Weatherford Post Office

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, in my own words. Now, Weatherford has been gettin' its mail since 1856; that's the year a postal station first set up shop in town. For a while there, the mail moved around, findin' a home in one early building, then another, the way a letter sometimes wanders before it lands where it belongs.

But in 1914, all that wanderin' came to an end. That was the year this structure was completed, and it has been holdin' its ground ever since. Judge J.M.

Richards was serving as postmaster when the doors opened, which means he was the man presiding over what had to be one of the finer buildings Parker County had ever laid eyes on. Before that post office rose up, that very spot had seen a gasoline service station, and before that, an earlier wagon yard. So you've got horses, then horsepower, then one of the most distinguished pieces of architecture in the region; all on the same patch of Texas earth.

The building was designed in the Classical Revival style, and whoever drew up those plans was not foolin' around. We're talkin' arched windows, quoins along the corners, a massive portico held up by columns, and an elaborate cornice crowned by a balustrade up top. It is, in a word, serious.

The kind of building that says your mail matters. And after all those years of movin' from place to place, maybe Weatherford's post office had earned the right to say exactly that.

What the marker says

A postal station was first established in Weatherford in 1856. Facilities were located in several early buildings before this structure was completed in 1914. Judge J.M. Richards was postmaster at the time. Built on the site of a gasoline service station and an earlier wagon yard, the post office building was designed in the Classical Revival style. Prominent features include arched windows, quoins, a massive portico with columns, and an elaborate cornice topped by a balustrade. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1988.