Surrounded by baskets and bins overflowing with letters and packages, a female employee at the Main U.S. Post Office in Tacoma, 1102 A Street, tried to keep up with the Christmas crush of mail in December of 1922. The clerk, believed to be Frances Bonell or Elizabeth Hoefler, used a city directory to look up an address. She was writing out a new mailing label for a package that could not be delivered as marked. TPL-1647; G42.1-121 (Tacoma Sunday Ledger, magazine section, 12-31-22, p. 4-uncropped photograph)

Post offices--Tacoma; Correspondence; Packaging;

In April of 1919, two postal carriers, S.P. Hammerbeck and Charlie Matters (order not known), and their trusty dog posed with their shining black delivery vehicles on the brick areas outside the Federal Building at 1102 A Street, in downtown Tacoma. The U.S. Post Office's Main branch was located there. Both Mr. Hammerbeck and Mr. Matters delivered parcel post packages in their 1/2-ton Dodge "business cars." They praised the low costs of maintaining this make of vehicle. The Dodge Brothers did not believe in change for change's sake, and their delivery trucks, called commercial cars, remained basically unchanged from 1917 to 1922. TPL-936; G42.1-120 (TDL 4-13-19, C-11)

Federal Building (Tacoma); United States Post Office (Tacoma); Post offices--Tacoma; Postal service employees--Tacoma; Dogs--Tacoma--1910-1920; Dodge automobile; Matters, Charlie; Hammerbeck, S.P.;

Horse-drawn mail carts and 19th Century houses, seen in the background, were still prevalent in Tacoma's Central Business District when a postal employee posed with his rig in front of the 12th Street entrance to the Federal Building in June of 1921. The Federal Building housed the Main branch of the U.S. Post Office. The horse-drawn carts transported mail prior to the advent of motorized vehicles. TPL-164; G42.1-114

Commercial streets--Tacoma--1920-1930; Federal Building (Tacoma); Mail wagons--Tacoma--1920-1930; Postal service--1920-1930; Postal service employees--Tacoma--1920-1930; Letter carriers--Tacoma--1920-1930;

• Built in 1909 at 1102 So. A St., the Federal Building which houses the Post Office, was added to the City Historical Register in 1975. circa 1920.
• Printed on front: Post Office Bldg., Tacoma, Wash.

Circa 1925.

Circa 1920.

Circa 1910.

Circa 1955.

Circa 1909.

Circa 1912.

Circa 1915.