A large crowd gathered outside the new Hawarden Post Office building for its official dedication on Saturday, February 22, 1941, celebrating the facility as a “milestone in the city’s progress.” The event started with a flag raising ceremony presented by the American Legion followed by the high school band’s performance of “The Star Spangled Banner.” Other musical numbers were played, and the Hawarden Post Office employees were each introduced, along with the city mayor, Chamber of Commerce president, and the guest speaker, John Sparks, a post office inspector from Sioux City.

Sparks spoke on the topic, “The History of the World’s Postal Service,” tracing the early development of postal services in other nations and then the United States. He outlined the post office history in Hawarden, where a location was first established December 13, 1882, and the ceremony closed with a prayer from the reverend at the local Baptist Church. The Hawarden Independent noted one “casualty” at the end of the day: “A small boy attempted to chin himself to the towel bar in the bathroom of the post office, pulled loose the bar and fell. The lad was not hurt.”