Post Office (demolished) – Effingham IL

Description

The federal government financed the construction of a post office at the northwest corner of Fourth Street and Section Avenue in Effingham, Illinois during the Great Depression. Constructed at a cost of $79,800, the building bore a 1934 cornerstone and “opened to the public July 16, 1935.”

The building ceased serving as a post office in the fall of 1966, as the Post Office Department needed a larger space to conduct processing operations consistent with a sectional center at that time. The government was granted by the federal government to Unit 40 and the remodeled building became a kindergarten in 1967. The building was again remodeled and served as the Effingham Elks Lodge from 1994 to 2011, and was ultimately demolished in 2012.

Per Delaine Donaldson, President of the Effingham County Cultural Center and Museum Association, Inc.: “The cornerstone from the Depression era post office is the only thing left which identifies the former structure. … The cornerstone is housed in the Effingham County Museum, Effingham, Illinois.”