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Living history

Post Office building marks 200th year

Postmaster Cindy Mason, inset, and the Hinsdale, NH, Post Office building, which marked its bicentennial last week. Building image: The Sentinel
Postmaster Cindy Mason and the Hinsdale, NH, Post Office building, which marked its bicentennial last week. Building image: The Sentinel

Every Post Office is unique, but the Hinsdale, NH, office holds a special distinction: It’s the oldest continuously operating Post Office building in the United States.

The town (population: 4,000) marked the building’s 200th anniversary last week with a celebration where customers praised Postmaster Cindy Mason and her team.

“We’re really a hub in the community,” Mason told The Atlantic, one of several news outlets that covered the bicentennial.

The Hinsdale office moved to the two-story wooden-frame building on Main Street in 1816. It has operated six days a week ever since, Mason said.

The lobby still features oak wood and brass PO Boxes.

“People take pride in it. It’s a great reminder of how things used to be,” customer Donna Suskawicz told WMUR-TV.

The Hinsdale employees make about 2,000 deliveries each day. Although customers are sending fewer letters, package volumes are soaring.

The office also is a leader in sustainability: Mason was recently honored for her role in developing a first-of-its-kind USPS “rain garden” that has reduced local stormwater pollution.

“Any time you have an opportunity to change and grow, it’s a good thing,” Mason told the Battleboro Reformer. “Nothing ever stays the same.”

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