Yerington Monday: The Yerington Post Office

Yerington Monday: The Yerington Post Office

As a kid, the only way to receive mail was at the post office. There was no home delivery, no UPS, no FedEx. All 2000 plus residents had a mailbox and had to pick their mail up. Because of this the Post Office was a community center where you bumped into family, friends, and everyone else in Mason Valley. It was a great place to catch up on the latest gossip and news. By the time I was in high school, home delivery was implanted, but I would still go to the post office when I was board to catch up on the news & gossip, as a lot of people kept their mailboxes even after home delivery.

Built in 1939 the Yerington Post Office is still in use and is a pivotal landmark on Main Street Yerington. The Postmaster from Las Vegas had scheduled to close the facility. But with encouragement from the Yerington City Council and the Mayor the Postmaster visited the building and upon viewing it’s charm and central location declared that the Yerington Post Office would not be closed. It is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

"The Yerington Main Post office is one-story red brick building which rests upon a raised basement platform. The front elevation is flat, symmetrical, and Classically-pro-portioned. Five bays divide the facade: two flat-arched bays and a centered, round-arched entry bay. Sandstone and wood are used for trim details. A copper-clad hipped roof covers the building.

The Yerington Main Post Office is significant on the state level for art and on the local level for architecture and politics/government. An unaltered example of a small-town post office and federal office building, the building's design, based on standardized plans, is typical of a number of other small town post offices constructed in Nevada, the West, and the nation during the Depression era. The Post Office and the mural it contains represent the efforts of the federal government, through its public works and art programs, to assist communities during a period of economic emergency."

The clock was given to the city from the Yerington Rotary Club who along with the Lions Club, Boys & Girls Club of Mason Valley and Soroptimists International of Yerington are all strong community organizations.

This view of Yerington’s Main Street, shows where the post office is in town. The clock marks the spot of the post office.

Yerington’s Post Office Mural. Above the postmasters door to the right of the entrance. In the showcases are some old photos of the construction of the local post office in 1939. It still has the original woodwork. The Yerington mural was painted by Adolph Gottlieb, who painted some other murals.

Post offices and murals started going up during the 1930's, when the Roosevelt administration implemented the New Deal, which would develop the Works Progress Administration. This federal jobs program hired thousands of citizens to construct public works projects, including post offices, and Campbell said they also wanted to give artists work. The mural artists generally were chosen through competitions, and the mural artists usually were given guidelines and themes.

Posted on Facebook Jan 26, 2015

Comments

• Peggy Freitas Purintun Box 507, I still remember after all these years. I was always jealous of Nikki Newell because her family had a drawer not a box. During my early teen years I would ride with Maureen Hall to the post office as many times a day as her mother would let her take the car. You are right Chere, it was a daily social event.

• Peggy Freitas Purintun I forgot to mention how much I like the building. I am so glad it wasn't closed. It is the nicest spot on main with grass and trees. I just wonder when it got so small. I always thought it was a huge building.

• Chere Brown I know. Peggy, both the post office and the courthouse seemed to have shrunk as I got older as have I.

• Madeline Sanford Box 831, then KK. Lost the keys so often. As a grownup, Box 277, combo HDI.

• Sylvia Banta Love this bit of history. I remember Walter Cox even in old age still walked to the Post Office to get his mail and would stand outside visiting for quite awhile

• Karen Sue Johnson-Bradshaw My family lived outside of city limits so even in 60 's we still had to pick up our mail at the post office. I miss living in Yerington as we knew it back then with John's cafe, Yerington theater, and many other prominent places we all hung out. I didn't grow up there like most of you did but the five years I lived there are wonderful memories.

• Mark Glass Box 855, in front door, turn left, around the corner, half way down on the right. Mail order pickup notices sent us to main window and Mrs Guild (Marlins mom) to get our goodies!

• Kathee Hall Speight Reminiscing about Yerington is so much fun. Looking at the picture of the Post Office reminds me of another "Sharon Hall Provost-Brown" escapade. Not only did she knock our mom down in the drugstore....One day, Sharon and Mom were sitting in the car on Main Street with the windows down. Just as someone walked by, Sharon let out a blood-curdling scream and then ducked down. I can't remember who the person was, but they looked over and all they saw was Mom. I will never forget Mom telling that story. Little Mrs. Hall sitting in the car screaming at passersby. No wonder she had white hair. It was mostly thanks to Sharon, I'm sure.

• Sharon Hall Provost-Brown I still remember our box #157.. Thanks Kathee for sharing that little piece of history..LOL

• Kathee Hall Speight Peggy Freitas Purintun,Maureen Hall was very bossy. She was probably in the Post Office and that is why poor Mom was left alone with Sharon Hall Provost-Brown.

• Meredith Mayeroff I do too, Sharon. We were #602, after all these years it comes into my head immediately. I think we had the prettiest post office too.

