Selinsgrove Post Office
100 S. Market Street

Postal workers in front of the Post Office in 1953. From the Charles L. Fasold Flickr collection

A United States Post Office was opened in Selinsgrove in 1808.

Between 1808 and 1935 there were twenty-two Post Masters in Selinsgrove. For many years these were political appointees, changing when the President of the United States’ party changed. And, the building harboring the Post Office often moved when a new Post Master was named. The pay was low and transactions relatively few—until 1855, when stamps were first issued and required on letters, letters were paid for when received and the fare was determined by the distance traveled. Thus, the Post Office was often located in a commercial establishment, a hotel or drug store, etc. For example, in 1808, the first post office in Selinsgrove was located in the Farmer’s Hotel.

The Post Office (at left) in 1915. From the Charles L. Fasold Flickr collection

→ The Post Office also was a community gathering place, with many residents getting together to discuss events when they got mail a few times a week.

→ When the current Post Office building was authorized by the Emergency Construction Act of 1934, it was placed where there had long been a residential building. Before 1850 the property was owned by a Dr. Baskins and when Henry Eyer bought it in 1850, he moved Baskins’ house down the street several lots. Then, Eyer constructed a large and “commodious” house. It had twenty-two rooms with several out buildings in the rear. He and his wife Mary often entertained in their home with prominent state and national politicians visiting, such as Simon Cameron and James Buchanan.

The Eyer House in 1934, one year before being torn down to build the Post Office. From the Charles L. Fasold Flickr collection

The Eyers were leading citizens of Selinsgrove. Eyer ran for local and state offices as a Democrat, being elected to the State Senate in 1842. He was a Director of the First National Bank in Selinsgrove and of the Sunbury and Lewistown Railroad in the 1870s.

Henry Eyer was a farmer, whose property was located south of town where the local race track now is. He was also a noted musician, learning to play the piano and organ from his father. Along with his father he compiled sacred musical pieces in a book. His was  published as Die Union Chorale Harmonie and had hymns and psalms with lyrics in both German and English. First published in 1839 it was said to have made Eyer a comfortable income. It must have been so because Eyer was noted as a benefactor to local causes and he and his wife took in and raised the children of friends and relatives, such as Charles Davis, of Civil War fame. (The Eyers had no children).

Perhaps Henry Eyer’s most noteworthy act was saving the life of local editor of the Selinsgrove Times, Francis Weirick. Weirick was an aggressive Copperhead who was threatened to be hung by a mob shortly after the Civil War began. Eyer talked the mob out of the lynching, which was to occur on a tree fronting the Eyer manse.

In 1872, Henry Eyer was thrown from a horse and spent his remaining days a cripple. In 1879 he died of cancer of the face. Mary continued to live in their stately house until her death in 1881.

In the two details from the 1885 Sanborn Fire Insurance map of Selinsgrove, the “Dw’g” (for dwelling) is the Eyer House. The “PO” is the Post Office. The Post Office was across the street and several doors to the north.
12

→ In 1883 Ira Christian Schoch purchased the property. He was educated at the Missionary Institute (now Susquehanna University), taught school briefly, and then entered a family partnership. Schoch was on the Board of Directors at Susquehanna and was the Board’s Treasurer. He also had an insurance and property management company. He married Mary Eyer Schnure and had three children with her, George, John, and Ethel. When his first wife died in 1883 (just as he purchased the Eyer house), Schoch married Matilda Rambo, with whom he had seven children.

An “S” Garage advertisement from the Selinsgrove Times

→ When Ira Schoch died in 1913, the property was inherited by the first three Schoch children. His son George opened the first automobile garage in Selinsgrove, the “S” garage at the rear of the property, along the alley.

→ In 1919, the property was sold by the Schoch children to Theo Spigelmire. He lived with his family in this house until 1934, when it was sold to the federal government for $8,000, making way for the U.S. Post Office.

→ When the Post Office began to be constructed, the Eyer house was razed.

→ As completed in 1936, the Post Office had much of the shape it now has: a public counter, boxes for patrons, and a large working space beyond the service window. As was generally the case with United States Post Offices, it had a small hallway and windows called a “Lookout Gallery” along the top of the northern wall. This was to allow the Postmaster General and his minions to observe postal workers to be sure that the mail was safely and legally handled.

→ Perhaps the most interesting feature of the Post Office is the mural on the north wall of the lobby. It was painted by George Rickey, a student of Grant Wood. As was the case with much of the art sponsored by the New Deal in the 1930s, it memorializes working people. It pictures farm families at spring planting in a composite scene located just to the north of Shriener’s Church in Monroe Township. Looking south toward Selinsgrove, the town and the Susquehanna River are small features amid the hills of the area.