Explore #49 on July 2, 2023
A small U.S. post office with an interesting backstory. Read on …
Michael Barr is the author of Hill Country Hindsights: Stories from a Simpler Time, and a columnist for Texas Escapes Online Magazine. His column "Looking Back At Hye Society" first appeared on March 14, 2016 and is reprinted here with his permission.
New members of the president's cabinet take the oath of office in surroundings that reflect the dignity and the power and of their position. Since 1960 that place, with few exceptions, has been the White House or somewhere in Washington. D. C. No wonder Lawrence O'Brien, a city boy from Boston (and future Commissioner of the National Basketball Association), looked like a Baptist at the Vatican taking his oath as Lyndon Johnson's Postmaster General on the front porch of the Hye General Store, Feed Store, and Post Office.
Hye, Texas is a tiny rural community on U. S. Highway 290 between Fredericksburg and Johnson City, about four miles from the LBJ Ranch. The highway is wedged between the store and the old gas station across the street.
The store building is an aging wooden structure of Bavarian design that sits just a little too close to the highway. Eighty years ago the store carried everything from calico to horse collars, but today it seems more like a museum than anything else.
President Johnson selected this folksy setting for the O'Brien ceremony because at heart Johnson was a sentimental man. More than any president since Washington and Jefferson of Virginia, LBJ had a rock-solid sense of place. He loved his home in the Texas Hill Country and couldn't understand why everyone didn't feel the same way.
The president's attachment to Hye went back as far as he could remember. He mailed his first letter at the post office, to his Grandmother Johnson, at age four. As a teenager in the 1920s Johnson played baseball with the local team.
"Truth is," Fredericke Deike once said, "Lyndon was a darn good first baseman. Had a lot of reach. Not many ground balls got past him that I can remember. And he could hit pretty well. After a game they all went skinny-dipping in the Pedernales.
The O'Brien ceremony, on November 3, 1965, took postmaster Levi Deike by surprise. Levi had been on vacation in New Mexico. When he opened the store that morning, technicians were setting up the sound system on the creaky wooden porch.
When the president arrived he warmed himself at an old oil stove then went back to the post office to check his mail. All the mail for the LBJ Ranch came to box #276. On the way he stopped at the counter for Hill Country hors devours (aka saltine crackers and cheese).
At the ceremony Johnson outlined the enormous challenges his new postmaster general faced.
"Fifty-three years ago, I mailed my first letter from this general store," Johnson recalled. "I want Larry O'Brien to find that letter and deliver it."
"And now," Johnson continued, "Judge Homer Thornberry will administer the oath of office."
"As soon as that cattle truck goes by."
Tags: Hye Texas TX Blanco County Hill Country United States U.S. Post Office General Store Hye General Store & Post Office Recorded Texas Historic Landmark Lyndon Baines Johnson LBJ Lyndon Johnson 36th President of the United States Larry O'Brien United States Postmaster General Michael Barr Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 5DM4 Explored In Explore Explore
An interior view of the historic United States Post Office and General Store in Hye, Texas first featured in yesterday's post. Part post office, part museum, the story of this small U.S. post office is best told by Michael Barr, author of Hill Country Hindsights: Stories from a Simpler Time, and a columnist for Texas Escapes Online Magazine. His column "Looking Back At Hye Society" first appeared on March 14, 2016 and is reprinted here with his permission.
New members of the president's cabinet take the oath of office in surroundings that reflect the dignity and the power and of their position. Since 1960 that place, with few exceptions, has been the White House or somewhere in Washington. D. C. No wonder Lawrence O'Brien, a city boy from Boston (and future Commissioner of the National Basketball Association), looked like a Baptist at the Vatican taking his oath as Lyndon Johnson's Postmaster General on the front porch of the Hye General Store, Feed Store, and Post Office.
Hye, Texas is a tiny rural community on U. S. Highway 290 between Fredericksburg and Johnson City, about four miles from the LBJ Ranch. The highway is wedged between the store and the old gas station across the street.
The store building is an aging wooden structure of Bavarian design that sits just a little too close to the highway. Eighty years ago the store carried everything from calico to horse collars, but today it seems more like a museum than anything else.
President Johnson selected this folksy setting for the O'Brien ceremony because at heart Johnson was a sentimental man. More than any president since Washington and Jefferson of Virginia, LBJ had a rock-solid sense of place. He loved his home in the Texas Hill Country and couldn't understand why everyone didn't feel the same way.
The president's attachment to Hye went back as far as he could remember. He mailed his first letter at the post office, to his Grandmother Johnson, at age four. As a teenager in the 1920s Johnson played baseball with the local team.
"Truth is," Fredericke Deike once said, "Lyndon was a darn good first baseman. Had a lot of reach. Not many ground balls got past him that I can remember. And he could hit pretty well. After a game they all went skinny-dipping in the Pedernales.
The O'Brien ceremony, on November 3, 1965, took postmaster Levi Deike by surprise. Levi had been on vacation in New Mexico. When he opened the store that morning, technicians were setting up the sound system on the creaky wooden porch.
When the president arrived he warmed himself at an old oil stove then went back to the post office to check his mail. All the mail for the LBJ Ranch came to box #276. On the way he stopped at the counter for Hill Country hors devours (aka saltine crackers and cheese).
At the ceremony Johnson outlined the enormous challenges his new postmaster general faced.
"Fifty-three years ago, I mailed my first letter from this general store," Johnson recalled. "I want Larry O'Brien to find that letter and deliver it."
"And now," Johnson continued, "Judge Homer Thornberry will administer the oath of office."
"As soon as that cattle truck goes by."
