United States Post Office and Mine Rescue Station facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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U.S. Post Office and Mine Rescue Station
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U.S. Post Office and Mine Rescue Station in 1916
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 Location in Tennessee
Location in the United States
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| Location | Main and 2nd Sts., Jellico, Tennessee |
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| Area | 0.5 acres (0.20 ha) |
| Architect | Oscar Wenderoth, W. H. Fissell |
| Architectural style | Beaux Arts |
| NRHP reference No. | 84003467 |
| Added to NRHP | February 10, 1984 |
The U.S. Post Office and Mine Rescue Station in Jellico, Tennessee, is a special old building. It was built in 1915 to serve two important jobs for the U.S. government. This building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 because of its history.
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A Special Building in Jellico
This historic building has two floors. The first floor was used as a post office. The second floor was for the U.S. Bureau of Mines and a local group that helped with mine rescue. This group served the coal mining area around Jellico. The building was designed in the Beaux Arts style, which is a fancy and grand type of architecture.
The Post Office and Mine Rescue Center
The post office helped people send and receive mail. The mine rescue station was very important for safety. It had special equipment to help people after underground mining accidents. These stations also trained local miners. They learned how to use the rescue equipment and how to stay safe.
Training for Safety
The Bureau of Mines part of the building had offices and a lecture hall. It even had connections for a movie projector! One special room was called a "smoke room." This room had a fan to clear out smoke. It was used to train miners to use special breathing gear for mine rescues. This training helped them practice in conditions similar to a real emergency.
How the Building Came to Be
Richard Wilson Austin was a Congressman who represented the Jellico area. He helped get the money and permission to build this station. The building cost about $80,000 in 1915. That would be a lot more money today! The design work was started by James Knox Taylor and finished by Oscar Wenderoth. The building was completed in 1915 and officially opened in 1916. People thought it was a very impressive building for a small town like Jellico. The facilities for the Bureau of Mines were considered the best of their kind at the time.
Other Rescue Stations
Only one other place in the U.S. had a building like this. A similar post office and mine-rescue station was built later in Norton, Virginia. There was also a plan to build one in Hazard, Kentucky, but it never happened.
