U.S. Postal Service history is deeply entwined with America’s story. From our beginning, we’ve played a pivotal role in some of the most significant chapters of our country’s growth, binding a nation through communication, infrastructure and commerce. Our legacy can be seen every day in every community across the nation. But for me, as Facilities vice president with a special appreciation of architecture and the utility of buildings, the most prominent symbols of our place in America’s history can be found in the various postal headquarters buildings that survive to this day in Washington, DC, which has been home to our base of operations since 1800.
Our early headquarters buildings are unfortunately lost to time, but as the USPS Historian’s article, “Post Office Headquarters Sites in Washington, DC” clearly illustrates, we’ve been close to the center of power since our first days in the nation’s capital. Whether located between the White House and Congress or right next to the West Wing, our headquarters have been in the middle of the action during some of the most important junctures in America’s history.
There were ups and downs for our headquarters in those early days. We were one of the only federal departments to survive the burning of Washington by British troops on Aug. 24, 1814, and we hosted Congress for several months following that attack while the Capitol was being rebuilt. Fire would eventually destroy that headquarters in 1836, however, taking with it many of our historical documents.
On a positive note, that fire ensured that all future postal headquarters would be purpose-built with safety, security and permanency in mind. Because of that, today we have four magnificent buildings in the heart of Washington that showcase the Postal Service’s — and our country’s — evolution over more than 180 years.
Our oldest surviving headquarters building, the General Post Office, can be found in the city’s historic Penn Quarter. Our home from 1841 to 1899, this magnificent all-marble, block-length building is a monument to a critical time in our past. It was here during the Civil War that we created many of the postal services that are considered standard today, such as free home delivery, money orders and mail-in ballots. This was also the building where we established ourselves as a patron of new technologies, supporting Samual Morse’s telegraph system and the fledgling rail network.
As the country grew, its postal needs evolved, and with that came the need for more space. This meant new headquarters, first at the now iconic Old Post Office Building on 11th and Pennsylvania Avenue (between 1899 and 1934) and then across the street at the New Post Office Building. In this space just blocks from the White House, you can see where we nurtured the nation’s nascent aviation industry, helped bring joy to our troops during the horrors of two world wars, and supported the economic and demographic booms that followed.
And then there is our home since 1973 at L’Enfant Plaza, a monument to our evolution from the Cabinet-level Post Office Department into the independent, self-sustaining USPS that today is the largest mail operator in existence, handling more than 40 percent of the world’s mail.
I’ve only scratched the surface of the Postal Service’s legacy in our nation’s capital. But I hope I’ve given all of you a new reason to visit Washington and see it from a fresh perspective, one that celebrates the unique bond the Postal Service holds with our nation’s story of growth, success and global prominence.
ARTWORK AND CAPTIONS
Benjamin Kuo
Vice President, Facilities