Postal service was established in the Wayne County, Iowa, community of Promise City in August 1856. When service was discontinued in the nearby towns of Clio and Millerton in 2006, Promise City became the smallest city in the county with an active post office location. The 2000 census indicated 105 residents, down from a peak population of 274 in 1910.
Postal service was established in Keswick in Keokuk County, Iowa, on November 12, 1879. Mail volume at the local post office increased on July 1, 1902, when rural free delivery was established in Keswick and six other Iowa communities. Keswick’s one carrier route spanned 23 miles, serving 810 area residents. The establishment of the rural route resulted in discontinuation of the post office location in nearby Ambrose in adjacent Iowa County.
The Keswick Post Office moved to its current location in 1965, when a downtown building was restored by two residents and leased to the US Postal Service.
The Washburn, Iowa, post office closed just six days after the above photo was taken, on July 31, 2009. Residents of the unincorporated community, located just south of Waterloo, lamented the loss of the small post office, one of the last remaining places to bear the Washburn town name. The Washburn Post Office was open two hours daily and had less than 20 rented post office boxes.
When federal officials temporarily closed the Rowley, Iowa, post office in May 2008 due to toxic mold, a retired farmer took matters into his own hands. Rowley resident Jim Grover purchased the 40-year-old post office building in June and immediately began making the repairs necessary to reopen the building. Improvements included a new coat of paint inside the post office following the mold removal, and a $9,000 investment in a new roof to prevent future leakage and molding.
The Post Office reopened December 26, 2008, following an official inspection of the building conducted by the U.S. Postal Service. In the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Rowley Mayor Rita Knutson described the post office reopening as an “awesome… Christmas present.” Rowley is a community of 290 residents located in south-central Buchanan County in Northeast Iowa.
A hand-painted raccoon adorns the front window of this small, brick Post Office in downtown Lime Springs in Howard County, Iowa. Located on the well-maintained Main Street, the Post Office serves the community’s 495 residents. Lime Springs is known in Northeast Iowa for its annual Sweet Corn Festival, held the third Saturday in August, along with the nearby Lidtke Mill, one of the few remaining examples of a working flour mill in the state. The mill is open to visitors between Memorial Day and Labor Day.