I want to thank Midnight Mike for loaning me several old postcards of Astoria for use on the blog. Above you can see an older post office building. It wasn't
the first of Astoria's post offices, but it was older than our current building. The card was postmarked in 1907, but I don't know the date of the photo. I like the grace and style of the old stone building. It was in the same location as the current post office, but was smaller and left more space for grass and trees around it. There is another postcard in Mike's collection showing the building from a distance. It's from a different side, and I'll save it for another comparison. The other card is postmarked 1930, although I don't know when the photo was taken; I don't know when the old building was replaced by the new one.
Astoria's current post office (and there is only one) takes up the block bordered by 7th and 8th Streets, and Commercial and Bond. This is the entrance, on Commercial Street across from the County Courthouse. I originally took this photo (on March 16th) to show the huge rhododendron bush which is covered with buds and about ready to burst into flower. The cluster that's already in bloom is a separate bush underneath the big one.
The flowers are still trying to hang on even though recent storms have taken their toll.
And the buds on the large bush are almost ready to display the seasonal riot of color if the something-or-other that's been nibbling them doesn't finish them first. The
purple azaleas I showed you on February 28th are out of sight behind the wheelchair ramp near the base of the flagpole.
I want to thank Midnight Mike for loaning me several old postcards of Astoria for use on the blog. Above you can see an older post office building. It wasn't the first of Astoria's post offices, but it was older than our current building. The card was postmarked in 1907, but I don't know the date of the photo. I like the grace and style of the old stone building. It was in the same location as the current post office, but was smaller and left more space for grass and trees around it. There is another postcard in Mike's collection showing the building from a distance. It's from a different side, and I'll save it for another comparison. The other card is postmarked 1930, although I don't know when the photo was taken; I don't know when the old building was replaced by the new one.
Astoria's current post office (and there is only one) takes up the block bordered by 7th and 8th Streets, and Commercial and Bond. This is the entrance, on Commercial Street across from the County Courthouse. I originally took this photo (on March 16th) to show the huge rhododendron bush which is covered with buds and about ready to burst into flower. The cluster that's already in bloom is a separate bush underneath the big one.
The flowers are still trying to hang on even though recent storms have taken their toll.
And the buds on the large bush are almost ready to display the seasonal riot of color if the something-or-other that's been nibbling them doesn't finish them first. The purple azaleas I showed you on February 28th are out of sight behind the wheelchair ramp near the base of the flagpole.
7 comments:
Our post offices in Ocala are, for the most part, "neo-modern," meaning flat, rectangles which scream "utilitarian" (as opposed to Unitarians) and which work well but are boring as hell.
I like this one.
And I love the flower shot! So sharp and the colors are scrumptious.
must have taken a beating during the fire but I wonder why it was eventually razed? Cool bldg, never saw pix of this earlier P.O. before.
Great Post and Post Office Sheryl
It's too bad that the old building didn't survive. It was a beauty.
Sheryl,
The older P.O. was built in 1873. The existing one was built in 1932 I believe. The older one was too small and I believe had some maintenance problems.
Interesting images, our Post Office was built in the 30s.
Hi Sheryl- The old post office caught my eye on the portal. Wow! what a fabulous building; I especially like the stone work. Your replacement P.O. looks about the same age as ours in Quincy - 1930s. Our post office buildings were built with federal money from the WPA project. We got some handsome public buildings from that downturn in the economy. I'd love to see a repeat of that program to get folks back to work. Astoria looks like it has lots of great history.
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