United States Post Office (Hyde Park, New York) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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U.S. Post Office
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Building in 2007, with one shutter missing
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| Location | Hyde Park, NY |
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| Nearest city | Poughkeepsie |
| Built | 1941 |
| Architect | Rudolph Stanley-Brown |
| Architectural style | Dutch Colonial Revival |
| MPS | US Post Offices in New York State, 1858–1943, TR |
| NRHP reference No. | 88002511 |
| Added to NRHP | 1988 |
The U.S. Post Office in Hyde Park, New York, is a special building. It handles mail for the 12538 ZIP Code. This post office is made of stone and built in a style called Dutch Colonial Revival. You can find it on East Market Street, near US 9.
The building looks like an old house from the area. President Franklin D. Roosevelt grew up in Hyde Park. He was very interested in how this new post office was built during the New Deal time. Inside, there are cool paintings called murals that show important moments from Hyde Park's past. In 1988, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This means it's an important historical site.
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Exploring the Hyde Park Post Office Building
The Hyde Park Post Office is right in the middle of town. It sits on a corner where two streets meet. Nearby, you can see the Hyde Park Reformed Dutch Church and St. James Chapel. There's also a pretty stone wellhead near the corner.
Main Features of the Building
The front of the post office faces south. It has four sections, called bays. The main part of the building is two stories tall. It's covered in fieldstone, which are natural stones. The windows have louvered shutters. The roof is a hipped roof, which slopes on all sides. It has decorative wooden trim. The main door is on the west side. It has a small wooden porch with a triangular top, called a pediment.
Wings and Inside Details
On the east and west sides, there are two smaller wings. These wings are one and a half stories tall. They have gabled roofs, which are pointed. The sides of these wings are covered with clapboard siding. The west wing has another entrance. A larger, newer wing extends from the back, made of brick. This part has a gambrel roof, which has two different slopes on each side. It also has a loading area for mail trucks.
Inside, the main lobby has a flagstone floor. The lower part of the walls is also covered in stone. On the upper walls, you'll see murals that show the history of Hyde Park. Many of the wooden parts and finishes inside are still the originals. There's even a small display case. It holds the trowel that President Roosevelt used when they first started building the post office.
A Look at the Post Office's History
The post office has a long and interesting history in Hyde Park. The town itself got its name from its very first post office. That first post office was inside a place called the Hyde Park Inn. The settlement used to be called Stoutenburgh. But the new name, Hyde Park, became very popular. It officially became the town's name in 1812. Nine years later, Hyde Park became its own organized town.
President Roosevelt's Vision
About 150 years later, President Franklin D. Roosevelt played a big role. He wanted new public buildings in his home area, the Hudson Valley, to be built in the Dutch Colonial Revival style. He also liked them to be made of fieldstone. He personally made sure that new post offices in Poughkeepsie and Rhinebeck were built this way.
Postmaster General James Farley asked President Roosevelt if he wanted to build a new post office in Hyde Park next. But the President told him to finish the Rhinebeck post office first. He felt Rhinebeck needed it more at that time.
Designing the Hyde Park Post Office
In 1939, President Roosevelt gave a speech at the groundbreaking for the Rhinebeck post office. He joked that Farley and Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr. would lose their jobs if they didn't find money for a new post office in Hyde Park!
Rudolph Stanley-Mills was chosen to design the Hyde Park building. He was a former government architect. He had successfully designed other stone post offices in the area, like the one in Rhinebeck and Wappingers Falls. President Roosevelt had to approve the final design.
Building the Post Office
The land for the Hyde Park post office was bought in April 1940. It cost $15,000. Three houses were removed to clear the space for the new building. President Roosevelt personally picked an old clapboard house built in 1772 as the model. This house belonged to an early settler named John Bard, but it had already been torn down. Even though Bard's house was wood, the President insisted the new post office be made of stone. The stones used were larger and more even than those used for other stone post offices nearby. They came from old stone walls on a farm that used to belong to Bard's son, Samuel.
The brick wing at the back was added in 1963. Some modern lights have also been put in. Other than these changes, the building looks much like it did when it first opened.
Art Inside the Post Office
Local artist Olin Dows painted the murals in the lobby. These murals show different parts of Hyde Park's history. One mural shows Henry Hudson's ship, the Halve Maen, arriving in the nearby Hudson River in 1609. Another shows Britain's King George VI visiting President Roosevelt at his house the year before the post office was built. Olin Dows had also painted similar scenes in the Rhinebeck post office.
Art Programs and Public Opinion
In 2001, an art program at the post office caused some discussion. The postmaster started a program called "Artist of the Month." In October of that year, a painting was displayed. After some people complained, the painting was removed. This led to discussions about art in public places. People from the local art community spoke up. The Postal Service explained that post offices are for mail, not for displaying art like an art gallery. After this, the "Artist of the Month" program ended.
