Ogden, Illinois, USA

Defining Main Street: The Post Office. You can buy local goods and services along Main Street, but one particular federal service has been part of the line-up since colonial times: the post office. A declining number still boldly display the name of the towns they serve. If your building has been stripped of its toponym, work to bring it back: Be like Ogden, Illinois. [2015]

Saxis, Virginia, USA

The Eastern Shore of Virginia (ESVA) is often left off Virginia maps, hence the slogan here. Each of the communities shown on this map has a post office of its own, with one exception. This month, Geographically Yours Welcome will feature a complete gallery of Accomack County post offices and postmarks, starting with the county seat. [2007]

Boring, Maryland, USA

Sometimes the best thing about a post office is the name of the town it serves: Boring, in this case. For that you can thank Postmaster David Boring, who saw to it that his town had a name that was not boring at all, at least compared to its original name: Fairview. How boring was that! [1989 and 1991]

Quenemo, Kansas, USA

Some people still go to the post office to collect their mail. Others get it delivered to their homes, a service that was at one time available only in cities. As you travel, observe the variation in post office architecture. There is perhaps no other category of public building that exhibits such diversity: from small and shabby to large and showy. [2021]

Lost City, West Virginia, USA

The number of Post Offices peaked in 1901 at 76,945. Rural free delivery, changes in demographics, and new transportation patterns all contributed to the steadily declining numbers. In 2010, there were 27,077 independent Post Offices in the United States. Here in Lost City, the postmistress has just locked up for the day. [2021]

Mint Spring, Virginia, USA

Happy Memorial Day! Happy Mint Julep Day! The two go together perfectly: a colder-than-cold drink for a hotter-than-hot summer day. So let's add one more salutation: Happy First Day of Summer! (You know it is!) Do you think you could find a mint julep in Mint Spring on this Memorial Day or any day this summer? [2021]

Crossroads, New Mexico, USA

♫ These Are a Few of My Favorite Things ♫ ~ Post Offices: A place is not a place until it has a name, and the one place you could count on to prominently display that name was the post office. The old U.S. Post Office Department was the GIS of its day. In fact, it used to have a topographer to keep track of all the places where mail had to be delivered. [2018]

Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain

 "Letters mingle souls, for thus, friends absent speak." That was the judgment of John Donne (a contemporary of one William Shakespeare) in the late 1500s. Today in Spain, that is the job of la oficina de correos (see it?). Or, is it the job of the teléfono móvil? Mobile phones are everywhere taking post offices out of the soul-mingling business. [2017]

Owls Head, Maine, USA

It's not a place until it has a name. The name of this place is hidden in a rebus above the post office door. The lesson: Have some fun with the name of your town or township and show the world you are proud to live there. Note the pre-ADA entrance. [1976]

Ochopee, Florida, USA

Let's play Jeopardy. The answer is 'The one in Ochopee, Florida.' What's the question? 'What is the smallest post office in the United States?' It's located along the Tamiami Trail in the heart of the Everglades. [2003]

Argyle, Georgia, USA

Why waste a water tower? Depend on it to provide gravity flow to every house in town, but ask it to do more. Make it a part of the spirit of place. How? Paint the town's name on the top and take advantage of its height to attract attention. [2012]

Texarkana, Arkansas and Texas, USA

In Texarkana, the city too big for one state, stands the only federal court house and post office that straddles a state line. It's promoted by the locals as the "second most photographed court house" in the country. What's the first? [2012]