Historic northern Minnesota log post office razed after nearly 90 years of operation

LAKE GEORGE, MINN. - Postcards claimed this log cabin nine miles east of Itasca State Park on Hwy. 71 was the world’s smallest post office.

That’s up for debate.

But the old post office was knocked down Thursday after serving Lake George township since 1936. All signage and 110 mailboxes were preserved before demolition to go on display at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum in Washington D.C.

“It would be cool to go to D.C. and see our old mailbox,” said Lake George resident Jamie Eisterhold.

She has fond memories of the post office, often bringing Winston, her Boston terrier, along to get a treat from the postmaster. Tourists headed to Itasca in the summer would stop to check it out. Eisterhold said they were always shocked to see her go inside.

“When I would go over there and get my mail, there would be people just standing there looking at it in awe. And then I’d open the door and they would be like, ‘Oh, my god, this is a real post office?’ ” she said.

With the post office gone, Eisterhold said part of her little town is losing its charm.

Lake George is a quaint community of 230 people nestled in the pines between Bemidji and Park Rapids. It’s known for its blueberry festival each summer. The town features several stores selling moccasins, antiques, gas and liquor.

The 9-by-30 post office was rumored to be an old logging shack from a nearby town, local businessman Jim Clark said.

“It actually used to be a shack that was used at the old slab mill up at Yola and it got moved down here when U.S. Hwy 71 was put in and they built the store,” Clark said. “It kind of became a post office by accident.”

Clark added: “It was cute and it was adorable and it was rotting and about to fall down.”

He moved to Minnesota from Texas, retiring from college administration and settling into small-town life. He bought the gas station, which came with the post office, and leased it to the United States Postal Service.

“It had reached the point where we couldn’t comply with their needs for it to be an OSHA safe building,” he said. “The more that we attempted to repair it and turn it into a safe building for them to use the way they needed, the more we realized that it couldn’t be done.”

Clark said he “persuaded them that the best option would be to bring in the building they really need.”

Earlier this month, USPS notified customers that the Lake George location would close “due to termination of lease,” read a sign on the post office door.

USPS said beginning March 27 parcel operations will be relocated to Laporte, 13 miles away and not much bigger than Lake George’s old post office. Temporary PO boxes were placed outside Clark’s gas station to serve customers in the meantime.

“Operations will resume once the new facility is constructed and until further notice,” the USPS notice said.

USPS is building a modular post office, Clark said, and a crew will bring it in with a crane on the east side of town.

Desai Abdul-Razzaaq, USPS spokesperson for Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin districts, said in a statement that construction of a new post office in Lake George will begin this spring or early summer. A completion date has not been established, but to ensure continuity of service, PO boxes will remain outside the gas station until the end of June.

“The Postal Service remains committed to serving the Lake George community and will provide updates as the project progresses,” Abdul-Razzaaq said.

The old location was long on a list of troubled post offices. In 2011, the Park Rapids Enterprise reported a net loss of nearly $63,000. USPS officials considered closing it, but residents rallied to save it despite it being slated to close or morph into nearby operations.

Clark said the footprint of the post office will become a patio area with shrubs, flowers and a flag pole. It’s a big change for a small town, but he hopes to have the area looking nice in time for the blueberry festival in July.

The postcards claiming Lake George had the world’s smallest post office are slightly exaggerated, though it was arguably the smallest in Minnesota.

USPS says a 61.3-square-foot building in Ochopee, Fla., is the smallest post office. It formerly was a storage shed on a tomato farm.

Lake George’s old logging-shack-turned-post-office might not be the smallest, but it holds a big place in the hearts of many who are sad to see it go.

On the myLakeGeorge Facebook page, folks shared their childhood memories of going to the post office and regrets that the building wasn’t saved.

Postmaster Iris Olson, who couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Friday, wrote “So sad that our little post office will be no more. But it really was in bad shape - at least we will have our mail delivered in Lake George.”