United States Post Office
Erected 1935
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Architecture • Arts, Letters, Music • Charity & Public Work • Notable Buildings. In addition, it is included in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects series lists. A significant historical year for this entry is 1935.
Location. 39° 20.891′ N, 101° 42.642′ W. Marker is in Goodland, Kansas, in Sherman County. It is on East 11th Street just west of Broadway Avenue, on the right when traveling west. The marker is mounted at eye-level, directly on the subject building, just to the right of the south/front lobby entrance. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 124 East 11th Street, Goodland KS 67735, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the American Midwest, in the Corn Belt, on the prairies, on the Great Plains, on the Southern Plains, and specifically on the High Plains. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it
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Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: United Telephone Building (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); Carnegie Art Center (about 700 feet away); Courthouse Statue & Bell (approx. 0.2 miles away); Ennis Handy House / Mary Seaman Ennis House (approx. 0.2 miles away); Chambers Fountain (approx. Ό mile away); The Big Easel (approx. 0.8 miles away); Roll of Honor (approx. 1.1 miles away); In Honor of Those Who Serve (approx. 1.1 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Goodland.
Regarding United States Post Office. National Register of Historic Places № 89001639.
From the National Register Nomination prepared by Martha Hagedorn-Krass, Architectural Historian, Kansas State Historical Society, 2/14/1989:
The one story, flat roofed, red brick building measures approximately sixty-five feet from east to west and eighty feet from north to south. A double door pierces the center of the building's facade, set in an arched recession with a wooden surround. Two sets of arched window openingsfenestrate the facade. A limestone cornice decorates the faηades upper wall, continuing across the first bay of the east and west elevations. A loading dock projects from the west elevation. This post office is an example of a smaller class C or D standardized design type that was repeated throughout the country during the 1930s.Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 5, 20242. Goodland, Kansas Post Office (south/front elevation)The marker is mounted on the right side of the front lobby entrance.
The Goodland United States Post Office is also included in the Kansas Post Office Artwork (1936-1942) Thematic Resources nomination for its historical associations with the Treasury Department's Section program and for the artistic significance of the mural that it contains. The mural, "Rural Free Delivery", was painted by Albuquerque, New Mexico artist Kenneth Miller Adams in 1937."Rural Free Delivery" is an oil on canvas mural that depicts the delivery of mail to a Kansas farm. A farm family gathers at the picket fence as the U.S. Mail Carrier rides up in his horse and buggy. The carrier hands the father a letter, the father stands in the center of the canvas. His wife stands behind him, struggling with two young children. On the left side of the canvas the older girl and boy swing on the fence gate. On the right side of the canvas the grandmother, wearing a hooded shawl and leaning on a cane, walks away from the family. Sunflowers, the Kansas state flower, grow along the white picket fence. A green field stretches out beyond the family. A neighboring farmstead stands on the horizon, meeting the blue sky and the huge, billowing white clouds.
The selection of rural free delivery as the subject material for the Goodland mural was significant. Until rural free delivery, farmers were isolated from current news, events, and to a certain extent, store bought goods. Rural free delivery began in the late 1890s and by 1926 the last routes had been established. By the time that Adams painted the Goodland mural, rural free delivery had become a symbol of rural American farm life.
Also see . . . Post Office Mural - Goodland, Kansas (Living New Deal).
Secretary of the Treasury
James A Farley
Postmaster General
Louis A Simon
Supervising Architect
Neal A Melick
Supervising Engineer
1935
Excerpt: A Section of Fine Arts oil-on-canvas mural entitled Rural Free Delivery was painted by Kenneth M. Adams. The mural was installed in the then-new Goodland, Kansas post office in 1937.(Submitted on October 1, 2024, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)
Credits. This page was last revised on October 1, 2024. It was originally submitted on September 29, 2024, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 244 times since then and 23 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on October 1, 2024, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
