Nacogdoches Federal Building / Post Office

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one bringin' it to you on the road. Now, most buildings in a Texas town square have one story to tell. This one in Nacogdoches has been collectin' them since before the First World War ended.

The man who drew up the plans was James A. Wetmore, an architect working for the U.S. Treasury Department, and what he put on paper got built right there on the town square between 1917 and 1918.

That location, by the way, is worth noting. The marker points out that sitting smack in the center of town is actually somewhat unusual for a building of this type. Most federal post offices of the era got tucked to the side, out of the way.

Not this one. Nacogdoches put it front and center, and Wetmore dressed it accordingly. Brick construction, a symmetrical facade, a central entry bay, classical Palladian-type windows, a simplified cast stone base and entablature.

The style is what scholars call a simplified beaux arts, classical revival, which is a fancy way of saying it looks like it means business without shouting about it. Dignified. Planted.

For decades it did exactly what it was built to do, housing the main city post office all the way until 1964. Then the federal chapter closed. The city bought the building in 1973, and just like that, a post office became a public library.

Same walls, new stories, literally. That lasted until 1997, when the building turned one more page and became a tourist information center. Three lives inside one set of brick walls on one prominent corner of one Texas town square.

James A. Wetmore drew the bones in the Treasury Department, the bricklayers set them in place across 1917 and 1918, and Nacogdoches has been finding new reasons to keep them standing ever since.

What the marker says

Designed by U. S. Treasury Department architect James A. Wetmore, this building was erected in 1917-1918 and housed the main city post office until 1964. Sold to the city in 1973, it was the public library until 1997, when it became a tourist information center. Its central location on a prominent site in the center of the town square is somewhat unusual for buildings of this type. A good example of a simplified beaux arts / classical revival post office, the structure features brick construction, a symmetrical facade with central entry bay, classical Palladian-type windows, simplified cast stone base and entablature. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1999