The Eureka Springs Post Office, which opened in 1918, is getting a complete renovation that will restore the building while preserving historical authenticity, according to Sam Bolen, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service.
“Work has begun on an extensive renovation project for the historic Eureka Springs Post Office,” Bolen said. “We are going to restore it one hundred percent. The office is expected to remain in full operation during the renovation, which is tentatively scheduled for completion by September 2018.”
Bolen said they are considering some type of event to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the building once renovation is complete.
Sources said the project is being paid for by a $550,000 renovation grant.
Bolen said the Post Office building has been at its present 101 Spring St. location since 1918 with the exception of a temporary six-month relocation to 9 N. Main St. in 1971, while the building was being expanded to about twice its original size.
Initial phase of the project will include plaster repairs, interior and exterior painting/waterproofing, and baluster installation. Balusters are the middle part of a rail that was part of the distinctive roofline.
One of the more expensive undertakings will be replacement of the metal roof. Bolen said all repairs would meet historic preservation requirements.
City Historic Preservation Officer Glenna Booth said the Post Office, County Courthouse, and Auditorium are the iconic downtown buildings,
“The Post Office is a wonderful building,” Booth said. “When it was put up, they did extensive photo documentation. So, I have a lot of historic pictures of the Post Office when it was being built.”
Booth said to her, the Post Office it is not only of great historic significance, but also serves a central role in the city’s downtown economy.
“The Post Office, the Courthouse and the Carnegie Library are our important public buildings that still primarily serve the residents and businesses of Eureka Springs,” Booth said.
In 2013 the Eureka Springs Historic District Commission gave the Eureka Springs Post Office an award for Outstanding Stewardship of a Public Place.
At one time in the 1980s, there was an effort by some local businessmen to move the Post Office and City Hall up to US 62 near East Mountain Drive. Booth said the Eureka Springs Historical District Commission led a campaign against moving the Post Office.
Former mayor and alderman Beau Satori said some businessmen wanted to build a new post office and city hall on property they owned up on US 62 “so the government would be renting from them forever. I was opposed to all that.”
Satori said it became a controversial issue in town and estimated that 500 people attended a public hearing at the Auditorium for the Eureka Springs Planning Commission to take public comments on a permit to cut down pine trees at the site. He recalls one little girl who had to be lifted to the microphone saying, “I think people who would kill trees would kill people.”
“It was just greed on their part that they wanted to move our historic Post Office, which is fine where it is,” Satori said, adding that most people speaking at the hearing were opposed to moving the Post Office out of downtown. The Planning Commission turned down the application. “The whole town was against it,” Satori said.
The issue was comparable to the battle against SWEPCO’s proposed high voltage transmission lines that galvanized broad community opposition before the application was withdrawn in 2014.
“The Postal Service regrets any inconvenience to its customers that may be caused by the renovation project,” Bolen said. “Customers can contact the local postmaster, or they may call 1-800-ASK-USPS or go to the Postal Service’s Website www.usps.com with any questions, comments or concerns they may have.”