DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way back in the fall of 1894, the people of Matagorda County went to the polls, and when the votes were counted, the county seat was moving. Out from the city of Matagorda, over to a place called Bay Prairie, which folks would come to know as Bay City.
Now, a man named D. P. Moore had been postmaster over at a small town called Elliott, just nearby.
He owned property in the new town, and he did not wait around. He moved his dry goods store right into Bay City that same year, 1894. And when it came time to appoint Bay City's very first postmaster, the job went to his nephew, Joseph D.
Moore. Uncle gets the town moving, nephew gets the post. Some families just have a nose for where history's heading.
Fast forward to 1912, and D. P. Moore sells that property of his to the United States government.
They had plans for it. Big plans. Contractor W.
B. Lovell broke ground for a brand new post office building in 1917, and on May 15, 1918, the doors opened to the public. Then in 1958, an addition went up on the back, bringing extra working space and a loading dock.
Practical, steady, built to last. And that building earned every year of its keep. It wasn't just a place to pick up your mail.
During World War II it housed the Selective Service Board. It served as a Civil Defense fallout shelter. When storms rolled in off the Gulf, when hurricanes threatened, people found refuge inside those walls.
It was a town meeting place. A community anchor. It held that role all the way until 1989, when it stopped serving as a post office.
Then came the negotiations, months of back and forth with the United States Postal Service, and on October 30, 1990, the Matagorda County Museum Association purchased the building. The old post office became the home of the Matagorda County Museum. A building that once sorted letters and sheltered storm-weary families now holds the memory of the whole county.
Seems like a fair trade.
What the marker says
An election in the fall of 1894 resulted in the relocation of the Matagorda county seat from the city of Matagorda to Bay Prairie (now Bay City). D. P. Moore, the postmaster at the nearby small town of Elliott, owned property in the new town and moved his dry goods store to Bay City in 1894. His nephew, Joseph D. Moore, became Bay City's first postmaster. In 1912 D. P. Moore sold his property to the United States government for a new post office building. Contractor W. B. Lovell broke ground for the post office in 1917 and the building opened to the public on May 15, 1918. An addition built in 1958 provided extra working space and a loading dock at the rear of the structure. This building continued to serve the Bay City community as a post office until 1989. During that time it also served as a town meeting place, the site of the Selective Service Board during World War II, a Civil Defense fallout shelter, and a place of refuge from storms and hurricanes. On October 30, 1990, after several months of negotiations with the United States Postal Service, the Matagorda County Museum Association purchased the building to house the Matagorda County Museum. (1992)