WASHINGTON, DC – The National Trust for Historic Preservation presented eleven recipients with this year’s National Preservation Awards, including 96-year-old Historic Route 66 folk hero, Angel Delgadillo of Seligman.
Add the crush of holiday shipping, and we are reminded of how much America depends upon the USPS. A postal clerk at the Thayer Street station told me how irritated customers have been with Covid distancing restrictions. There s nothing to complain about: Your Christmas packages to Aunt Min in Kansas or the grandkids in Virginia are delivered quickly and safely for what seems a modest charge. Postal workers have been frontline heroes during the pandemic, helping the keep the country connected.
The physical post office is the embodiment of the miracle. More than just a convenient place to buy stamps, mail packages, and peruse wanted posters, the post office is similar to a public library–a temple of democracy. Like a pub in an English village, the post office is a meeting place where news is exchanged, while the architecture of post offices used to serve as manifestations of national pride.