Post offices with honor plaques.

Indianapolis Indiana Post Office

July 8, 2012 By David W. Gates Jr.

ADDRESS: 125 W. South St. Indianapolis, Indiana 46206

Welcome to another Saturday edition of Post Office Freak. On Saturday’s I like to highlight some of the more interesting post offices I have visited. In early June I was in Indianapolis for a convention. Little did I know that I would also be treated to a wonderful post office with nice artifacts. Here is what I found.

The physical building itself is very large and apparently named after Andrew Jacobs Jr. a congressmen from Indiana. There are also several artifacts in the lobby which was really nice to see. First there is an old horse-drawn mail buggy. There are also two old-fashioned push carts. (See photos below).

Thanks,

David W. Gates Jr.

Indianapolis Indiana Post Office 46206 Artifacts

Indianapolis Indiana Post Office 46206 Honor Plaque

Sources

Personal visit on 6/6/2012 by David W. Gates Jr.
United States Postal Service

Chicago Illinois (Lakeview) Post Office

June 2, 2012 By David W. Gates Jr.

ADDRESS: 1343 West Irving Park Road, Chicago, Illinois 60613
ARTIST: Harry Sternberg
TITLE: Chicago – Epoch of a Great City
MEDIUM: Oil on canvas (mural)
STATUS: The Lakeview post office is still an active, operating facility, and the mural can be viewed by interested members of the pubic. It resides in the lobby on the wall above the retail counter.
YEAR: 1938

I met a very enthusiastic person as I was talking my picture in front of the Lakeview post office. As I was setting up and trying to angle the tripod he said loudly “That must be the first” When I looked at him puzzled he followed up with “That must be the first time someone has taken a picture of the post office”

Since I was unaware at the time just how awesome this post office is, I just kind of smiled and said “yeah must be” The man followed up and said I picked a good one to photograph as there is a really cool mural inside. I was immediately intrigued and headed inside after photographing the exterior of the building.

The man was right, this is one truly amazing and very large mural. It depicts everything Chicago is known for. There is even a website dedicated to the Lakeview Mural.

UPDATE: September 2015

I’ve attempted to navigate to the website for dedicated to this site but it has been down the last few times so I’ve removed the link.

David W. Gates Jr.

Lakeview (Chicago) Illinois Post Office 60613 Mural

Lakeview (Chicago) Illinois Post Office Mural 60613 Full

Lakeview (Chicago) Illinois Post Office 60613 Artifacts

Lakeview (Chicago) Illinois Post Office 60613

Lakeview (Chicago) Illinois Post Office 60613 Cornerstone

LLakeview (Chicago) Illinois Post Office 600613 Honor Plaque

Sources

Personal visit on 1/3/2012 by David W. Gates Jr.
Illinois Post Office Mural Guidebook
United States Postal Service
Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal: [Hardcover] Marlene Park, Gerald E. Markowitz
Parma Conservation

Dixon Illinois Post Office

April 13, 2012 By David W. Gates Jr.

ADDRESS: 405 W. 2nd St., Dixon, Illinois 61021

Dixon was an interesting stop on my road trip recently. The current Dixon Post Office is named in honor of President Ronald Reagan. They seem to be pretty proud of this as you walk in the front entrance in large letters are the words “President Ronald W. Reagan Post Office”.

After spending some time waiting for the perfect picture of the building I headed inside. Someone or somebody spent a great deal of time working on the various informational banners hanging inside the lobby. It was nice to see this and makes for an interesting discovery. Since my initial visit to Dixon I have also visited the Tampico Illinois Post Office which I also learned was Ronald Reagan’s birthplace. See how it all fits together? I’ll be highlighting the Tampico Illinois Post Office soon.

I only spent a brief time online looking for more information about when or how it was named, but only found a few clips in regards to the building itself. I did find the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation website to be quite interesting. I’m guessing there is more information out there and I’d love to research this further when I have time. Does anyone have suggestions on were to start to find more information about who did the banners? Researched the material etc?

Thanks,

David W. Gates Jr.