury* Henry Morgenthau, III , author and television producer...
demanded that it be made of irregular fieldstone
Fieldstone
Fieldstone is a building construction material. Strictly speaking, it is stone collected from the surface of fields where it occurs naturally...
in the Dutch style, modeled after a demolished county courthouse that had been built in 1809. Architect
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
Eric Kebbon followed the design but originally turned in a building that was to use granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
. Roosevelt personally ordered him to redesign it to his specifications and would not let construction proceed until it was.
Cornerstone
The cornerstone concept is derived from the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation, important since all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure.Over time a cornerstone became a ceremonial masonry stone, or...
himself at a dedication
Dedication
Dedication is the act of consecrating an altar, temple, church or other sacred building. It also refers to the inscription of books or other artifacts when these are specifically addressed or presented to a particular person. This practice, which once was used to gain the patronage and support of...
ceremony during celebrations of the 250th anniversary of Poughkeepsie's settlement on October 13, 1937. Five hundred workers would spend the next two years building the 63,000-square foot (5,670 m²) structure.
The final building included a lobby with mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
s painted by WPA artists depicting six scenes in local and state history, including the ratification
Ratification
Ratification is a principal's approval of an act of its agent where the agent lacked authority to legally bind the principal. The term applies to private contract law, international treaties, and constitutionals in federations such as the United States and Canada.- Private law :In contract law, the...
of the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
by New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. The success of its design inspired Roosevelt to push for similar stone post office buildings in other Dutchess County towns along the river, and it influenced the similar design of new offices
Poughkeepsie Journal Building
The Poughkeepsie Journal Building is the main office of that newspaper, in the city of Poughkeepsie, New York, USA. It is located at Civic Center Plaza, the north end of Market Street....
built nearby for the Poughkeepsie Journal
Poughkeepsie Journal
The Poughkeepsie Journal is a newspaper based in Poughkeepsie, New York owned by the Gannett Company, who bought the paper in 1977. Founded in 1785 , the Journal is the oldest paper in New York state, and is the third-oldest in the nation...
newspaper. The Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
chose it as one of ten New York post offices among the five hundred most beautiful in the country. It has been on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
since 1989.
On October 22, 2008, the cupola
Cupola
In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
, undergoing renovation at the time, was damaged by a fire
Structure fire
A structure fire is a fire involving the structural components of various residential buildings ranging from single-family detached homes and townhouses to apartments and tower blocks, or various commercial buildings ranging from offices to shopping malls...
, causing the building to be closed for a few days. The rest of the building remained undamaged. City fire investigators
Fire investigation
Fire investigation, sometimes referred to as origin and cause investigation, is the analysis of fire-related incidents. After firefighters extinguish a fire, an investigation is launched to determine the origin and cause of the fire or explosion...
said the likely cause was accidental, from heat gun
Heat gun
A heat gun is a device used to emit a stream of hot air. They are superficially similar in shape and construction to a hair dryer, though they run at much higher temperatures...
s used by the painter
Painter and decorator
A house painter and decorator is a tradesman responsible for the painting and decorating of buildings, and is also known as a decorator or house painter...
s working on it.
See also
Other Hudson Valley post offices whose design Roosevelt influenced:- EllenvilleU.S. Post Office (Ellenville, New York)The U.S. Post Office in Ellenville, New York, United States, serves the ZIP code 12428, which covers Ellenville and much of the surrounding town of Wawarsing...
- Hyde ParkU.S. Post Office (Hyde Park, New York)The U.S. Post Office in Hyde Park, New York, serves the 12538 ZIP Code. It is a stone building in the Dutch Colonial Revival architectural style, located on East Market Street just east of US 9....
- RhinebeckU.S. Post Office (Rhinebeck, New York)The U.S. Post Office in Rhinebeck, New York serves the 12572 ZIP Code. It is located on Mill Street just south of the intersection with NY 308 at the center of the village.It is a stone Colonial Revival structure built in 1940, during the New Deal...
- Wappingers FallsWappingers Falls Village HallWappingers Falls Village Hall is located at the corner of South Avenue and East Main Street in the Dutchess County, New York, USA municipality of that name. It was originally built in 1940 as the village's new post office, a Works Progress Administration project. President Franklin D...
(Now used as a municipal building)