Post Offices

Centerville is in Allegany County, though it’s not located in the center of that county. The town is largely rural and in recent years a lot of Amish families have been buying up farms. Driving around the winding roads in Centerville, you’ll easily recognize the telltale signs of Amish farms.

The Post Office for the town serves zip code 14029, and is found at the four corners of town where Rushford and Buffalo Road intersect. This post office is a super small one, but it’s small size and attachment to a tired looking convenience store make it kind of fun to stop for. I hadn’t seen this one in a handful of years, but it truly hasn’t changed.

Inside is that wood-panel look that a lot of old offices have. There’s a handful of interesting old P.O. boxes and outside of that, not much else to mention!

The hamlet of Appleton is located in the town of Newfane, up in Niagara County in the northwestern corner of the state. This area is filled with miles of rural, scenic farmland and much of its history is rooted in agriculture. The Appleton Post Office was originally established on Hess Road back in 1847. That one stuck around for a bit until they moved operations over to the Hess Road Station by the railroad thirty years later.

It was officially changed to the Appleton Post Office in 1895. That one opened with Dewitt Lindsay serving as Postmaster beginning on February 9th of that year.

I wasn’t able to find out when this current building was erected, but it sure wasn’t 1895. The post office for Appleton is among the more modern, simple grey styles of construction. Unfortunately, on the outside it doesn’t leave much to discuss.

However, inside the lobby it becomes clear that the locals appreciate their history! There’s apple-themed decor around in some spots, which is kind of a neat way to celebrate their hometown pride.

Another indication that they appreciate their roots, is a list of postmasters on the wall. I don’t recall seeing this in a post office before! It’s pretty cool that almost two hundred years later, the postmasters are still honored.

Hastings is a town in Oswego County, located right in-between the northern up-turn of Lake Ontario and the city of Syracuse. It’s a small rural town that I happened to be passing through and by chance saw the post office. This one handles zip code 13076, but I couldn’t find any particular history of note about this spot.

The build is newer, and there seems to be some residential apartments in the back of the building.

However, I noticed over the front door, there’s a real cool vintage looking signed that appears hand-painted. Maybe it was just my adventurous self hoping this was some historical beam rescued from a previous post office in town. But, who knows.

I did discover though, that the town of Hastings is known for one of the early prominent settlers here, named Hastings Curtiss. He served as the first Postmaster for the town of Central Square. So, there’s a little bit of cool history in here at least!

The little town of Walworth is found in Wayne County. Like the surrounding towns, it’s pretty rural and celebrates deep agricultural roots. You’ll find the post office for zip code 14568 right at the four corners of Walworth in the village.

The town of Walworth was first founded in April 20, 1829. Right from the start cows played an important part of Walworth’s history. One of the founding families of Walworth, the Yeomans, played a large role with the agricultural businesses that would spread through the region. Theron Yeoman founded a nursery, but he also brought the first herd of Holstein cattle to America.

The Holstein cattle history of Walworth is pretty important. So important, that you’ll find a mural on the side of the post office honoring that past.

The post office is a newer build, and really outside of the mural there isn’t much about it that stands out. The front of the building has a cool little metal seal, but that’s about it.

Inside the lobby, the post office boxes are the newer, standard silver looking ones.

The village of Wilson plays host to the post office for zip code 14172. Located in Niagara County, the village is located in the town of the same name, though they were named for two different people. The town was named for Reuben Wilson, who founded the settlement. His son Luther would go on to found the village, which incorporated on May 11, 1858.

It would be tough to talk about either the town or the village without mentioning them, as you’ll see the family name all over both. Luther built a cobblestone home in the village which is today called the “Wilson House”. Reuben Wilson built a shipyard in town, where he built a ship that he named for his son. It doesn’t take long to poke through the history of the town to see that both Wilson men not only laid the foundations of the area, but ensured they’re legacy would survive centuries.

