SCENE | Rural Post Offices

I took the above photo of the post office in Bondurant, Wyoming (population 100) last month. It's been on my desktop for a while, and I've stared at it often trying to figure out why I like it so much. This post office is so small and unassuming, yet still holds a certain power to it, as all post offices do. There's something about a post office I guess, especially in the digital age—they're cumbersome and ancient, sure, but they're also such a perfect representation of their communities. And even as they serve a town or village or city, there's a consistency to them that makes them touchtones to the federal government. Thousands of rural post offices have been closing over the years and movements have sprung up to save them in large numbers. A few weeks ago I read an article titled How We Saved Our Rural Post Office, possibly the most authentic grass roots campaign I've seen in a long time. A few more below worth saving.

Comments

Suju said…
Lovely buildings, each one! The post office and its employees are much maligned these days but the fact is they do a pretty darn good job.
Anonymous said…
Ever since I was little, I've loved going into post offices and seeing all the different stamps and envelopes and postcards you could send to people, and that they could send to you. These are all lovely. :)
kelly said…
love this post! whenever i travel the west i'm always amazed by how even the tiniest towns in the middle of nowhere will have a post office! it's an amazing system, if you think about it.
Christina said…
There are some post offices local to me that I really love the way they look. They are worth being photographed. Thanks for the inspiration!

- Christina www.cityloveee.blogspot.com
Squab said…
What's equally as cool about some rural post offices...the post office murals that were painted during the New Deal. Bringing art to the masses since the post office was the most frequented of any government building.
:)
mamacita said…
Required reading: "Why I Live at the P.O." by Eudora Welty.
Anonymous said…
The top image is beautiful, like a Sheeler painting.
This NYT article from Feb 2011 summed up for my why I love post offices -- small and large, rural and urban -- for what they represent and symbolize. Yet another piece of ourselves and our past that we are in danger of losing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/magazine/06fob-wwln-t.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C{%222%22%3A%22RI%3A13%22}
Anonymous said…
My grandfather was born in Adams Run! How random.

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