This modest Post Office building debuted in June 1965 along Main Street in the Benton County community of Keystone. The building featured 688 square feet of interior floor space, and was rented by the U.S. Postal Service for $840 annually from a couple in West Union who constructed and owned the building. The previous Keystone Post Office had 621 square feet of space. Postal service was first established in Keystone on April 18, 1882, one year after the community was settled.
When the Sibley Post Office was first occupied in late 1960, a plaque was installed bearing the name of President Eisenhower, a Republican. The plaque was replaced with one inscribed with Democratic President John F. Kennedy when the building was formally dedicated in June 1961. Unhappy with the change, Republican Iowa Congressman Charles Hoeven petitioned Postmaster General J. Edward Day to reinstate the original marker inside the new Post Office building.
Though the Postmaster General argued the Democratic designation was “in the interest of historical accuracy,” Representative Hoeven’s subsequent appeal was successful. On August 10, 1961, Postmaster General Day wrote the congressman that he would arrange for the restoration of the original plaque.
The modest Post Office in the Keokuk County town of Webster operated from June 20, 1855 to April 22, 2011. Prior to its closure, the small office was open four hours each day to serve the community’s 88 residents. Webster’s population peaked at 178 in 1930.
In the Sunday Des Moines Register, Kyle Munson filed a story on the loss of post offices in small towns across the state, including the Boone County town of Luther. The pictured photograph closed February 10, 2011, after a truck drove into the side of the building.
Photographs of seventeen of the other post offices set for review are in the below gallery:
The previously-featured Kelley Post Office closed its doors yesterday, February 25, 2011, due to a temporary suspension after the building’s lease was not renewed. The Ames Tribune reported there’ a possibility operations could be restored to Kelley, but during a public meeting, WHO TV notes Sarah Lindauer of the US Postal Service said they did not foresee this happening due to budget cuts. Residents in the Story County community will now receive mail curbside or in “cluster boxes.”