A day of echoes at the old Post Office

(The author looks back to a time in the recent past when the old Odessa Post Office had given way to the new, and the last of the old building's equipment had to be removed before the keys to the place were relinquished by the postal service.)

By Charlie Haeffner

ODESSA -- It was the end of October 2002.

The village's old Post Office had been stripped of many of its items.

Gone were three fourths of the mailboxes.

Gone was the safe.

Gone was an oak cabinet.

Gone was another cabinet stored in the back. And a table. And supplies.

Gone, too, were the people who had helped run the office across seven decades: Minor Leonard, Dorothy Hubbell, Pat Collins, Marty Northrup and others. Some had stayed for many years, and some for a few.

There were echoes in there now, faint ones.

I was more concerned with the chill, though, as I worked. Autumn had arrived, and winter was pressing its claim. It was dank, and dreary, and a bit sad in the empty space.

It was left to me to remove the last of the items:

The remaining mailboxes.

The old sorting bin.

A couple of desks and chairs.

The table by the front window.

Floor mats, and bulletin boards, and various signs: Odessa Only, Out of Town, etc.

I had purchased the items as a group, after nobody else had claimed them in a silent auction. I was loading them on a dolly and wheeling them up the street to a storage building. There they would sit, mothballed, so to speak -- just as the post office was.

There was a new facility now for our mail -- on the same street, but up a knoll and toward the east end of the village.

We now had 24-hour lobby pick-up -- something we had lacked in the old place.

We now had a bright new building, with plenty of parking -- something we had lacked in the old place.

We now had friendly service. Well, some things never change.

****

We have memories, of course, that we carried from the old place -- from a time before that October day, before the keys were transferred to the building owner, removing access; before the service window and its surrounding wall were knocked down.

I remember the place as bright, though it was dim that last day -- poorly lit, as though dulled by layers of time.

And I remember it as friendly, somehow warming -- although it just seemed chilling that final day.

I remember it, too, as a tough place to clean. Its ancient wooden floors, its aged walls and aged ceiling all seemed porous -- a little too quick to yield their pieces of the past, their antique dust particles.

****

After I removed the last of the furnishings -- wheeled them up the street -- I returned to the old place, and walked to the back corners, to the door that yielded access to the inner sanctum, and to the front wall, near the picture window that looked out on Main Street. I wanted to take it all in, remember it.

Then I stood motionless in the lobby, looking through the grate of the service window.

I just stood there, looking.

And listening.

And heard the echoes.

And saw the past.

And shook my head.

And sighed.

And locked the door on my way out.

Looking for historical accounts

I'm seeking historical accounts of Schuyler County on this page -- both an overview of the area's settlement and development, and side stories related to the county's past that are informative and entertaining.

Any historians out there are welcome to try their hand at such efforts -- either through fresh writing or through previous essays or stories you might have composed and would like to see in electronic print for awhile.

Some of what appears here will remain for an extended period, while some will take turns with newer entries. I've included a photo of the fairly recent past -- the demolition one clear day a couple of years ago of the R House 2 building on Main Street in Odessa, a building with a rich history. In fact, anyone with details of that structure's long existence could tackle that as a subject.

In addition to the writing, this would be a good place for photos of historical interest. Anyone with old photos of Odessa, Montour Falls and Watkins Glen are welcome to lend them to this website for possible publication, or scan them and send them by e-mail.

If you are interested, you can e-mail me at the address at the bottom of this page or at chaeffner@stny.rr.com, write to The Odessa File, P.O. Box 365, Odessa, NY, or call 594-3594 and ask for Charlie.