Graham Post Office

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna pass it along to you. Now, Graham, Texas has had itself a few post offices over the years. Seven, to be exact.

But if you want the one that stuck, the one that earned the title of first long-term post office in this town, you're looking at it. Built between 1935 and 1936, right in the thick of the Depression, when the federal government was reaching into its pockets and putting people to work across the country. This building cost sixty thousand dollars to raise up, and Graham was on the list of cities that saw those Depression-era federal projects come to life on its streets.

Now, sixty thousand dollars in the nineteen thirties was not pocket change, friend. That was an investment, and they meant it to show. The man who drew up the plans was Louis A.

Simon, an architect working for the U.S. Treasury. Simon gave the place what you'd call a Moderne sensibility, the style that was turning heads in the thirties, all clean lines and deliberate ornament.

Walk up close and you'll notice things. Decorative aluminum grillwork. Sculptural metal lights.

And stone friezes cut in that Zig-Zag Art Moderne fashion, geometry with a little swagger to it. But here's the detail that really makes a person stop. Inside, there is a mural, still intact, painted by a regional artist named Alexandre Hogue.

A Depression-era federal building, a Treasury architect, and a painter's work still hanging on the wall all these decades later. The U.S. Postal Service did eventually move its operations to another site, back in 1992, but the building itself remained.

The seventh post office in Graham. The first one the town ever held onto long enough to call permanent. Some things are worth building right the first time.

What the marker says

Built in 1935-1936 at a cost of $60,000, this was the seventh and first long-term post office in Graham. It was one of a number of Depression-era federally funded projects built in the city. An excellent example of a Moderne style post office of the 1930s, the structure contains an intact mural by regional painter Alexandre Hogue. The edifice was designed by U.S. Treasury architect Louis A. Simon. Its distinctive features include decorative aluminum grillwork, sculptural metal lights and Zig-Zag Art Moderne stone friezes. The U.S. Postal operations were relocated to another site in 1992. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1999