Update on November 9, 2011:  We have been given a new comment form for citizens and business owners to complete and send to the Maplewood Post Office.

Here is the form:  www.cityofmaplewood.com/post-office-comment-form

Remember to send it to the Maplewood Post Office.

If you were unable to attend the meeting on Tuesday, September 13th, citizens and business owners have until Tuesday, September 27th to file comments with the United States Post Office, via regular mail.  Please direct comments to:

We have recieved word from Senator Claire McCaskill's office
of other actions to take:

Other Ways you can take action to comment on this review process are:

Write to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), which is currently reviewing the USPS nationwide process for studying post offices for closure and consolidation.  The PRC is expected to make its recommendations this fall.  No timeline has been established but constituents should send their comments in by end of October, 2011:

• Reference Docket number:  N2011-1
• Email – e-mail
• Fax – 202-789-6891
• Mail:

ATTN: Annie Kennedy

Public Affairs and Government Relations

Postal Regulatory Commission

901 New York Avenue NW Suite 200

Washington, D.C. 20268-0001

2. Community residents and business owners should have received official notice that the post office is being reviewed through a mailing from the USPS, which will be delivered to all Post Office Boxes and home-delivery routes, and by a formal posting at your local post office.  Please return the questionnaires!

If you still have questions please feel free to email usps@mccaskill.senate.gov or contact one of Senator McCaskill’s office locations.

Congressman Carnahan has co-sponsored these bills in congress:

HR 1351:  http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/thomas 

House Resolution 137:  http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/thomas

Additionally, Congressman Carnahan has signed onto a letter with other members of Congress to Ruth Goldway, Chairwoman of the Postal Regulatory Commission urging the Commission not to close our Post Offices.

The contact phone number for Congressman Carnahan’s St. Louis office is:  (314) 962-1523

The Maplewood Post Office (c.1940) is an Art Deco style building constructed during the New Deal era nestled on the edge of Maplewood’s Historic Downtown. 

The Maplewood Post Office has served the area for over 70 years and remains an integral part of the community. 

The Maplewood Post Office is currently on a list of potential closures and under review by the United States Post Office. 

We believe it is worth keeping open not just because of the role this service provides to our community but because it is a treasure of historic significance.

The building’s facade is constructed of a blond colored brick, unique in the St. Louis area and an old favorite of government buildings from this era, Indiana limestone, was used in a horizontal band at the grade and composes the building’s columns and lintels.

The entry is flanked by two windows on either side and all are recessed and separated by four limestone columns, rectangular in section and capped by slim stone lintels.  

The real jewel of the Maplewood Post Office is found inside the building, a New Deal high relief wood carving depicting a man, woman and child reclining outdoors with clouds, a dove, and a church with trees. 

Entitled “Family Group”, the work was produced in 1942 by the Danish born sculptor, Carl Mose (the sculptor of the statue of Stan Musial in downtown St. Louis at Walnut St. and S. Broadway.) 

This relief was apparently carved of Ponderosa pine or similar softwood and is mounted high on the wall. 

It would be interesting to know where this marble was quarried.  Three single weighted sash windows for the clerks, original post office box fronts, and decidedly Art Deco louvers high on the walls separating the public area from the business area are all original to the building. 

The stamp licking tables are double octagonal pedestal beauties made of white oak and still serviceable after nearly 70 years of use.  The interior woodwork is oak stained dark.

Thanks to Doug Houser for his contribution of architectural information and photographs!