Stories of the South - Post Office Montpelier, MS Clay County
The post office in Montpelier was an awesome place to me
when I was a little girl. There were
rows upon rows of brass PO boxes, the kind with the little windows and knobs on
front. Mrs. King was our postmistress
and had been for years when I was little.
I wish I knew how long. She also
lived in the post office in living quarters in the back and treated the entire post office like it
was her home. There was a porch swing on
the front porch of the post office, yes an honest to goodness porch with a swing on a post
office, it is Mississippi after all.
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| Happier times. Photo from 2008 found HERE |
There were red roses growing up on either side of the front steps and
other flowers and shrubs all around the building. Inside she had glass display cases filled with
treasures and a wood burning stove she used to heat the building all winter
long. Since there never has been a beauty shop in Montpelier, all the ladies congregated here, drank coffee,
and solved the world’s problems.
A
terrible store came through in April 27,2011 and finally closed the post office
for good. It was only open part of the
time after Mrs. King retired and since it had been struggling for so long the
decision was made to close it.
Sadly someone has taken the sign from the front porch that
said Montpelier, MS Post Office and the inside has been stripped. A few of the old signs and stickers are all
that remain.
what an awesome place, and the fact that you were are part of it's history is cool. wow, it doesn't even look like the same place since 2008.
ReplyDelete~Abigail
It's a pretty big building and I wish there was some way to preserve it but I don't think anything has been done to it since the tornado damaged it three years ago.
DeleteHow sad! I'm glad you have beautiful memories and the "before" picture.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad Beth. I don't know how many wooden frame post offices are left but they seem to be disappearing at an alarming rate. Pheba, MS also had a big frame post office like this before they received a grant from the first Bush administration and built a new small brick post office. That frame post office went the same way as this one and was finally torn down.
DeleteAnd so it goes...the old Cross store building, the high school gym, the old two story Masonoc Lodge, the Coleman Gin and Sawmill, etc...all gone.
ReplyDeleteMontpelier was a busy place on Saturday afternoons when I was young.
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