• Larry Sherry Cerfoglio Living 14 miles from town, we relied on the Yerington Post Office for our mail. I stopped every day after school and usually spent time talking to anyone who was near. Loved Yerington, and love keeping in touch with ya'll.

• Peggy Freitas Purintun Mark Glass you remember it in the same way I do. That post office was a huge part of our history. Kathee Hall Speight, I'm stunned that Maureen let your mother drive Sharon to the post office.

• Chere Brown Getting a package at the Post Office was the most exciting thing. It may only be a toy ordered from the back of a cereal box for 25 cents, but to us kids it was more exciting than winning the lottery.

• Nikki Newell Bryan My daughter worked at this post office for several years. Now they have a bigger post office at the south side of town where she was a carrier, then a supervisor and then the postmaster. After that she went to be the postmaster in Smith, Wellington, Coleville and Topaz post offices (all at the same time) several years ago. They put her back here as the postmaster for a couple of years and then moved her back to the others in the last year.

• Mark Glass My fondest memory of the old YPO was my deer rifle coming by mail! I was 11 and when I took the yellow slip to the window Mr. Compston gave me a hard time just for his fun. (Didn't take him serious as in my family it wasn't unusual.) Good rifle wish I still had it but burned up in a house fire. I went next door to Ken ' s store (Westerner?) and bought ammo for siteing it in. An exciting day for an 11 yr old!! I smile to this day when I think of it. ;-}>

• Mark Glass OH, Yeah, my rifle with shipping was under $ 40.00!! Oh, Lord!! I would have those prices again anytime!!!

• Mary Burns Great memory jogger, Mark, ... I too, waited anxiously for special items when I was in 3rd grade ..All Yer. friends know, I was a tomboy, and I wanted all the catchers gear , to include the mask , the shin guards, and the 'belly protector' special mitt .. I wanted to be a catcher, even tho in those days ,girls couldnt play organized ball.... ANyway, I walked to the P O every single day .. when our South Yer kids started playing baseball on a vacant lot right by our home , I just knew I would be the star! NOT SO MUCH!! Larry Tingle was our 'hood' pitcher, and catching him scared me to death, I gave my gear to his bro to use .. Larry went on to pitch in the Minor leagues for the L A Dodgers. (AAA) So I wasn’t THAT much of a wussssy!! was I?? lv,mb

• Mary Burns Larry Winkler, lived right in front of us (the old Chere Barnett home Dad moved down the street so he could build his new Lyon Mkt) HIs family rented that home for many years.. I see Larry a lot at the U of N basketball games He looks great , I told him ,he was a puss when he moved into our neighborhood , He was 11 or 12 .. We were all playing baseball on an adjacent lot. he walked over with a 3 fingered baseball glove.!!!!!!!(YIKES). he had just moved in from a ranch by Wabuska, and hadn’t played much baseball... by the time he was 12 yrs old , he made all stars, I told him So. Yerington took the pansy out of him!! His Step Dad was a sheriff, who was Not very kind to his Mom and her kids so Alberta took her kids (Pete, Sandy and Larry) and left him..Larry had a stepsister named Beverly, who he hasn’t seen in years.

• Chere Brown I always remember Larry Winkler for two reasons. First, I had German with him and he was so good at it and I was so bad at it. And second, Mom took us to Larry's mother’s farm in Wabuska one time and Larry saddled up a couple horses for us. My horse was a follower and Larry's was a leader. Every time Larry sped up my horse would also. Larry took off at a gallop and so did mine right through an orchard. My face and arms were tore up by the branches slapping me. I finally let go, fell off and let that damn horse do his thing.
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• Liz Merrill Mason Chere, I know exactly what you mean. I grew up around horses but never cared for the smelly beasts and they knew it. We would spend 2 weeks every summer with one of my cousin's grandpa who lived in Olancha, CA. He had an old rodeo horse that we would ride out to the dunes and back. He stepped on me and refused to move and stared me in the eye while doing it. He would walk out in the pond and stand there. He would try to rub me off on a tree. He was a miserable old nag. Of course, he was perfectly behaved with my cousin.

• Chere Brown I never had anything against horses, but I had terrible luck with them. Once when riding a friend's horse from my house on West Street ,where the sidewalks were dirt, to their house, my horse tripped and fell on me while trying to cross the street. The horse was kicking like hell trying to get up, while I lay crushed under its whole body. Fortunately, he finally got up and I was not seriously hurt only sore.

• Mary Burns Box 592 then box CC same box, with different addresses (A drawer cuz of Dads store) and why did they go from ##'s to letters , when it was the very same box or drawer?

• Bob Barry I remember our box was 142. The combo was efcdgh. I think.

Sherilyn Ostrander I still have my mailbox. And Just the other day I almost took a pic because they are so old And so cool I can't even tell you how long I have had it, at least 45 years