United States Post Office (Pearl River, New York) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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U.S. Post Office
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Partial east profile and north elevation, 2008
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 Location in New York
Location in the United States
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| Location | 35 S. Main St., Pearl River, NY |
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| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1935 |
| Architect | Louis A. Simon |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival |
| MPS | US Post Offices in New York State, 1858-1943, TR |
| NRHP reference No. | 88002399 |
| Added to NRHP | November 17, 1988 |
The U.S. Post Office in Pearl River, New York, is an important building in the town's center. It's located where Franklin and Main streets meet. This brick building was built in the mid-1930s and serves the ZIP Code 10965, which covers the Pearl River area.
The post office has a special design called Colonial Revival. This style was popular for post offices back then. However, this building also has a strong modern look, with very little decoration on the outside. There's no public art inside either.
In 1988, this post office was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This list includes many other historic post offices in New York State, including four others in Rockland County. In 2005, Congress officially renamed the building the Heinz Ahlmeyer, Jr. Post Office Building. This was done to honor a local soldier who was missing in action during the Vietnam War. His remains were identified in 2005, many years after he went missing.
About the Building
The post office stands on the west side of Main Street. It's just south of where Main Street crosses Franklin Street. The front of the building faces north, looking towards the parking lot for the train station. Across the parking lot to the north is Pearl River's town square. Other businesses are located on the east side of the street. The ground slopes down towards the railroad tracks on the west side. This means you can see the building's foundation on that side.
The building is one story tall and made of steel frame. It has a concrete patio around the parts of the foundation that are visible. The building has a main section in the middle with two smaller sections on each side. A loading dock with a roof sticks out from the back, where postal vehicles park. All parts of the building have flat roofs, with the middle section's roof being a bit higher. The walls are made of brick.
Around the bottom of the building, at floor level, there's a decorative stone band. The windows in the main section have 15 small glass panes on the top and 15 on the bottom. The windows in the side sections have 8 panes on the top and 8 on the bottom. All windows have stone sills. The roof edges are covered with stone and aluminum. On the east side, facing Main Street, there's another entrance for employees.
On the front of the main section, the windows sit on two stone panels. The main entrance is between these windows. It has a stone frame with a special stone at the top and a decorative border. Above the entrance, large bronze letters spell out "UNITED STATES POST OFFICE PEARL RIVER NEW YORK 10965".
To reach the main entrance, you can use two sets of stone stairs or a wheelchair ramp. The main door is made of glass and aluminum, with a large window above it. When you enter, you step into a small wooden area. The main lobby takes up most of the front of the building. It has a special floor made of terrazzo (a mix of chips and cement) and tall ceramic tiles on the lower part of the walls. The ceiling has acoustic tiles, and modern lights and fans hang from it.
The tables where customers fill out forms and the grilles over the teller windows are still the original ones. The teller windows themselves have been changed into one large service window. In the corner, you'll find the postmaster's office. The back of the building is where postal workers sort mail.
History of the Pearl River Post Office
Pearl River got its first post office in 1872. For many years, it was one of the few important buildings in the center of the village, located near the New York and New Jersey Railroad tracks. In the early 1900s, more homes and businesses started to be built in the area.
In 1931, a law was passed by Congress to build new post offices in many communities, including Pearl River. This was part of an effort to help the economy during the Great Depression, a time when many people were out of work. Construction on the Pearl River Post Office began in 1935 and was finished the next year.
Like many post offices built at that time, this one was designed by Louis A. Simon. He was the Supervising Architect for the Treasury Department. The Colonial Revival style was a common choice for post offices in smaller towns. The basic shape of the Pearl River Post Office, with its wide middle section and narrow wings, is similar to other post offices in New York, like those in Moravia and Watkins Glen.
However, the Pearl River Post Office is special because it uses the Colonial Revival style in a very simple way. It doesn't have a lot of fancy decorations. You can tell it's Colonial Revival by its balanced design, the way its windows are arranged, and the stone entrance. The flat roofs and simple entrance also show the influence of the Streamline Moderne and Art Deco styles, which were popular at the time.
Over the years, a few changes have been made to the building. In the 1960s, the loading dock was made longer, a roof was added to it, and the side entrance was changed. Inside, the original lights were replaced. Later, a wheelchair ramp was added to make the building accessible for everyone, following the Americans with Disabilities Act. Other than these changes, the building looks much like it did when it was first built.
In 2005, U.S. Representative Eliot Engel, who represented the Pearl River area, suggested renaming the post office. He wanted to honor Heinz Ahlmeyer, a local man who joined the Marine Corps after college. In 1967, on his first day serving in Vietnam, he was reported missing. His body could not be found at the time. In 2005, his remains were finally identified, and he was buried with full honors at Arlington Cemetery. This post office became the second historic post office in Rockland County to be named after a local hero.