An interior view of the historic United States Post Office and General Store in Hye, Texas first featured in yesterday's post. Part post office, part museum, the story of this small U.S. post office is best told by Michael Barr, author of Hill Country Hindsights: Stories from a Simpler Time, and a columnist for Texas Escapes Online Magazine. His column "Looking Back At Hye Society" first appeared on March 14, 2016 and is reprinted here with his permission.
New members of the president's cabinet take the oath of office in surroundings that reflect the dignity and the power and of their position. Since 1960 that place, with few exceptions, has been the White House or somewhere in Washington. D. C. No wonder Lawrence O'Brien, a city boy from Boston (and future Commissioner of the National Basketball Association), looked like a Baptist at the Vatican taking his oath as Lyndon Johnson's Postmaster General on the front porch of the Hye General Store, Feed Store, and Post Office.
Hye, Texas is a tiny rural community on U. S. Highway 290 between Fredericksburg and Johnson City, about four miles from the LBJ Ranch. The highway is wedged between the store and the old gas station across the street.
The store building is an aging wooden structure of Bavarian design that sits just a little too close to the highway. Eighty years ago the store carried everything from calico to horse collars, but today it seems more like a museum than anything else.
President Johnson selected this folksy setting for the O'Brien ceremony because at heart Johnson was a sentimental man. More than any president since Washington and Jefferson of Virginia, LBJ had a rock-solid sense of place. He loved his home in the Texas Hill Country and couldn't understand why everyone didn't feel the same way.
The president's attachment to Hye went back as far as he could remember. He mailed his first letter at the post office, to his Grandmother Johnson, at age four. As a teenager in the 1920s Johnson played baseball with the local team.
"Truth is," Fredericke Deike once said, "Lyndon was a darn good first baseman. Had a lot of reach. Not many ground balls got past him that I can remember. And he could hit pretty well. After a game they all went skinny-dipping in the Pedernales.
The O'Brien ceremony, on November 3, 1965, took postmaster Levi Deike by surprise. Levi had been on vacation in New Mexico. When he opened the store that morning, technicians were setting up the sound system on the creaky wooden porch.
When the president arrived he warmed himself at an old oil stove then went back to the post office to check his mail. All the mail for the LBJ Ranch came to box #276. On the way he stopped at the counter for Hill Country hors devours (aka saltine crackers and cheese).
At the ceremony Johnson outlined the enormous challenges his new postmaster general faced.
"Fifty-three years ago, I mailed my first letter from this general store," Johnson recalled. "I want Larry O'Brien to find that letter and deliver it."
"And now," Johnson continued, "Judge Homer Thornberry will administer the oath of office."
"As soon as that cattle truck goes by."
Tags: Hye Texas TX Blanco County Hill Country United States U.S. Post Office General Store Hye General Store & Post Office Recorded Texas Historic Landmark Lyndon Baines Johnson LBJ Lyndon Johnson 36th President of the United States Larry O'Brien United States Postmaster General Michael Barr Canon EOS 5D Mark IV 5DM4
A view of the federal courthouse and post office in Texarkana. Like the city of Texarkana, this building is half in Texas (to the left in this photo) and half in Arkansas. This is the only federal building in the United States located in two states.
Constructed in 1933, this Beau Arts style building was designed by Witt, Seibert & Halsey of Texarkana, in association with Perkins, Chatten & Hammond of Chicago. sSymmetrical with respect to the state line, the gray Arkansas Limestone building is a rectangular steel and concrete structure composed of five stories, a full basement, and a service penthouse. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
Texarkana was founded in 1873 on the junction of two railroads. The name is a portmanteau of Texas, Arkansas, and nearby Louisiana. Texarkana began as a railroad and lumber center, and developed in the 20th century as a regional agricultural processing, retail, wholesale, and service center. Owing to its divided political nature, Texarkana has two mayors and two sets of city officials; however, the two sides share this federal courthouse, jail, post office, labor office, chamber of commerce, water utility, and several other offices.The population of the Texarkana Metropolitan Area in 2016 was 150,098.
Sources: Wikipedia, United States Post Office and Courthouse (Texarkana); Texarkana Metropolitan Area.
Tags: Texarkana Seat Miller County Arkansas AR Bowie County Texas TX United States Post Office and Courthouse Texarkana U.S. Post Office and Federal Building Texarkana U.S. Post Office and Courthouse United States District Courthouse for the Western District of Arkansas United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas 500 N. State Line Ave. Architecture Federal Government Buildings Architectural Style Beaux Arts Architects Witt, Seibert & Halsey Perkins, Chatten & Hammond National Register Of Historic Places NRHP Reference # 00000245 Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
The Elgin Street side of the Central Post Office, which sits across from Confederation Square on the east, and the Scottish Ontario Chambers to the south (shown here on the left) at the beginning of Sparks Street. Designed by W.E. Noffke and completed in 1939, the Central Post Office is an example of both classical and Château architectural styles, with Art Deco elements.
Shown in this street level view are three of the six lions that stand guard in pairs at the Elgin Street, Sparks Street, and corner entrances. They were designed by sculptor Coeur de lion MacCarthy (1881-1979).
The eight story building is still in use by the Canada Post Office, and provides government office space on its upper floors. The structure was listed on the Canadian Register of Historic Places (CRHP) in 2010.
Tags: Historic Government Building Central Post Office Postal Station B Architectural Style Classical Château Art-Deco Architect W.E. Noffke myoldpostcards von Liski Confederation Square Sparks Street Elgin Street Lion Sculpture Sculptor McCarthy Coeur de lion MacCarthy Heritage Property Ontario Heritage Act Canadian Register of Historic Places CRHP
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