12 eerie photos of abandoned post offices across the US
Talia Lakritz
- A post office built as part of the New Deal sits abandoned in Gary, Indiana.
- In Virginia Dale, Colorado, a now-abandoned post office started out as a station for stage coaches in 1862.
- A post office in Kelso, California, remains from its heyday as a mining town.
The US Postal Service is more crucial than ever during the coronavirus pandemic, when many will be voting by mail in the 2020 presidential election.
Not all post offices have stood the test of time, however. In ghost towns and unincorporated cities, the eerily empty buildings remain signs that people once lived there.
Here are 12 photos of abandoned post offices across the US.
A post office that was constructed as part of the New Deal sits abandoned in Gary, Indiana.
Designed by Howard Lovewell Cheney, the post office's construction was funded by the Treasury Department.
The post office closed in the 1970s.
It's one of several abandoned structures still standing in Gary.
The floor has been overtaken by moss.
Trees are sprouting through the tiles.
What's left of the building is gutted, with debris littering every surface.
It's a popular destination for urban explorers.
A forlorn post office remains in Kelso, California, a mining town that emptied out in the 1980s.
Kelso was established in 1905, and it was most populated in the 1940s, according to Atlas Obscura.
The National Park Service took over Kelso in 1994, preserving the town.
Kelso's old train depot was turned into the visitor center for the Mojave National Preserve.
Virginia Dale's abandoned post office in Colorado started out as a stage station in 1862.
It was located along the Overland Trail through the American West.
The post office closed around 1932, when it was moved to Highway 287.
The ghost town of Glenrio is situated along Route 66 on the border of Texas and New Mexico.
It became abandoned when Interstate 40 was completed, diverting traffic away from the town.
Its old post office is still standing.
The post office was built on the New Mexico side of the town, but mail arrived via railroad on the Texas side, causing the two states to clash over tax rights.
Jerome, Arizona, is a mining ghost town from the 1890s.
The town sat abandoned for years, but has slowly become populated again with some 500 residents, according to Atlas Obscura.
The old Jerome post office is a crumbling structure full of broken glass and caved-in ceilings.
The area is now being used by a mining company, making the decrepit post office off-limits.
- Read more:
- The eeriest abandoned place in every state
- THEN AND NOW: What 10 abandoned places in the US looked like before they became ruins
- 9 abandoned airports around the world and the history behind them
- 11 abandoned underwater sites and the history behind them
- Take a look inside the abandoned school where Netflix films 'Sex Education'
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