ROCKWOOD POST OFFICE OPEN HOUSE PLANNED

    ROCKWOOD - On Monday, May 22nd at 12 noon, Rockwood honors one of its most recognized and prized historic locations, the Post Office. The Rockwood Post Office has undergone $150,000 in improvements since last July under the most recent postmaster, the now retired Walt Valentine. To celebrate the building's fresh look, U.S. Representative Lincoln Davis will present a flag to postal employees at the open house. The public is invited to this event and refreshments will be served.

    "The last renovation the building had was during the late sixties, when a new air-conditioning system was installed," according to Valentine. "The renovation consisted of new lighting, fans, repairs made to the plaster walls and dropped ceilings. The building was painted inside and out, and we were able to get a new roof."

    Located on 340 W. Rockwood Street, the Rockwood Post Office is building #99001621 on the National Register of Historic Places. According to the National Register, the "historic significance" of the building features the "architecture and engineering displayed on the colonial revival structure by builders Blair and Algernon, et.al."

    For the people of Rockwood, it's historic significance lies in its rich history peopled by ancestors of much of the current populace.

    At about this time of year back in 1868, a shipment of raw material arrived at Kimbrough's Landing on the Tennessee River. The material was used to build a blast furnace at the foot of Walden's Ridge to support the fledgling business called The Roane Iron Company, destined to become what is known today as Rockwood, Tennessee.

     Houses went up to shelter Mr. W.O. Rockwood and his Iron Company employees. A company general store opened on the corner of Rockwood Street and Spring Street and carried dry goods, groceries and a meat market. The "green groceries" were housed in a separate building behind the main store.

    Just four months after the arrival of the raw material, a Post Office was established in Rockwood on July 1st, 1868. Postmaster David Reese became the first postmaster. Before this, mail was received from the closest post office in Post Oak Springs. Many of the workers in this new town were from the north and mail from 'back home' was very important. Postage was set at three cents a letter, and the post office was physically established in a corner of the company store.

    Postmaster David E. Reese came to Rockwood from Indiana and held his office for four years. During the administration of Ulysses S. Grant, Elihu R. Owings became Rockwood's second postmaster. The Owings were a prominent family who lived in Post Oak Springs. Aside from working as the postmaster, Owings also worked as the bookkeeper for the company store. Two years later, Granville W. Stone was appointed as the new postmaster. Stone came from Vermont, worked as a carpenter and a Methodist Church circuit rider. Stone lived on Walden Ridge near Piney Creek and walked down to Rockwood for work, walking home at the end of the day.

    During Stone's tenure as postmaster, penny post cards were popular. In 1876, Frederick Norton Wright became Rockwood's fourth postmaster for a total of nine months. After leaving the Post Office, he and his wife became the operators of the brick hotel that was situated below the passenger railroad station.

    On Apr 10, 1877, Charles W. Stewart was appointed as postmaster and served for three years. In 1880, Moses F. Millican came from Post Oak Springs to succeed Stewart. Millican moved to Rockwood in a home near the intersection of Rockwood and Dunlap streets, where Rockwood had its first post office building. This eliminated the citizenry from going to the company store to get their mail. The post office building was situated in a small structure adjacent to Millican's home.

    In 1885, Joseph A. Shadden served as the Rockwood postmaster and during his tenure, special delivery mail was priced at ten cents and could be delivered anytime between 7 am to midnight seven days a week. Shadden was succeeded by James M. Hill as postmaster. Hill succumbed to illness after eight months in office. During his illness, his wife Catherine Abston Hill was appointed to officially replace him. She is the only woman who has officially served as postmaster in Rockwood. During Mrs. Hill's administration, the post office moved to the Cooper Building on the corner of Rockwood and Wilder Streets. George Cooper owned the building and operated a grocery store and bakery there. The post office is believed to have shared space in the bakery.

    William Franklin Millican was appointed postmaster on June 14th, 1897 and served fourteen years. From 1886 to 1913, mail volume increased 500%. Postal workers soon became full time employees. Under Millican's direction, rural delivery was tested and soon four rural routes were established. One of these rural deliverymen was known to have used a two-wheeled horse-drawn cart to make delivieries to the farmers living on the outskirts of town. The pay for rural carriers was $300 per year. Residents in town did not get home delivery until 1917.

