Childress Post Office Building

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Childress Post Office Building. Now, some buildings just hold mail. Others hold history.

The Childress Post Office was established way back in 1887, and for decades the town's letters and parcels found their way through whatever arrangement served the purpose. But then came 1935, and something worth remembering got built. On the very site where the First Methodist Church once stood, a new post office building rose up, and it did not rise quietly.

This was Spanish Colonial architecture making a statement on the Texas plains. Round-arched windows. Decorative brickwork.

A parapet standing proud above the main entrance like a crown nobody asked for but everybody appreciated. Seven bays across the facade, and a round transom to tie it all together. Seven bays.

On a post office. In Childress, Texas. Somebody had ambitions.

The building did its job for decades, sorting the correspondence of an entire community, until 1981, when the post office relocated and the building stood at a crossroads. Here's where the story turns, because some towns would have let a structure like that fade. Not Childress.

The building was purchased, and its new purpose became preservation itself, a museum holding the memory of everything that came before. From a church site, to a post office, to a museum. That ground in Childress has carried a lot of weight, and judging by the craftsmanship left standing, it was built to keep carrying it.

What the marker says

The Childress Post Office was established in 1887, and in 1935 this post office building was constructed on the site formely occupied by the First Methodist Church. Reflecting the Spanish Colonial style of architecture, it features round-arched windows, a parapet above the main entrance, a 7-bay facade, round transom, and decorative brickwork. In 1981, when the post office relocated, the building was purchased for use as a museum. Recorded Texas Historical Landmark-1991