Admittedly, there’s not too much to say about the Wilson Post Office though. This one was a happenstance passing, and was closed at the time, so there was no seeing inside. The outside of the building isn’t particularly noteworthy, and looks like it was a fairly recent build. It does however, have one of those cool bronze signs next to the door!

Youngstown is a super historic little village in the northwestern most corner of New York State. Like much of Niagara County with water access, the land here played a large role in the Battle of 1812. You’ll find history of settlements here prior to that, and of course there were people living here long before white settlers moved in. But during that fateful battle, what’s known today as Youngstown was entirely burned by the British and their local allies.

After the war, a slow rebuilding effort began by settlers buying property and establishing businesses and homesteads. Here in Youngstown, historians say that the village was well re-established by the 1840’s.

The Post Office here serving zip code 14174 admittedly is not that noteworthy from the outside. I happened to be driving through on a holiday, so there was no shot at seeing inside. But, this era of offices is fairly standard and common. I didn’t feel like I was missing out by having to remain in the parking lot. Though, the Youngstown Post Office does have one of those cool metal signs on the front.

The Youngstown Post Office isn’t entirely mundane though–it’s actually made the news! In October 2020, a carrier for this zip code was caught dumping 1,300 pieces of mail, rather than delivering them on his route. He admitted to doing it, and suffered a fine of $600.

Unless you’re particularly adventurous in your driving routes, or have a specific reason to go there, it’s not likely you’ve passed through Meridian. This little village is in the town of Cato, up in the northern section of Cayuga County. This little village was once known as the “Cato Four Corners”, but the total estimated population is under 300 people.

Still though, they need a post office, and here it is! The village of Meridian has their Post Office in a two-story old, white house that is pretty nondescript. That sign over the front door is pretty cool looking, but outside of that if you’re a post office junkie, you won’t find a lot more on the outside to be excited about.

I passed by this one the same day I was driving around and found this post office in Cato.

The town of Cato is in Cayuga County, which is kind of a weird geographical county. Cayuga County is often thought of as a Finger Lakes location, and it totally is. But the county actually stretches all the way up to the southern shore of Lake Ontario. In that northern half, just a few clicks north of the thruway you’ll find Cato. The town also includes part of the village of Cato, and the entire village of Meridian. So there’s a lot going on there with municipal boundaries.

Their post office for zip code 13033 is located on Route 370, which I was driving westward to get back home to Rochester from my trip to Oswego County. I don’t think I even got out of the car for this one. I just pulled over, rolled the window down, and snapped a picture. This one isn’t particularly noteworthy in its appearance or history, so it didn’t seem to warrant hanging around too long.

Either way, seeing the Post Office in Cato, New York in zip code 13033 can officially be checked off the list!

The Village of Sandy Creek is a small one in Oswego County, located in a town with the same name. The population for the town is around a few thousand, with well under a third of those residing in the village.

According to the Sandy Creek History website, this post office location was built on August 6, 1961. While I believe it probably took more than a single day to construct the building, I’m guessing that means August 6th was the day they completed it. However, this one came long after the original founding of the town. Their website also shares that the original Post Office was founded on March 3, 1865. That first one was maintained by Postmaster Julius S. Robbins, a local merchant. Robbins ran that location out his store across from the Central Hotel.

With this newer location operating side-by-side the laundromat, it totally maintains a vintage, small-town Main Street appearance. I was on a heck of a tour on this day, so I didn’t get out to go up close. With plenty of street parking available, I snagged this shot while parking, and then continued on.

Williamson is one of the towns in Wayne County that was made when splitting land from Sodus in 1802. The town takes its name from Capt. Charles Williamson, the first land agent for the Pultney Estates. They set up their first Post Office on September 21, 1825 at Rogers Cross Roads.

Later on Williamson would get established as zip code 14589 on April 2, 1832. That office ran under the care of Postmaster Charles G. Richards.

Not sure when this one was built, but was it definitely long after. This is one of the newer, more mundane and grey designs. In fact, it’s so plain, there isn’t even writing on the building!