United States Post Office (Poughkeepsie, New York)

Last updated
U.S. Post Office
Poughkeepsie, NY, post office.jpg
Post office viewed looking north on Market Street, 2007
Location55 Mansion St. [1]
Poughkeepsie, NY
Coordinates 41°42′21″N73°55′40″W / 41.70583°N 73.92778°W / 41.70583; -73.92778
Built1937–1939
Architect Gerald Foster, Eric Kebbon
Architectural style Colonial Revival
MPS US Post Offices in New York State, 1858-1943, TR
NRHP reference No. 88002413
Added to NRHP1989

The main U.S. Post Office, Poughkeepsie, New York, is located at the intersection of Market and Mansion Streets downtown; the address is 55 Mansion Street. The New Deal post office serves the 12601 ZIP Code, which covers the city of Poughkeepsie, New York and 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. [2]

Contents

History

Gerald Foster's study for the 1939 mural titled Indian Resting Spot. The painting depicts a 1690 scene at "the reed covered lodge by the spring place", Poughkeepsie. Scene near Poughkeepsie, 1690 (mural study, Poughkeepsie, New York Post Office) 1965.18.70 1a.jpg
Gerald Foster's study for the 1939 mural titled Indian Resting Spot. The painting depicts a 1690 scene at "the reed covered lodge by the spring place", Poughkeepsie.

The building was the second of five post offices in Dutchess County built during the New Deal. 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. [4]

Earlier in the decade, nearby Beacon had received 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. [5]

Roosevelt speaking at the dedication FDR speaking at Poughkeepsie post office dedication.jpg
Roosevelt speaking at the dedication

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. [2]

The final building included a lobby with five murals painted by artists commissioned by the Section of Fine Arts. [6] The paintings depict scenes in local and state history, including the ratification of the United States Constitution by New York. [7] 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. [2] 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 guns used by the painters working on it. [8]

See also

Other Hudson Valley post offices whose design Roosevelt influenced:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyde Park, New York</span> Town in New York, United States

Hyde Park is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States, bordering the Hudson River north of Poughkeepsie. Within the town are the hamlets of Hyde Park, East Park, Staatsburg, and Haviland. Hyde Park is known as the hometown of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States. His house there, now the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site, is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, as are the homes of Eleanor Roosevelt, Isaac Roosevelt, and Frederick William Vanderbilt, along with Haviland Middle School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wappingers Falls, New York</span> Village in New York, United States

Wappingers Falls is a village in the towns of Poughkeepsie and Wappinger, in Dutchess County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 5,522. The community was named for the cascade in Wappinger Creek. The Wappingers Falls post office covers areas in the towns of Wappinger, Poughkeepsie, Fishkill, East Fishkill, and LaGrange. This can result in some confusion when residents of the outlying towns, who do not live in the village, give their address as "Wappingers Falls".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site</span> National Historic Site of the United States

Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site is a historic house museum in Hyde Park, New York, United States. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1940. It is owned and operated by the National Park Service.

<i>Poughkeepsie Journal</i> Newspaper in Poughkeepsie, New York

The Poughkeepsie Journal is a newspaper based in Poughkeepsie, New York, and owned by Gannett, which bought the paper in 1977. Founded in 1785, the Journal is the oldest paper in New York state, and is the second-oldest in the nation. The Journal's primary coverage area is Dutchess County, though the entire Mid-Hudson Valley is covered in some form, along with some coverage of points south via the White Plains–based Journal News.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Post Office (Beacon, New York)</span> United States historic place

The U.S. Post Office in Beacon, New York, is located on Main Street. It serves the ZIP Code 12508, covering the entire city of Beacon and some of the neighboring areas of the Town of Fishkill. It is a stone structure in the Dutch Colonial Revival architectural style built in the mid-1930s. In 1988 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places along with many other older post offices in the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilderstein</span> United States historic place

Wilderstein is a 19th-century Queen-Anne-style country house on the Hudson River in Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, New York, United States. It is a not-for-profit house museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Post Office (Ellenville, New York)</span> United States historic place

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. It is located on Liberty Place in the center of the village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Post Office (Rhinebeck, New York)</span> United States historic place

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Post Office (Hyde Park, New York)</span> United States historic place

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Top Cottage</span> United States historic place