    Mr. Robert Sulte replaced Millican as postmaster in 1911. Sulte was from Virginia and served as the editor of The Rockwood Times. During Sulte's tenure, parcel post and C.O.D. became a normal part of postal operations. The next move for the Rockwood Post Office took place in 1915 under the reins of Mr. Hammond Fowler Sr. Postal operations were moved about a half block down Rockwood Street to a building formerly occupied by a TV shop and the Bilbrey Used Furniture store. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Fowler hailed from Virginia. He worked for the railroad until he lost a leg in a train accident, then he learned telegraphy and went to work at Emory Gap and in Rockwood. On Jul 23, 1915, he was appointed postmaster by Woodrow Wilson. Ten days after Fowler's death in 1922, Mrs. Zoe Leland Fowler became the acting postmaster and served for approximately five months. During this era, city delivery began in Rockwood and mail boxes appeared. City carrier Wheeler Johnson, an Army retiree, was hired to deliver all the mail in the city.

    Carriers were motivated by their slogan "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." One rural carrier identified as Mr. Harry Fritts penned the following account of his deliveries in 1930; "...You would not believe the smell I had to ride with at times. People trapped pole cats and skinned them. They would ship the hides out to Joe Hickey this side of Ozone by parcel post. They shipped gin-sing and yellow root too. Boy, you get all this mixed up together in the car and the smell was terrible...."

    The fifth move for the Rockwood Post Office came under the leadership of WWI Veteran Robert Thompson, who became Rockwood's thirteenth postmaster. The post office became part of the newly constructed Commerce Building on Rockwood Street. During this time, ten mail trains arrived daily bringing mail from all parts of the globe. The volume became too heavy for the size of the existing post office. The United States Government purchased a lot at the corner of Rockwood and Wilder Streets to build a new federal building. By February 15th, 1938, a new structure opened for business with Hugh L. Hicks as postmaster overseeing fifteen employees to handle the mail. Construction costs totalled $76,000. Hicks was the owner of the Live and Let Live Drugstore in Rockwood.

    After serving as the Rockwood Postmaster for twelve years, Hicks relinquished control to Mr. Zirkle M. Cooper. Cooper had been a clerk at the Post Office since Jan 2, 1937. He was appointed postmaster on May 13, 1949 and dutifully carried out his tasks until his retirement on Dec 26, 1976, successfully completing 29 years as postmaster and a total of 40 years of postal service. Under Cooper's tenure, the zip code system for mail distribution went into effect. Postmasters were no longer appointed by political office holders, but fell under civil service as did the rest of the postal employees. In 1971, the United States Post Office Department was replaced by the United States Postal Service, an independent establishment of the government. Policy was in effect that the USPS would become self-supporting, employees would continue to be Civil Service with wages, hours and working conditions determined through collective bargaining.

    In early 1969, a new heating and air conditioning system was installed, and the loading dock/floor space was doubled. After Cooper's retirement, James L. Farley became Rockwood's new postmaster on Jan 26th, 1980. Replacing Farley was Gerald R. Eldridge effective April 2nd, 1983. Ten years later, Eldrige was succeeded by Walt Valentine on Jan 9th, 1993. Valentine retired early this year and is the most recent postmaster for Rockwood. The current officer-in-charge is Mark Burnett who will be on hand on Monday, May 22nd for the Open House.

    The public is encouraged to come and visit this newly updated, working post office's open house. Visitors will be able to view the postmaster's office and see 1939 Terra Cotta Relief carving "Wild Life" - by Christian Heinrich (1939) on display over the postmaster's door. On May 6, 1935, the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) was created to help provide economic relief to the citizens of the United States who were suffering through the Great Depression. The Federal Art Project was one of the divisions of the W.P.A. created under Federal Project One by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The commissioned carving in the Rockwood post office is proudly displayed today as part of our country's history and Rockwood's legacy.

The flag ceremony is scheduled for noon, May 22nd and is hosted by Mayor Mike Miller, city of Rockwood and Judy Wassom, president of Rockwood 2000.

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prepared by Beverly Stroh