Top Cottage, also known as Hill-Top Cottage, in Hyde Park, New York, was a private retreat designed by and for Franklin D. Roosevelt. Built in 1938-39, during Roosevelt's second term as President of the United States, it was designed to accommodate his need for wheelchair accessibility. It was one of the earliest such buildings in the country, and the first significant building designed by a person with a disability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Wappingers Falls Village Hall</span> United States historic place

Formerly the Wappingers Falls Village Hall this building now houses the Police Department. It is located at the corner of South Avenue and East Main Street in the village of Wappingers Falls, Dutchess County, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poughkeepsie Journal Building</span> United States historic place

The Poughkeepsie Journal Building was the main office of that newspaper, in the city of Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. It is located at Civic Center Plaza, the north end of Market Street. The newspaper sold the building in 2009 and moved out in November 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wappingers Falls Historic District</span> Historic district in New York, United States

The Wappingers Falls Historic District is in the center of that village in Dutchess County, New York, United States. It is a 90-acre area roughly centered along South Avenue and West Main Street, NY 9D and Wappinger Creek. It includes Mesier Park in the center of the village and many adjacent residential neighborhoods, roughly bounded by Elm, Park, Walker, Market and McKinley streets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bergh–Stoutenburgh House</span> Historic house in New York, United States

The Bergh–Stoutenburgh House is located on U.S. Route 9 opposite Mansion Drive in Hyde Park, New York. It is currently used as a district office by state senator Sue Serino.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyde Park Elementary School</span> Elementary school in Hyde Park, NY, United States

Hyde Park Elementary School is located on US 9 in Hyde Park, New York, United States. It served students from kindergarten through fifth grade in the Hyde Park Central Schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Main Street–Albertson Street–Park Place Historic District</span> Historic district in New York, United States

The Main Street–Albertson Street–Park Place Historic District is located in the residential neighborhood just west of US 9 near central Hyde Park, New York, United States. It is a predominantly residential area of 6.8 acres (2.8 ha) along the named streets, also including Hyde Park's library and a few former church buildings since converted into houses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old St. Peter's Church (Poughkeepsie, New York)</span>

The Old Church of St. Peter is a Roman Catholic church established under the authority of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, New York in 1837. It is the second oldest Catholic Church on the Hudson and is considered the Mother Church of the Hudson Valley because from it all the parishes in Ulster and Dutchess counties were founded. The church is also referred to as Our Lady of Mount Carmel since 1965 when St. Peter's parish relocated to Hyde Park, New York and the parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel church relocated to site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishkill Farms</span>

Fishkill Farms is a farm located in East Fishkill in Dutchess County, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maritje Kill</span> River in New York, United States

The Maritje Kill is a tributary of the Hudson River in Hyde Park, New York. Its source is three miles northeast of the village of Hyde Park, and it enters the Hudson at the Hyde Park campus of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). The river's name uses an old Dutch version of the given name Marietje, meaning "little Mary". It is one of two major waterways in Hyde Park, and flows north to south through the town.

Dutchess County Historical Society, located in Rhinebeck, New York, was formed in Pleasant Valley, New York May 26, 1914 and received its Charter from the Regents of the University of the State of New York in 1918. Its mission is to discover, preserve and share the local area's history and artifacts from the time of its earliest people to the present.

References

  1. Address based on USPS website. Accessed March 31, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Desai, Jay (1996). "The Deal That Keeps On Giving: Hudson Valley New Deal Projects Still on the Job". Building America: Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. Marist College, The 1996 Summer Scholars. Archived from the original on 2006-10-20.
  3. "Competition for Two Murals for the Decoration of the Poughkeepsie, New York Post Office—Second Notice". Bulletin Number 18. Washington, D.C.: Section of Fine Arts, Treasury Department. February 1939. p. 14. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  4. "FDR and Dutchess County Stone Buildings". p. 3. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
  5. "FDR and Dutchess County Stone Buildings". p. 6. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
  6. "Post Office Murals – Poughkeepsie NY". The Living New Deal . Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  7. "Introduction to the New York Ratifying Convention". Teaching American History. Archived from the original on July 28, 2019.
  8. "Fire at post office probably caused by heat guns, wind". Poughkeepsie Journal . Gannett Co. 2008-10-22. Archived from the original on 2008-10-25. Retrieved 2008-10-22.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to United States Post Office (Poughkeepsie, New York) at Wikimedia Commons